Pope Francis has stated that he wants to change the Church so that guidance of the Church is not simply top-down, but horizontal as well.

Along with many parishioners of Edmonton, I would like to see Archbishop Smith call a conference about improving our parishes concerning the following:

• Establish a connection between Pope Francis' vision and that of our local parishes.
• Establish a feedback mechanism from the stakeholders of our faith (our parishioners) concerning homilies (content, message, delivery and understandability), outreach, youth, social justice, parish life and other needed programs.
• A critical look at the celibacy issue of the priesthood for the information of the Holy See
• Comparative study of our faith practice and that of other Christian traditions for self-improvement.

As editor of the WCR, I believe you have the responsibility of forwarding readers' letters to the appropriate Church departments for their information and responses.

When this is done, your excellent paper will become a transformation tool for the Church authorities to take proactive measures to change the Catholic faith from being sluggish to being vibrant.