Crucifix to Cross; Hello Protestants!

As the Future of Catholicism Week wanes, and Patheos gets set to welcome a look at The Future of Mainline Protestantism, the Catholic side closes with two very different but passionate pieces:

No discussion of the Future Church can be complete without a look at Catholic music, and award-winning composer Frank LaRocca (a friend of this blog; you have read about him here) does the honors, with Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi likewise, a discussion of the future that misses the voice of the young would also be deficient. Shu-Fy Pongnon and Jen and Kate provided fresh voices in the main forum, and Michelle Pirraglia here closes the week out with From the Inside Out; the Keys to True Renewal a perspective of youthful orthodoxy. Just scroll down from LaRocca’s piece to read it.

I’ve tried to feature a few of the excellent essays that made up the Catholic Futures week, but there was not enough time to highlight all of them. I particularly wanted to direct your attention to Tim Muldoon’s Mysticism and the Community and J. Peter Nixon’s thoughts on how our social philosophies are driving kids from the pews.

Also, I might as well give a little plug to my own piece, From Hebrews to Hangzhou to Wholeness, where I take a look at whether or not there really is a shortage of seminarians and why the future of the church depends on the missionary skills of our newest priests.

The Mainline Protestant mainpage is twice the size of the Catholic one, and looks pretty intriguing.

By the way, keep your eyes on the Catholic portal over there; I’ll be giving it a slow makeover in the coming weeks.