Sr. Pat Farrell, on behalf of LCWR, issued a powerful statement from the nun's meeting in St. Louis calling for more dialogue. Read Call To Action's supportive response from the Nun Justice Coalition and check out the photos/videos from the nationwide vigils on our coalition website.

Support the sisters as they head into their national meeting August 7-11 where they will discern their response to the Vatican's mandate. Check out the Nun Justice Coalition website for ideas on what you or your community can do to support them!

www.nunjustice.org

Stand up for women this July 4th and celebrate the fact that the United States promotes religious liberty for everyone, not just bishops.

Go to Call To Action's Facebook page and press "share" to get this graphic on your own page. Spread the message that religious freedom belongs to everyone!

Leaders of the Nun Justice Project, a group of Catholic organizations that coordinated the recent nationwide vigils, are asking U.S. Catholics to redirect their annual Peter’s Pence contribution from the Vatican to their local communities of women religious. Peter’s Pence is an annual second collection, normally made at the end of June.

To read the full press release, click here.

“At a time when the church hierarchy is beset by scandal, faithful Catholics are looking for moral leadership and have clearly placed their vote of confidence with the sisters,” said Jim FitzGerald, spokesperson for the Nun Justice Project and Executive Director of Call To Action.

To read the full press release, click here.

The Vatican’s legalistic parsing of Sister Margaret Farley’s work will only enhance her well-deserved reputation as a gifted scholar. Rome’s attempt to steer Catholics away from Just Love will serve instead as a recommendation for all those who seek a sexual ethic rooted in justice and mutuality, rather than in platitudes and abstractions. The positions Sr. Margaret articulates resonates with many Catholics, who seek to live out the values of our faith in the context of real life.

To read the full statement, click here.

“We commend the sisters on their prayerful discernment of the Vatican’s mandate. It speaks to the faithfulness of the sisters and the reason why Catholics across the country continue to stand behind them,” stated Jim FitzGerald, spokesperson for the Nun Justice Project and Executive Director of Call To Action.

To read the full statement, click here.

The Vatican and U.S. Bishops are trying to silence women religious. Show your solidarity with the sisters by signing the petition here, or attending a vigil.

Clarion Herald photo by Frank J. Methe

“Women religious are the heart of the church in the United States,” said Jim FitzGerald, Executive Director of Call To Action, the country’s largest Catholic Church justice organization. “They are the ones responsible for the pulse of justice, integrity and compassion that runs through our parishes, schools and hospitals.”

To read the full press release, click here.

In the last month, the public spotlight has been focused on the continuing plague of racism that permeates our church and society. Despite the public outcry, there has been no outcry by the Catholic Bishops against these racial injustices, including those in which they are implicated.

To read the full press release, click here.

Thirteen cities across the country will see Catholics holding protest vigils during Holy Week in support of women’s equality in the Catholic Church, including woman priests. The protests come at a time when Catholic Bishops continue to work against women’s healthcare and just a week after a study was released showing that Catholics are leaving the Church, in part, over its policy against women priests.

Call To Action and Women's Ordination Conference chapters have teamed up again this year to host vigils around the country during Holy Week to highlight the need for women's equality in the Church.

To see a list of the vigil locations, click here.

We send you greetings today as the church commemorates St. Joseph, Patron Saint of Workers. On this day celebrating workers, we thank you for your ministries to the people of God. With more than 30,000 lay ministers in the U.S. church today and countless others in Catholic-affiliated ministries, you are an integral part of the leadership and sustainability of our communities. You also suffer some of the deepest injustices among workers in North America.

To read the full letter, click here.

Thanks to you, the word about church worker justice is spreading! In less than two days, you helped share the petition for workers at Catholic-affiliated institutions and we more than tripled our goal of 500 signatures! We faxed all 33 pages of the petition to the Bishops. On behalf of workers, Call To Action thanks you!

In the last few weeks, we have seen one attack after another against those who help our churches and mission but are denied a voice on decisions that affect them: church workers. March 12th, marks the third anniversary of Bishop Morlino's firing of Ruth Kolpack--a dedicated church worker who spent 26 years of her life serving her local parish in the Diocese of Madison, only to be fired because she would not recant her master's thesis on inclusive language.

Sign up for our email list to be included on all the action this week and in the future at http://www.cta-usa.org/email.

