Intermittent and inconsistent

It was a slow March on CatholictotheLeft--sorry folks, a little vacation on the least of the Greater Antilles, Puerto Rico (just to the east of the most tragic of the Greater Antilles, Haiti/Dominican Republic, and still further east of the most Communist of the Greater Antilles, Cuba) slowed me down.

Actually, I couldn't find an Internet cafe, but I wasn't going to blog anyway. I'm off to LA for the weekend, so I hope today's posts will suit the five of you until I'm back online.

But one little reflection from lovely PR: I saw almost no Catholic parishes there, but loads of Pentecostal churches and had to ask myself: Isn't this a "Catholic" associate free state (the technical designation of PR in relation to the USA)?

Less and less it seems, and I think I know why: As long as we Catholics (and probably mainline Protestants as well) stay married to outdated structures and rules instead of really meeting the needs of people, Christians churches of every type are going to slowly eat away at us. How long do you think Catholic churches will be full when parishes can't even have Mass on Sunday anymore because there are no priests?

What they like in theology and tradition, these "sects," as the pope calls them, make up for in human contact, charisma, energy--and inculturation. Why can't we learn a bit from them? We better, and not because they're bad but because we have so much to offer.