Year in review: Mercy shaped the life of the church in 2016

Year in review: Mercy shaped the life of the church in 2016: Distinctly Catholic: Pope Francis knows that only with the heart of the Gospel, God

MGB: Mercy should also include a continual examination of what is true in doctrine and what needs to be changed.  Ambiguity in this area is not good for those of us who have to navigate modern divorce and it is not good for the prelates who can't adapt without it.  This is also true of the Eucharist, as Garry Wills work on the subject lays bare.  That is also true in dealing with modern sexuality and abortion law.

On poverty, we demand not only mercy for the poor, but justice for those that exploit them, which the cultural warriors are squishy about.

Millennial relativism is simply an acknowledgement that truth exists for us in language.  It always has.  Indeed, the language of papal  infallibility is itself relativistic because it applies to the group, not the truth as a whole.  The Church is a family.  The washing of the feet should be 24/7, not the empty gesture of Holy Thursday. The new Cardinals are a breath of fresh air, but we need doctrinal change, not retreat directors.