This piece is good on so many levels.  Thank you Tom!

You are far from alone, not just on your journey, but in the emotions you feel.  There are many who left the church, but who continue to walk a parallel journey.  All will likely express a sense of grief, a longing for what might have been, and often anger for what really is...

I suspect the bishops know we're out there.  I  suspect they wish they could draw us back in.  But they lack the tools: tools that take a long time to forge, I sight as to what problems the tools might solve, and above all, the courage to take a risk.  And their lack of a willingness to take a risk for hose who left is often at the very core of why we left.  Be it accountability, be it a refusal to be willing to accept that there Is more than a sixth-grade viewpoint about Jesus that can be acceptable, or even something as simple as recognizing wisdom in the laity, what's needed is some movement, some risk-taking on their part too...