Since the last issue of The Journal, I have attended gatherings of Church renewal groups in Boston (CITI -Celibacy Is The Issue), Ottawa (Corpus Canada) and Milwaukee (COR -Catholics Organized for Renewal- and CTA -Call To Action). The largest gathering, some 3000+ people, was the CTA Conference. It was preceded by caucus gatherings of other renewal organizations such as Corpus USA, ARCC (Association for the Rights of Catholics), WOC (Women's Ordination Conference), Dignity USA, FCM (Federation of Christian Ministries), etc. I attended several of these pre-conference meetings and networked with many people - friends and acquaintances, both new and old. It was good to see Jim Noonan and Jack Shea at the Corpus USA and ARCC gatherings. Also, I had a wonderful breakfast conversation with Gregory Baum about the progressive happenings in the Church of Quebec. And because I was assisting in the information booth of CITI Ministries, aka. Rent-A-Priest, I met hundreds of people with whom I had fascinating conversations. Diagonally across from the CITI booth was the Sophia Center out of Oakland, CA, where, lo and behold, was my friend, Jim Conlon ("The Sacred Impulse") whom I hadn't seen since 1968, in the heady days of Gregory Baum's Catholic Group in the Annex area of Toronto. We caught up on our separate, yet common journeys, I with Corpus and he with Matthew Fox's "Original Blessing" community.

   Wow! The feelings I experienced, not only in Milwaukee, but in Ottawa and Boston as well, were powerful and engaging. The content of what was discussed at each of those gatherings is very important and it is or has been reported in various publications including this one. But it's the feelings that I picked up at each of those meetings that need to be shouted from the roof tops.

   People came to these gatherings with doubt and apprehension, flowing out of discouragement and despair over the state of the renewal movement in the Church. They came away with renewed hope and excitement, on fire with Godde's Creative Spirit. The feeling of inclusiveness permeated the very core of our beings. We were so many renewal groups, all raised up by the same Spirit, all with different agendas. Yet there was the strong feeling that we were all in this together. There was a common sense of respect: of understanding and admiration for our different goals, strategies and leadership styles. And there was a wonderful willingness to cooperate wherever possible from the treasury of each group's gifts.

   I sense those same feelings in this issue of The Journal. Do you?
 

 François Brassard, Ladysmith, BC