Call to Action

Last updated

Call to Action (CTA) is an American progressive organization that advocates a variety of changes in the Catholic Church. Call To Action's goals are to change church disciplines and teachings in such areas as mandatory celibacy for priests, the male-only priesthood, the selection process for bishops and popes, and opposition to artificial contraception. [1]

Contents

The organisation has from its beginning inspired considerable controversy within the Catholic Church in the United States. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re of the Congregation for Bishops said in 2006 that some of CTA's views are "in contrast" with the Catholic faith. The Diocese of Lincoln has placed the group under the ban of excommunication within the diocese, and several other bishops have censured the organization.

History

In 1971, Pope Paul VI wrote that the laity of the Catholic Church should "take up as their own proper task the renewal of the temporal order". He further wrote that, "it is to all Christians that we address a fresh and insistent call to action." [2] In anticipation of the American bi-centennial, the bishops of the United States held a "Call to Action Conference" in Detroit, Michigan in 1976.

At the conclusion of the three-day conference, the 1,340 delegates voted that the Catholic Church should "reevaluate its positions on issues like celibacy for priests, the male-only clergy, homosexuality, birth control, and the involvement of every level of the church in important decisions," though they never explicitly proposed changing the Church's position on these issues. [3]

Russell Shaw describes the conference as "a raucous, controversial, non-representative dud." [4] Many bishops were unhappy with the results. [4]

As a result, the Call to Action organization that was born out of the Detroit conference was run by laity. Based in Chicago, it takes its name from the original conference. A conference of over 400 people was held in October 1978, and Chicago Call To Action was launched as a local organization.

Controversies

Ideological aspects

Call To Action's goals include 1) women's ordination, 2) an end to mandatory priestly celibacy, 3) changes in the church's teaching on a variety of sexual matters including artificial contraception, and 4) the selection process for bishops and popes. [1]

In “Catholic Social Activism – Real or Rad/Chic?”, Father Andrew Greeley saw the old social- justice action in labor schools, worker priests, and community organizing that “mastered the politics of coalition building with the system.” [ citation needed ] On the other hand, the “new” Catholic action came out of the Berrigan brothers' experience during the Vietnam war and the peace movement, and was thus involved in confrontation and protest. Call to Action, it would seem represents that "new", tradition." [5]

This approach, however, is opposed by many Catholic groups. [6] "Call to Holiness", held its first conference in 1996 to oppose a conference organized by Call to Action. [7]

Reactions from the Catholic hierarchy and theologians

Catholic church leaders have also criticized Call to Action, primarily because they believe that the moral and juridical positions of the organization run counter to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Some, however, have given public support. At the 1995 Call to Action conference, for example, the former Bishop of Évreux now titular bishop of Partenia, Jacques Gaillot, popularly nicknamed The Red Cleric; [8] the auxiliary Bishop of Detroit Thomas Gumbleton, and theologian Hans Küng (whose authority to teach theology in a Catholic institution was rescinded), were among the featured speakers. Other theologians, such as Charles Curran and Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister are also supporters of the organization. [9] [10]

In recent years, Bishop Gumbleton (now retired) has been the only member of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy to publicly support Call to Action. When Call to Action sponsored a speech by Gumbleton in Tucson, Arizona in February 2007, the Bishop of Tucson, Gerald F. Kicanas, refused permission for it to be delivered on diocesan property. [11]

Excommunications in Lincoln, Nebraska

Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of the Diocese of Lincoln issued, under certain conditions, an automatic interdict (which escalates after one month to an automatic excommunication) on members of several organizations within his diocese, including Call to Action. [12] The excommunications did not apply beyond the diocese. The group appealed, but the excommunications were affirmed by the Congregation for Bishops in 2006. The congregation's prefect, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, wrote to Bishop Bruskewitz that his action "was properly taken within [his] competence as pastor of that diocese". [1] [13] The Congregation for Bishops was not issuing a doctrinal statement here but rather a juridical statement saying that Bishop Bruskewitz had acted properly within his own jurisdiction as ordinary of the Diocese of Lincoln. However, Cardinal Re's statement did include strongly worded doctrinal criticisms as well, even to the extent of saying that "to be a member of this association or to support it is irreconcilable with a coherent living of the Catholic faith". [14] Yet the organization has continued with a wide range of activities including annual conferences and regional groups, and in 2013 it attempted to broaden its appeal under the tagline, "Inspire Catholics, Transform Church". [15]

See also


Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emmanuel Milingo</span> Excommunicated Zambian Archbishop (born 1930)

Emmanuel Milingo is an excommunicated former Roman Catholic archbishop from Zambia. He was ordained in 1958; in 1969, aged 39, Milingo was consecrated by Pope Paul VI as the bishop of the Archdiocese of Lusaka. In 1983, he stepped down from his position as Archbishop of Lusaka after criticism for exorcism and faith healing practices that were not approved by church authorities. In 2001, when Milingo was 71, he received a marriage blessing from Sun Myung Moon, the leader of the Unification Church, despite the prohibition on marriage for ordained priests. In July 2006, he established Married Priests Now!, an advocacy organization to promote the acceptance of married priests in the Roman Catholic Church.

