One Church, two faces

Well, I'm back at base and survived my conference at Aviemore in Scotland. As it turned out, yesterday I went straight from Bristol airport to REFRESH at Corpus Christi, and didn't get home until after 11 last night.
In a way, you couldn't get two more different faces of the Catholic Church. On the one hand, 100 church lawyers in conference, mostly priests, talking about some of the most "difficult" aspects of life as Catholics. On the other, a group of young Catholics having a great weekend, especially when gathered around the beautiful Burning Bush, which is a sort of tower about 6 feet high with 70 sanctuary lamps on it and the monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament on the top. But, you know what, what they both have in common is the wonderful people involved. In both cases I'm with committed, faithful, yet down-to-earth Catholics. I'm reminded how, next to the Lord, the church's greatest resource is simply one another - you and me, the people of the Church.

Come along to REFRESH - you'll find the timetable at http://www.refresh09.org/