I downloaded the bible pay wallet about 7 months ago and went overseas.
I recently returned and tried to open my wallet today but it won't connect to the network.
Do I need to download a new wallet and replace the old one with it?
Yes you will need to download new version of BiblePay, there have been a couple mandatory upgrades since then,
You should be able to download and install new version on top of old version without any issues.
How to Update & Clean Wallet
https://www.reddit.com/r/BiblePay/comments/7nmvm8/how_to_update_clean_wallets/NOTE: Your "wallet.dat" file is your most important file, it has all of the keys to all of your funds. Make sure to have one or more backups of it.
Backup Wallet.dat:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BiblePay/comments/7lksp4/backup_walletdat/