The canon law of the Roman Catholic Church requires that clerics "observe perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven"; for this reason, priests in Roman Catholic dioceses make vows of celibacy at their ordination, thereby agreeing to remain unmarried and abstinent throughout their lives. However, as well as this vow of celibacy, the 1961 document entitled Careful Selection and Training of Candidates for the States of Perfection and Sacred Orders states further that homosexual men should not be ordained at all.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giovanni Battista Re</span> Italian cardinal

Giovanni Battista Re is an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church whose service has been primarily in the Roman Curia. He was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 2001. He was prefect of the Congregation for Bishops from 2000 to 2010. As the senior cardinal-bishop in attendance, he chaired the March 2013 papal conclave to elect Pope Benedict XVI's successor. Pope Francis approved his election as Dean of the College of Cardinals on 18 January 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fabian Bruskewitz</span> Catholic bishop

Fabian Wendelin Bruskewitz is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Lincoln in Nebraska, from 1992 to 2012.

The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei was a commission of the Catholic Church established by Pope John Paul II's motu proprioEcclesia Dei of 2 July 1988 for the care of those former followers of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre who broke with him as a result of his consecration of four priests of his Society of St. Pius X as bishops on 30 June 1988, an act that the Holy See deemed illicit and a schismatic act. It was also tasked with trying to return to full communion with the Holy See those traditionalist Catholics who are in a state of separation, of whom the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) is foremost, and of helping to satisfy just aspirations of people unconnected with these groups who want to keep alive the pre-1970 Roman Rite liturgy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholics for Choice</span> Abortion rights advocacy group

Catholics for Choice (CFC) is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. that advocates for the legalization of abortion, in dissent with the teachings of the Catholic Church. CFC is not affiliated with the Catholic Church. Formed in 1973 as Catholics for a Free Choice, the group gained notice after its 1984 advertisement in The New York Times challenging Church teachings on abortion led to Church disciplinary pressure against some of the priests and nuns who signed it. It has lobbied nationally and internationally for abortion rights goals and led an unsuccessful effort to downgrade the Holy See's status in the United Nations. CFC was led for 25 years by Frances Kissling and is currently led by its President Jamie L. Manson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Priests for Life</span> American coalition of clergy working to end abortion and euthanasia

Priests for Life (PFL) is an anti-abortion organization based in Titusville, Florida. PFL functions as a network to promote and coordinate anti-abortion activism, especially among Roman Catholic priests and laymen, with the primary strategic goal of ending abortion and euthanasia and to spread the message of the Evangelium vitae encyclical, written by Pope John Paul II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pericle Felici</span> Italian prelate

Pericle Felici was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. From 1947 until his death he held various offices in the Roman Curia, including Secretary General of the Second Vatican Council, head of the Pontifical Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law, and from 1977 Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. He became a cardinal in 1967. In 1978, he twice announced to the world from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica the election of a new pope, John Paul I and John Paul II. At the Council he was identified with the conservatives who sought to maintain Curial control of the proceedings and he was a prominent voice for more conservative and traditionalist views throughout his career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Diocese of Lincoln</span> Diocese of the Catholic Church in USA

The Diocese of Lincoln is a Latin Church diocese in Nebraska, United States, and comprises the majority of the eastern and central portions of the state south of the Platte River. It is a suffragan see to the archdiocese of Omaha. The episcopal see is in Lincoln, Nebraska.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Gumbleton</span> American Catholic prelate and activist (1930–2024)

Thomas John Gumbleton was an American Catholic prelate and a prominent social activist. Gumbleton served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit from 1968 to 2006. According to Gumbleton, the Vatican forced him to resign as auxiliary bishop when he publicly supported the passage of a state legislative bill in another diocese without the approval of that diocese's bishop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Dearden</span> American prelate

John Francis Dearden was an American Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Detroit from 1958 to 1980, and was created a cardinal in 1969. He previously served as Bishop of Pittsburgh from 1950 to 1958. During his tenure in Pittsburgh, Dearden earned the nickname "Iron John" for his stern manner of administration.

