Have you ever flown a kite? It is a wonderful experience.

 I am not talking about stunt kites, or large complicated structures that make huge demands on the handler. No, I am talking about the simple diamond kite or the open sled kite, easy to launch and once airborne, restful on the eyes. With a long, dancing tail they are sightless, tethered birds, tight on twine, bending with the wind, hovering over an open field or the vacant shore line of the sea. It is an experience I well remember with my children when they were young.

 Of course, ‘flying a kite’, has another meaning, when an idea is put forward in the public square to test reaction. That way, without it being stated as policy of a political party or some other social group, the response can be gauged without a full commitment being made. And if that comment is adverse, the thread can be quietly cut and the idea allowed to drift away.

 The important thing is that we be allowed to fly kites, to give voice to ideas, to question and to be open to response.

 This is perhaps the marked change that has occurred in recent years in the Church, and especially since those days  of Conclave in March 2013, when Francis was elected Bishop of Rome. The imposition of practice, the demand that an idea not be discussed, has been of no help to faith. We now live in a significantly open secular society where freedom of opinion is accepted as the norm, provided, that is, we are not advocating actual harm to others.

 The Net has opened up discussion within the Church in a totally new way, for all have access and all can contribute. No longer are the issues of faith the preserve of a clerical caste, using esoteric language. Others, speaking from a different experience, have access to the exchange. And that is good. Ownership of a principle, after public examination, is a surer way to faith commitment than the imposition of an idea, with no questions asked.

 In many ways the net is a return to an oral tradition when views were exchanged before they become defined statements.  World wide we have access to thoughts and opinions, speeches and papers, actions and events that would have been unimaginable only twenty years ago.

  It is up to us to use this availability with sincerity and charity. Words of criticism that attack the person who is maybe flying a kite are of little use. Let’s concentrate on the kite and if it flies well, celebrate. If not, cut the string and move on, or put it away until a better wind arrives. At least by our contribution we might have learnt something from the experience.

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