She's in love with the boy

Check out his awesome smile!

The more I read about Pope Francis' visions for our Church, the more excited I am to be a Catholic in today's world.  We have a compassionate, humble man to lead us - and he's proving to be a man determined to get his job done.

While I read all the articles I can find concerning his interviews, speeches, blessings, etc, I was impressed by this article.  I'm linking to it at the Catholic News Agency, but I saw it similarly on NBC, Huffington Post, and a few others.  In the article, he states:

“The most serious of the evils that afflict the world these days are youth unemployment and the loneliness of the old,” he said. “The old need care and companionship; the young need work and hope but have neither one nor the other…This, to me, is the most urgent problem that the Church is facing.”

I was especially intrigued by his inclusion of the young.  It's not surprising, given his involvement in the 2013 World Youth Day.  The homily he gave that day is here.  After spending many days with a group of teens, I am convinced they long to make a difference and take their rightful place in leadership.

Just a few days ago, a friend from Church approached me and spoke of her vision for a new ladies guild.  At our parish, the women's groups are called guilds and each is named for a Saint appropriate to the vision of the guild.  Collectively, the guilds work together to support the parish, it's missions, and one another.  That said, all of the existing guilds were started years ago (decades ago, really) and the vast majority of the members are more mature.

Look, Eileen, I showed tact :)

My girlfriend desires to form a new guild of women still in the raising family stage.  After much prayer, she told me, she feels the guild should support our parish youth.  How exactly, we aren't sure.  But Pope Francis' vision will certainly guide us.  I am looking forward to being a part of something new, wonderful, prayerful, and - given the other women interested - uproariously fun.

Today's post title from Trisha Yearwood's She in love with the boy.