Papal Conclave

As a follow-up to researching the papal candidates please respond to the following prompts:

-        What topics do you think are important for the next Pope to address in the Church and in the world?

-        What do you imagine the future of the Church needs?  What are some of the challenges the future pope might face?

-        What’s it like to be a woman in the Church? What do women in the Church need?

-        If you could change one thing in the Church, what would it be?  Why?

-        Is there room for democracy within the hierarchy of the Church in its current condition?  Does/ How does the Holy Spirit work through the hierarchy?

Dating: What's the Point?

In chapter five of his book "Love, Reason, and God's Story", David Cloutier examines arguments within Christianity in favor of dating and opposed to the practice of dating.  Some of the 'anti-daters' argue that dating in our current social context is 'essentially practice for divorce'.  Please read the first section of Chapter 5.  In your response, share your reaction to this claim, as well as your reaction to the reasons given to justify dating (those by Freitas and King among others).  How does this argument compare with the experience of you/your peers and 'contemporaries'?  Finally, how does this compare to the 'hook-up' culture prevalent in colleges and universities in 2013?  Please refer to this article from none other than BUSTED HALO :), as well as the article we read by Fr. Rick Malloy challenging the culture of 'hooking up'.