Today's is one of the best known gospels the search for the one lost sheep or one lost coin. At their base they remind us of the value of every single person.
In this year of faith this gospel must be our mantra. Sitting at conferences, I hear people complain about cafeteria Catholics or the young adults who don't equate their Catholicity with weekly mass attendance, and the "aging Catholic population."
Truth is, the latter phrase is correct if you are talking about white non-Hispanic Catholic. As for the other statements this gospel reminds us that rather than writing people off as "not real Catholics" we have to redouble our efforts to explain our faith in ever more convincing ways.
The shepherd goes after the sheep. The woman goes searching for the coin. They don't wait for it to show up and register, use envelopes and be on at least one committee.
As the demographics of our country change so our models of evangelization have to adapt to the new realities. With the help of God we will be up to the challenge.
