Peter Blog a few random thoughts

There is a perception in some quarters of the Church that if we just carry on the way that we have been going then everything will be ok. That Vocations to the priesthood will just appear if we are faithful in prayer " God will provide" you hear many people say. To be totally honest with you. I felt like this at one point. Work hard and people will come to the faith and vocations will come. Last week I went on a two day conference called divine Renovation which comes from a book of the same name. It re thinks the way that we do things in the parish rather than maintiance  of the structures that we have it is a chance to do something different. What I am sharing with you below is my un bridged notes from the two days that changed the way that I think about the Church and also our mission to the Church. Notes on the Divine Renovation Conference October 2017 Pope Francis:  says that we must have a Missionary option to Evangelisation todays world. This means a new way

I  I remember when I was growing up every month or so on a Saturday morning the family made a trip to the Church to go to Confession. There in this dark room with the jumble we would kneel and go through our list that we had prepared the day before with promptings from my Mum and Dad and my Brother.  It was not my favourite activity that we had as a family. It was a little like going to the dentist but less pleasant. It certainly was not a relationship between my self and the person of Jesus. This has in my experience been the same kind of feelings that many others have had about their first experiences of Confession.  It all changed for me when I went to confession not behind the grill but face to face. At that time the name changed to the sacrament of Reconciliation. Both these things helped me to realise that the sacrament was not about lists and trying to remember what I did or did not do it was about a relationship with the person of Jesus. At about this time I