I had a Twitter exchange with Father Dwight Longenecker recently, in response to his article about how, exactly, we Catholics should go about bringing diversity, equity and inclusion into our parishes. That “how” question is extremely valid and completely on point: all the talk in the world won’t address the issues. We Catholics need to actually do something to make the Church on Earth more welcoming.
My Tweeted response was simply an enumeration of the Corporal Works of Mercy. In response, Fr. Longenecker asked if I’d actually read his blog post, and I confirmed that I had. I will admit that my initial short intent was to be a bit lighthearted, within the bounds of 140 characters, but there was a definite point behind my response. I wasn’t attempting to be “gimmicky.”