Can the Church renew itself? Following our commentaries and the conversations on our forum from Arizona, Tim Schmaltz has sent us this commentary wondering if a New Pentecost is possible for forward-looking Christians? He senses "many progressive Christians are feeling in exile within their own traditions," and offers some thoughts as to what might be done to restore a sense of hope. He urges: "Let us create a new creed filled with living affirmations of faith about life, justice, community, worship, prayer, hope and the Reign of God in family, in work, and civic life." [more]

The Holy Spirit lives in us... The Y-not Question the Sunday Readings reflection by CathyT on Pentecost has already been generating a good response in our forum [LINK]. John Chuchman's reflection today might be considered as an extension of that as he offers a reflection on this role of the Spirit in our lives. [more]

Pentecost: Tell us how the Spirit influences you today... It's Pentecost Sunday already this year. CathyT is leading the reflection for us this weekend and she suggests that rather than focusing on what happened two millennia ago at the first Pentecost we might focus on our present "Now": How does The Spirit influence or guide your life today? It's a topic in various ways we've been discussing on Catholica quite a bit. The theme of Cathy's own reflection is that "The Spirit challenges us". And she certainly challenges us also in the provocative thoughts she puts forward. We invite you to be challenged enough by Cathy's thoughts to share with us how you feel challenged today in your beliefs. [The Reflections of CathyT and others in our forum]

Will the priesthood of the future be anything like the priesthood of the past? (Continued)... For some reason Tom McMahon's commentary last week attracted a higher than usual number of readers. It might be worth a bet that this one will attract even more. It's still concerned centrally with his exploration of the priesthood and you might not at first see the connection with the headline: where would you like to be buried – what sort of funeral are you planning? Read on and you'll soon work out the connection. Does it come down to an afterlife; or does it all, like so much else in life, come down to money? This will provide much food for thought for many today. [more]

8th National eConference: The Gospel of Mark Today on Catholica for anyone interested we are following the e-Conference on The Gospel of Mark being sponsored by the Broken Bay Institute and the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference. [more]