I spent the day in Center City, Philadelphia at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center. Today closes a chapter on my relationship with the Archdiocese, specifically my two years on Archbishop Chaput’s 26-member Archdiocesan Pastoral Council advisory body.

I haven’t written a great deal about my experiences there, for the very good reason that the conversations are confidential in nature. It has, though, probably because of this characteristic, been a rewarding experience and one that’s helped me think through the life of the local church in entirely new ways despite having been born here and raised within the Catholic system.

There’s been a tremendous energy, reform and increasingly a clarity of vision at work in this local church, and I’ve been happy to contribute in a small way to conversations on the future.