I haven’t been to church in 15 years. But the new pope makes me wonder if I should go back

A friend of mine.. and a Catholic, who like all Catholics, leaves the faith at some point. 

I can say it is interesting that the shear humility that Bergoglio displays may be enough to re-kindle that magic that once was that Catholic church experience. 

After all.. what Catholics or former ones don’t get that tingly feeling of joy thinking about the ruler and yardstick beatings at the hands of nuns.. or the hours of mind-numbing Catechism class? Doing it old-school, by the book. big rosaries.. no time for smiles. Just pray. PRAYER DAMMIT, PRAY!

Ok… I had a flashback.

Nonetheless.. anyone who is Catholic or was born such can be happy that finally there’s a Pope who isn’t just dressing fancy and looking like Palpatine from Star Wars.. That’s right.. now we have a Pope with ratty old shoes, a big midsection, and no fancy-dancy outfits with gold-plated underwear. 

I just wonder.. will he drive a Popemobile? In keeping with his style.. I figure he’ll be riding high in a Geo Metro. Pope style.

I took this photo today as i drove by my long gone high school..

With another cold winter ending, the rebirth of spring beginning, Cardinal Brennan sits there vacant.. On a hill in Fountain Springs, PA..
My alma mater now has simply become a relic.. A closed down school in the distance. Memories are fading.. Lives moved on. But what secrets, I often ponder, does that cold building still hold?
Do bells still ring, and do poets still sing? Does an echo survive of time gone?

It’s been 6 years since Cardinal Brennan began the process of shutting down.. That’s six graduating classes that never finished there and two that never even started..

Last century, when times seemed simpler and I was a high school student, I went to this building.. Now it’s empty and desolate.. It’s simply a aging piece of brick and mortar..

But I suspect, in the stillness of the night, the building’s spirits and past somehow lives. At least I’d like to believe that..