Catholic Bishops are gathering this week for a two-day, closed-door meeting on negotiations with the White House regarding the contraception compromise for workers at Catholic-affiliated institutions. They may be meeting behind closed doors, but let's ensure they don't shut out the voices of workers when it comes to making decisions that affect them!

Sign the petition.

"We are deeply gratified that Governor Martin O’Malley has joined fellow Catholic governors Andrew Cuomo of New York and Christine Gregoire of Washington in signing marriage equality legislation into law."

To read the full press statement, click here.

"We are delighted that another Catholic governor has signed marriage equality legislation into law. Governor Christine Gregoire is a member of the ever-increasing Catholic majority that supports laws assuring fair and equal treatment for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their families."

To read the full press statement, click here.

The Bishops don't want to offer contraception to employees at Catholic hospitals and universities, citing religious liberty. But what about the religious liberty and conscience of the employees who work at these institutions who are both Catholic and non-Catholic? Don't they have a right to decide their health care options? Share what you think with your local newspaper by clicking here.

Call To Action stands in solidarity with SNAP, the Survivor’s Network of Those Abused by Priests, in decrying the recent request by lawyers defending the Archdiocese of St. Louis and lawyers defending Fr. Michael Tierney of the Diocese of Kansas City to release SNAP documents dating back more than 23 years.

To read the full press release, click here.

Benedictine University made headlines two years ago when it let go a faculty member, Laine Tadlock, who is a lesbian after her marriage announcement was placed in a local newspaper. Now, the University is seeking to expand and Call To Action is raising questions.

To read the full press release, click here.

"In expressing fears that a joyful, celebratory gay pride parade could erupt into anti-Catholic violence, Cardinal Francis George has demeaned and demonized LGBT people in a manner unworthy of his office" says Equally Blessed, the pro-LGBT Catholic coalition of which Call To Action is a member.

To read the full press release, please click here.

Catholics across the country are about to go through one of the most widespread changes since the reforms of Vatican II: the words we speak at mass are about to change. Call To Action wants to ensure Catholics know the real history behind the mass translations and the Vatican's unjust maneuvers to get them done. To learn more and take action, click here.

Catholic families in the Arlington Diocese of Virginia held a vigil Sunday, November 20th at the diocesan offices to ask that their daughters be allowed to serve alongside their sons as altar servers. You are invited to stand in solidarity with them by calling Bishop Loverde Monday, November 21st or anytime this month. Ask the Bishop to show leadership by permitting altar girls at ALL parishes in the diocese.

Phone: 703.841.2511.

Catholic families will vigil with signs and prayers outside the Arlington Diocesan Offices and Cathedral. While even the Pope permits altar girls, more than half of Catholic parishes surveyed in the diocese do not allow girls to serve alongside boys as altar servers.

For the full press release, click here.

This year's conference theme, "Living the Gospel of Love," was embodied throughout the weekend in workshops, dance, prayer and community.

If you are not yet on the Call To Action email list, sign-up today and be part of sharing the gospel of love and justice in our church and world! Check out Facebook for photos and news from the conference.

We call on the bishops, who meet in November, to put our church firmly on the side of LGBT youth who have been targeted

To read the full press release click here. To sign the pledge click here.

Starting Sunday, November 27th, Catholics in the United States will be asked to speak an altered set of responses during Sunday masses in which the grammar and translation aligns more closely with the previous Latin-language mass.

Call To Action announces a national tour on the topic that will tell the real story behind the mass translations and provide local venues for more Catholics to join the church justice movement.

Click here for more details.

"We support marriage equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people not in spite of being Catholic, but because we are Catholic. As Catholics, we believe that we are all beloved children of God, and we want the laws of our land to mandate fairness, justice, and equality for all."

To read the full Open Letter, click here.

Sign this petition that will be hand-carried by Fr. Roy Bourgeois, his lawyer and church justice leaders to the Vatican in October as part of a delegation witnessing for women's ordination.

Would you like to present a focus session, lead a prayer session or share your music, dance, drama or film in 2012?

Click here to download a proposal form and tell us what you have in mind!

Our 2012 conference will be held in Louisville the weekend of
November 9-11, 2012.

Emily and Nicole, two young adult representatives of Call To Action and Equally Blessed, the pro-LGBT Catholic coalition, attended World Youth Day (WYD) to raise awareness about the church justice movement. Read about their journey here.

