If that is your approach to religious ministry, then this new blog format isn't for you. It is for people who recognize that no matter what your status is within the institution, we are all fundamentally pilgrims. We have not arrived; we are all together on the journey, and we exist to help one another along the way. Within the Catholic tradition, the Second Vatican Council sought to remind us of this fact by reorienting our understanding of the Church as the pilgrim people of God.
Regardless of your tradition, this concept has always existed within the term we use for our church buildings - the parish. The word comes from old English and originally meant a way-station, an inn or place of rest for pilgrims who were journeying to a holy site - whether it be the Holy Land, Compostela, Chartres, Walsingham, Rome, or wherever. These physical pilgrimages here on earth are a sacramental image of the greater reality of human existence - that together we are all on a journey to the heavenly banquet.
So, this blog will share experiences of the journey, experiences that reflect the challenges of the journey while at the same time not losing sight of the final destination of the journey. Some of these experiences will be my own, others I will share from friends and others who share their own insights and experiences. Because this is a journey of the entire human family, there is no exclusive clique within an exclusive club. You may relate to some of these reflections; others you might not. That's OK. Hopefully we will all respect on another, make new friends here, and find something to help on our journey to the reign of God.
