Gabriel Moran's Opening Post: The Purpose and Future of REA:APPRRE

I wish to use this space to reflect on the purpose and focus of our organization. I think the assigned topic is broad enough to include this reflection. After last year’s meeting I considered circulating a letter to a few people about the health and future of the organization. I do not consider myself the best person to raise these concerns. But I have no hidden agenda; I am simply asking whether others share my concerns.
The immediate trigger was Jack Seymour’s membership report at last year’s business meeting. If the organization is not in crisis it may be approaching that point. The shrinkage in numbers is not the main point, but it is a symptom. What is most clear in the numbers is that there are few people left from REA; in the reorganization, REA did not absorb APRRE but rather the reverse. And yet the organization’s rhetoric is tied to the old REA; there seems to be a sense of obligation to continue the stated mission of the REA. The result is vagueness and confusion. People drift away because another organization (perhaps one on practical theology) has a clearer focus on their interests.
I am not criticizing the present leadership team. The organization is probably better run than REA or APRRE ever was. Nor am I proposing a committee to study goals, purposes, mission statement, etc. I just wonder if an extended conversation among all the members is needed, something that goes beyond the annual business meeting. Internet blogs may be one way to aid such a conversation although it is not a substitute for face to face conversation.

Gabriel Moran