After the announcement of the Pope Francis, the ABC was interviewing veteran 'Vatican watcher' Father Thomas Reece, and asked about the "challenges for him (the pope) that he faces immediately".
Well of course the biggest challenge that the Pope and the Church faces is how to make the Gospel message attractive and understandable to people in the 21st Century.
I don't think we can continue to just quote theologians from the 13th Century and think that people in the 21st Century understand what we're saying. Pope Benedict actually put it quite well. He said that Christianity should not be presented as a series of "Nos", you know, like a nagging parent, "No, you can't do that, no," but should be presented as a "Yes", a yes to Jesus Christ, a yes to his gospel of love, a yes to compassion for the poor and to work together for justice.
This is an attractive message and I think often our churchiness gets in the way of this message of Jesus.
I particularly agree with the last bit. It's part of the reason i call this blog Sycamore-fig - after the tree Zaccheus had to climb when people got in the way of him seeing Jesus.