New Ways Ministry is a ministry of advocacy and justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Catholics. The national organization is primarily based in the state of Maryland. It was one of the earliest groups attempting to broaden the way Catholics have traditionally dealt with LGBT issues, and was established by Sister Jeannine Gramick and Father Robert Nugent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope Benedict XVI and ecumenism</span> Ecumenism discourse

Pope Benedict XVI, who led the Roman Catholic Church as Pope from 2005 to 2013, continued manoeuvring the Church through the dynamics of modernity, which the Church had begun engaging in with the Second Vatican Council. Because the question of religious pluralism is a key issue raised by modernity, ecumenism, the establishment of harmony and dialogue between the different Christian denominations, is a significant concern of a post Second Vatican Council Church. Pope Benedict XVI's approach has been characterised as leaning toward the conservative while still being expansive and engaged, involving the full breadth of Christendom, including the Orthodox Churches and Protestant churches, as well as freshly engaging with other Christian bodies considered by Roman Catholics to be more heterodox, such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The canonical situation of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), a group founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, is unresolved. The Society of Saint Pius X has been the subject of much controversy since 1988, when Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, Richard Williamson and Alfonso de Galarreta were illicitly consecrated as bishops at Ecône, at the International Seminary of Saint Pius X, in violation of canon law. Lefebvre and the four other SSPX bishops individually incurred a disciplinary latae sententiae excommunication for this schismatic act. The excommunications of the four living SSPX bishops were remitted in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James D. Conley</span> Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska

James Douglas Conley is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been serving as bishop of the Diocese of Lincoln in Nebraska since 2012. He served as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Denver in Colorado from 2008 to 2012.

The official teachings of the Catechism of the Catholic Church promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1992 oppose all forms of abortion procedures whose direct purpose is to destroy a zygote, blastocyst, embryo or fetus, since it holds that "human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person – among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life". However, the Church does recognize as morally legitimate certain acts which indirectly result in the death of the fetus, as when the direct purpose is removal of a cancerous womb. Canon 1397 §2 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law imposes automatic excommunication on Latin Catholics who actually procure an abortion, if they fulfill the conditions for being subject to such a sanction. Eastern Catholics are not subject to automatic excommunication, but by canon 1450 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches they are to be excommunicated by decree if found guilty of the same action, and they may be absolved of the sin only by the eparchial bishop. In addition to teaching that abortion is immoral, the Catholic Church also generally makes public statements and takes actions in opposition to its legality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic laity</span> Ordinary members of the Catholic Church who are not clergy

Catholic laity are the ordinary members of the Catholic Church who are neither clergy nor recipients of Holy Orders or vowed to life in a religious order or congregation. Their mission, according to the Second Vatican Council, is to "sanctify the world".

William Martin Morris is an Australian Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Toowoomba from 1992 to 2011. In May 2011, the Holy See removed Morris from office, attracting international press coverage.

Dissent from the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality has come with a number of practical and ministerial arguments from both the clergy and the laity of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church teaches that while being gay is not a sin in and of itself, any sex outside of marriage, including between same-sex partners, is sinful, and therefore being gay makes one inclined towards this particular sin.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hansen, S.L. (December 8, 2006). "Vatican affirms excommunication of Call to Action members in Lincoln". Catholic News Service. Archived from the original on 2006-12-12. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  2. ↑ Pope Paul VI. ''Octogesima Adveniens, §48
  3. ↑ Sawyer, Mary R. (2003). The Church on the Margins: Living Christian Community. A&C Black. p. 249. ISBN   978-1-56338-366-3. Extract of page 249
  4. 1 2 "Shaw, Russell. "The Nadir of American Catholicism", Catholic Answers Magazine, Vol.22, no. 1". Archived from the original on 2015-11-19. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
  5. ↑ Andrew Greeley, "Catholic Social Activism: Real or Rad/Chic?" The National Catholic Reporter February 7, 1975.
  6. ↑ c.f. George A. Kelly, The Battle for the American Church (Doubleday, 1979), and Joseph Bottum, "When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano", First Things , October 2006, pp. 30-31
  7. ↑ "Call To Holiness". calltoholiness.com. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  8. ↑ Reuters.French Against Vatican Sacking of "Red Cleric" Archived 2012-02-08 at the Wayback Machine 17 January 1995
  9. ↑ "Loyal Dissent". georgetown.edu. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  10. ↑ "Chittister: One of a kind at Call to Action gathering". ncronline.org. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  11. ↑ Arizona Daily Star, Jan. 30, 2007, online at Archived February 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ Statement issued by Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz (published in Southern Nebraska Register, March 22, 1996
  13. ↑ Associated Press, "Vatican Upholds Neb. Excommunications", at .[ dead link ]
  14. ↑ "Vatican confirms excommunication for US dissident group", Catholic World News, December 7, 2006
  15. ↑ "History", Call to Action
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.