The Catholic Common Ground Initiative is an intra-ecclesial relations effort launched in 1996 by the National Pastoral Life Center. [1] Its original goal was to dialogue with dissenting Catholics on a variety of unresolved issues that came about in the years following the Second Vatican Council. One of its most notable proponents was the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago.
Its current purpose and central mission is to promote dialogue within the Church on a variety of theological and social issues, including the changing roles of women, human sexuality, healthcare reform, and immigration—challenges facing not just the American Catholic Church but the United States as a whole. Since 2009, the CCGI has been a pivotal component of The Bernardin Center for Theology and Ministry, housed at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.
The National Pastoral Life Center was an organization whose goal was to serve the leadership of the Catholic Church's pastoral ministry, particularly in parishes and diocesan offices. It was founded in 1983 by Rev. Msgr. Philip J. Murnion, of the Archdiocese of New York, with the help of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops "to study and advance the development of parish ministry in a changing U.S. church". [2] It was the publisher of Church magazine, a professional quarterly of pastoral theology and ministry written especially for pastors, parish leaders, and members of diocesan offices. Its founding editor was Margaret O’Brien Steinfels, who began editing the magazine in 1986. [1] [3] The magazine won awards from the Catholic Press Association.[ citation needed ]
Catherine Patten, RSHM was the coordinator of the Catholic Common Ground Initiative at the National Pastoral Life Center in New York since its beginning in 1996. In November 2009, it was announced that the NPLC was closing down after 25 years of service to the Catholic Church in the United States. [2]
In the 1980s, Cardinal Bernardin held listening sessions where Catholics could talk about controversial issues. The Catholic Common Ground Initiative began with Joseph Cardinal Bernardin's 1992 letter "The Parish in the Contemporary Church," which recognized the need to move beyond the liberal/conservative divide so that parishes in the Archdiocese of Chicago could be common places where all come together. [4]
In 1996, Bernardin inaugurated the "Catholic Common Ground Initiative" [5] and was among the authors of its founding document "Called to Be Catholic: Church in a Time of Peril," released August 12, 1996. It originated in a concern that polarization within the Church hinders the ability of the Catholic Church to carry out its mission. [6]
The initiative was met with vocal opposition from four U.S. bishops. Cardinals William Wakefield Baum, James Aloysius Hickey, and Bernard Francis Law were especially opposed to what they perceived as undesirable concessions regarding Catholic teachings on moral theology, [2] thus illustrating the divide among Catholic leaders. [4] According to Professor Julie Hanlon Rubio, "Today, criticism is more likely to come from the left." [7]
Catholic Common Ground is based at The Bernardin Center for Theology and Ministry at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, where CCGI, while striving to remain centrist, sponsors the annual Cardinal Bernardin Conference, the Msgr. Philip J. Murnion Lecture, the Bernardin Award, and publishes a quarterly newsletter, Initiative Report. [4] [8] As well as the subject of polarization, the Initiative has also sponsored programs on alienation, particularly among young people towards organized religion. [9]
The Catholic Common Ground Intitiative has partnered with St. Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana since the Spring of 2001. [6] The Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage at Loyola University Chicago sponsors an annual "Cardinal Bernardin Common Cause Lecture". [10]
Andrew M. Greeley was an American Catholic priest, sociologist, journalist and popular novelist.
Joseph Louis Bernardin was an American Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Cincinnati from 1972 until 1982, and as Archbishop of Chicago from 1982 until his death in 1996 from pancreatic cancer. Bernardin was elevated to the cardinalate in 1983 by Pope John Paul II.
The Archdiocese of Chicago is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction, an archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in Northeastern Illinois, in the United States. It was established as a diocese in 1843 and elevated to an archdiocese in 1880. It serves the more than 2.2 million Catholics in Cook and Lake counties in the state of Illinois, an area of 1,411 square miles (3,650 km2). The archdiocese is divided into six vicariates and 31 deaneries.
Francis Eugene George was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the eighth Archbishop of Chicago in Illinois (1997–2014) and previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Yakima and Archbishop of Portland.
The University of Saint Mary of the Lake (USML) is a private Roman Catholic seminary in Mundelein, Illinois. It is the principal seminary and school of theology for the formation of priests in the Archdiocese of Chicago in Illinois. It was chartered by the Illinois General Assembly in 1844. USML is often referred to by the name of its graduate program, Mundelein Seminary. Its compound name is University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary.
William Wakefield Baum was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau (1970–1973) and Archbishop of Washington (1973–1980) before serving in the Roman Curia as prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education (1980–1990) and the major penitentiary (1990–2001).
Emmanuel Wamala is a Ugandan Catholic prelate who served as the Archbishop of Kampala from 1990 to 2006. He was made a cardinal in 1994.
Lay ecclesial ministry is the term adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to identify the relatively new category of pastoral ministers in the Catholic Church who serve the Church but are not ordained. Lay ecclesial ministers are coworkers with the bishop alongside priests and deacons. In other contexts, these may be known as "lay pastoral workers", "pastoral assistants", etc.
Theology on Tap is a program of lectures sponsored by a number of local Catholic dioceses. The lectures, which are often given by noted spiritual leaders and religious academics, address current topics in religion and theology, and are notable and sometimes controversial for their venue, which is normally a bar or restaurant. The concept has become common among other Christian Denominations, particularly Episcopalians, Lutherans, Anglicans, and some Presbyterian, Methodist, and progressive Baptist churches.
Michael William Warfel is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who was bishop of the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings in Montana from 2007 to 2023. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Juneau in Alaska from 1996 to 2007.
Sacred Heart Major Seminary is a private Roman Catholic seminary in Detroit, Michigan. It is affiliated with the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Gerald Frederick Kicanas is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Tucson in Arizona from 2002 to 2017. He served as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Las Cruces in New Mexico from September 2018 to July 2019.
Eugene Cullen Kennedy was a psychologist, writer, columnist, and professor emeritus of Loyola University Chicago. Kennedy was a laicized Catholic priest and a long-time observer of the Catholic Church, but his work spans many genres. He published over 50 books, including two biographies, three novels, and a play, as well as books on psychology, the Roman Catholic Church, and the relationship between psychology and religion. In the early 1970s, inspired by Vatican II, he emerged as a voice for reform and modernization of the Roman Catholic Church.
John Robert Gorman is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Gorman served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago in Illinois from 1988 to 2003. During his tenure as auxiliary bishop, Gorman was instrumental in the creation of the first internal review panel for sexual abuse allegations in an American archdiocese.
Steven P. Millies is an author and political theorist, and currently professor of public theology and director of The Bernardin Center at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, IL. Before joining CTU in 2017, Millies held the Strom Thurmond Endowed Chair in Political Science at the University of South Carolina Aiken where he taught from 2003-2017.
Mark Andrew Bartosic is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who has been serving as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Chicago in Illinois since 2018.
Robert Gerald Casey is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He has been serving as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Chicago in Illinois since 2018.
Cristóbal López Romero is a Spanish prelate of the Catholic Church who has served as the Archbishop of Rabat since March 2018. He is a member of the Salesians and before becoming a bishop devoted himself to pastoral work in Latin America while taking on administrative responsibilities within his order.
Louis Tylka is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who became bishop of the Diocese of Peoria in Illinois in 2022 after 19 months as coadjutor bishop there.
Fr. Louis Scott Donahue is an American priest who is the president and CEO of Mercy Home for Boys & Girls, a Chicago-based childcare and residential home for children within the Archdiocese of Chicago. Donahue also serves as resident priest at St. Robert Bellarmine parish.
