Renewal is a word of my childhood; it is not heard so much today. Renewal was what Vatican II was supposed to bring about, and every time there was some positive development, people would point to it and say it was a sign of renewal. It was generally supposed to be something that would happen when the People of God and the Holy Spirit were unleashed. Because we were often told that up until some moment in the past, or perhaps some moment still in the future, they had been prevented from doing their work by outmoded structures, practices, policies or beliefs.