Call to Action

Session : CTA807
3.01 Plenary Address - Failing America's FaithfulHow Today's Churches Are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way
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Speaker(s) : Kathleen Kennedy Townsend

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, eldest child of Robert and Ethel Kennedy, two-time lieutenant governor and now a superdelegate from Maryland, opens our conference three days after the national election. Her message shares the title of her 2007 book. There is an appropriate role for religion in politics, she writes, one that reconciles the liberating vision of the Founding Fathers with values born of faith, such as those contained in Leo XIIIs Rerum Novarum. In this election, she thinks America may be ready. Is she right? Kennedy Townsend is also passionate about reforming the churches, especially her own Catholic Church. She is inspired by Charlie Curran and Theresa Kane, her fellow board members at the National Catholic Reporter. After Vatican II the Church she loves lost its way, chiefly on questions of women and sex. But her book credits Dan and Sheila Daley for founding the independent CTA movement to reform the Church from below. And like CTA, she labors to change the Church so that the Church can serve the common good, especially those in poverty.

Session : CTA813
6.01 Plenary Address: Growing Smarter: Achieving Livable Communities For All
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Speaker(s) : Robert Bullard

Robert Bullard is called the father of environmental justice. Teaching sociology in Houston in the late 1970s, he discovered that all the city-owned landfills in Houston were in black neighborhoods, though blacks made up only 25 percent of the population. As he studied the siting of garbage dumps, he identified systematic patterns of injustice. The book that Bullard eventually wrote in 1990 about that work, Dumping in Dixie, is the first book to fully articulate the idea of environmental justice. Bullard became an activist for environmental justice. He helped plan the First National People of Color Environmental Summit in 1991, which wrote the principles of modern environmental justice. He later helped Bill Clinton issue an executive order that all federal agencies must factor environmental justice into their programs. Under Bush, that progress came under attack, even from the U.S. EPA. But Bullard is leading the resistance. When Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, it turned Bullard's attention to the area devastated by the storm. He calls it the latest urban environmental sacrifice zone.

Session : CTA826
12.01 Plenary Address: Embrace Our World! Herald a New Pentecost!
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Speaker(s) : Bishop Remi De Roo

Bishop Remi De Roo, 84, is a pilgrim of Vatican II. He keeps preaching it because it must not be forgotten! Named a bishop in 1962, right after Vatican II began, he participated in all four sessions, the youngest bishop present, became its articulate apostle, and spent 37 years in Victoria, B.C, trying to embody the Vatican II vision of church. Since retirement, his mission is to share that message with others, especially young people. De Roo for years chaired social justice for the Canadian bishops. Bold statements were issued on behalf of victims of injustice, even women. Today he speaks for the ordination of women. He also knows the power struggle over ministry. Vatican II said the basic sacraments for ministry are baptism/confirmation, not holy orders. But the restorationists led by John Paul II have been trying to roll back Vatican II. De Roo trusts the Spirit and keeps fighting clericalism. He says, Vatican II ideas religious liberty, conscience, justice are more relevant than ever. We need to reclaim that freedom. There is no scriptural basis for a monarchical episcopacy.

Session : CTA800
1.03 Living a Post-Clerical Church: Theologies and Strategies
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Speaker(s) :

Mary E. Hunt, Diann Neu, and Elisabeth Schssler Fiorenza invite us to think together about a post-clerical church, where ministries are as varied as the needs of communities, where ordination is not a status symbol and admission to the clerical club, but a commitment to and empowerment for ministry. We discuss the roots of clericalism; ways of decision-making in which all can participate; inclusive ministry centered on ekklesial community, just society, and care for creation, not on clergy and hierarchy. We want to listen to people already living a priesthood of all believers and ministering in a discipleship of equals. Come celebrate such efforts. How can we make them normative? Hunt, a feminist theologian, and Neu, a liturgist, spiritual director and psychotherapist, are co-founders and co-directors of WATER Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual, which sponsors this workshop. Schssler Fiorenza is an internationally known scholar in biblical interpretation and feminist theology at Harvard Divinity School.

Session : CTA801
1.07 Creating a Scripture-based Environment: Broadening the Lens Through Which We See Ourselves as the People of God!
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Speaker(s) :

Lena Woltering and Roger Karban explain how the historical/critical method of teaching and learning Scripture changes the manner in which we, The People of God, relate to our earth, our church and ourselves. Looking at each of the four gospels, Roger, diocesan priest and biblical scholar who specializes in teaching adults, explains the different environments the sacred authors were trying to create for their communities. Lena, a student of Roger's for over 25 years and CTA's chapter and lay synod organizer, discusses the ramifications of learning Scripture in this way. She explains how FOSIL, the reform community in Southern Illinois, developed as a natural outgrowth of the Scripture background. Roger and Lena each see the growing lay synod movement as an indication that the environment Jesus had in mind is becoming a reality.

Session : CTA802
2.02 Forgiveness and Justice in Black Spirituality: The Foundation of "Repairing the Breach"
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Speaker(s) :

Joseph Brown

Session : CTA803
2.04 Living into the Challenge: Faithful Living in a Time of Global Climate Change
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Speaker(s) :

Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener helps us to ask: how do we bring all the tools of faithhope, collectivity and visionto digest and respond to the challenge confronting us? Almost every earth system, from air to seas to weather, is affected by the footprint of the human community. How can we live responsibly and with a sacred and dignified vision for humanity in a time of global change? Cohen-Kiener leads the Interreligious Eco-Justice Network, and Congregation Pnai Or (Central Connecticut). She authored For All Who Call: A Guide to Prayer Education.

Session : CTA804
2.05 "A Persistent Peace": Reflections from a Journey of Gospel Nonviolence
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Speaker(s) :

John Dear, S.J., shares from his new autobiography, A Persistent Peace, (Loyola Press, with foreword by Martin Sheen) about his journey of active nonviolence, his efforts to embrace the beloved community, and the lessons he has learned. Priest, peacemaker and author of 25 books, he served as director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and now works with Pax Christi New Mexico on a campaign to disarm Los Alamos. He writes a weekly column for the National Catholic Reporter at www.ncrcafe.org. Earlier this year, Archbishop Desmond Tutu nominated Dear for the Nobel Peace prize. For info, see www.johndear.org

Session : CTA805
2.10 Environmental and Food Justice: Nurturing Local Food for a Post-Peak Oil World
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Speaker(s) :

Devon Pea foresees the approach of a post-Peak Oil world that will bring a major shift from global toward more bioregional and local food systems. New social movements have emerged to rebuild those local systems. Active side by side are farmers, farm workers, consumers, nutritionists, and people of faith. Pea surveys the movements for environmental and food justice and explains their principles. The traditional ecological knowledge of place-based farming communities is destined to play a surprisingly important role. Pea is a Mexican- American sociologist who taught at Colorado College (1984-1999) and got involved with its Rio Grande Bioregions Project studying the river, the people, and the relationships between communities and the environment. As a delegate to the First Environmental Justice Summit in 1991, he worked with Robert Bullardour Saturday plenary speaker in drafting the Principles of Environmental Justice.

Session : CTA808
5.03 Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed
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Speaker(s) :

Judge James Gray discusses the reasons. But we have options to this failed and hopeless policy. These options will reduce crime, corruption, health problems and terrorism, on the one hand, as well as the prison population and drug usage, both by adults and even our children, on the other. A former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles and a trial judge since 1983, Gray has taken a public position against our nation's policy of drug prohibition. He is author of "Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It A Judicial Indictment of the War on Drugs" (2001), and "Wearing the Robe The Art and Responsibilities of Judging in Today's Courts" (2008).