This morning the former pastor of the local church gave a homily about how we need to correct how we perceive Christ -- he is not just the savior of all mankind, but our personal savior, and our friend. A bit too Protestant-sounding? Personal "acceptance" of Christ is not enough -- we need to be established in a right relationship through grace, and we can destroy our friendship with him through mortal sin. Also, because our notion of friendship is rather limited, the following caveat should be given: while Christ is our friend, the friendship is nonetheless between unequals. This friendship does not remove the need for the gift of the fear of the Lord, or for the infused virtues of religion and latria to be exercised.

As I walked out of the church I couldn't help but think that local churches deserve to shrink in membership, if they continue to offer a watered-down version of the Gospel that does not make any demands on us, especially those of us who live in more affluent areas.

*I don't think numbers should be the only measure of whether a church is flourishing, but if a diocese has few vocations to the priesthood and its churches are aging (that is to say, young people fall away from church), then the bishop should assume responsibility, instead of thinking that it has nothing to do with his leadership. I think our Lord gives His workers in the vineyard clear signs that they are not living up to His calling; they should not need visions or some sensible manifestation to warn them that they are failing.