200 priests have signed the Clergy for Conscience statement in support of Fr. Roy Bourgeois, Maryknoll priest and SOA Watch founder, who has been under pressure to recant his support of women priests in the Catholic Church.

To read the full press release, click here.

Under pressure from the Vatican, the Maryknoll Catholic religious order has issued a second canonical warning to Fr. Roy Bourgeois stating he will be dismissed from the order and his priesthood if he does not recant his support for women priests.

To read the full press release, click here.

To read the Second Canonical Warning, click here.
To read Fr. Roy's letter of response, click here.

Thank you for your interest in Call To Action and our work to create a church that welcomes all God's people! For 35 years we have been working on the forefront of the church justice movement on a range of issues in the church from women's ordination to racial justice to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality.

We welcome you to stay connected with us!

Email: Join our email list today to learn about upcoming actions, events and timely news!

Membership: Support the movement by becoming a member today! Members receive newsletters, discounts on the annual conference and are connected to the largest network of Catholics for church justice.

Conference: Attend a weekend full of workshops, speakers, and worship to renew your spirit and meet other Catholics who care about the things you do. It is the largest annual gathering of Catholics for church justice in the country!

Click here to read article from the New York Times, July 22, 2011

Click here to read article from the New York Times, July 30, 2011

Welcome to a movement of Catholics who care about the church!

In an unprecedented move, 157 Catholic priests have signed on to a letter in support of their fellow embattled priest, Fr. Roy Bourgeois, who has been told to recant his support for women's ordination or be removed from the priesthood. The letter that supports Roy's priesthood and his right to conscience was delivered, Friday, July 22nd, to Fr. Edward Dougherty, Superior General of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers in Maryknoll, NY.

To read the full press release, click here.

To the read the New York Times article, click here.

PRIESTS CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE STATEMENT

Archbishop Jose Gomez has announced that he opposes the inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the social studies curricula of California's public schools. As faithful Catholics, we are disappointed that the Archbishop is using the authority of the church in his attempt to hide the contributions that our LGBT brothers and sisters have made throughout history, and to deny LGBT young people the role models they deserve.

To read the full press release, click here.

After this year's revelations that the Philadelphia Archbishop and Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop failed to report sexual abuse allegations to their review boards and to civil authorities, Catholics of good will expected the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to revise their sexual abuse policies at this week's Spring General Assembly. Today, the bishops conclude their gathering without making any substantive changes to their sex abuse policies.

To read the full press statement, click here.

Children in foster care deserve the permanency and stability of a loving family that can keep them safe. Lesbian and gay couples and individuals can do this just as well as heterosexual people. I applaud states that recognize this fact and refuse to support unjust discrimination in public policy and with public funds.

To read the full release, click here.

The John Jay College Final Report issued yesterday does faithful Catholics good service by discrediting the ungrounded, homophobic accusations of the Catholic League's Bill Donohue and others that the church's clergy sex abuse scandal was caused by gay priests.

To read the full release, click here.

Call To Action is growing its staff! Please help us find the right person to fill the new position of Outreach Program Coordinator that will work with Call To Action's Anti-Racism team and CTA 20/30, Call To Action's young adult outreach program.

To learn more, please click here.

Just three weeks after the Vatican pressured the Maryknoll religious order to remove Fr. Roy Bourgeois, it has been revealed that the Vatican has been involved in removing another member of the clergy over his views on women's ordination. Sunday, Bishop William Morris of the Toowoomba Diocese of Australia issued a letter saying the Vatican had forced him into early retirement due to a 2006 Pastoral Letter that he issued regarding the priest shortage. In the letter, Bishop Morris had suggested women's ordination as one of a few potential solutions to the priest crisis.

To read the full press release, click here.

As the Vatican commemorates the life of Pope John Paul II this Sunday, Catholics remain divided on the Vatican's decision to beatify a man known both for his reform in the world and his resistance to reform within the Roman Catholic Church.

To read the full press release, click here.

Twelve cities across the country will see Catholics holding protest vigils at Chrism masses during this Holy Week in support of women priests in the Catholic Church. The protests come in the wake of church officials threatening to remove a well-known Maryknoll priest and founder of School of the America's Watch, Fr. Roy Bourgeois, for his support of women's ordination.

To read the full press release, click here.

Join a vigil near you to support women's ordination and Fr. Roy Bourgeois who is being threatened with removal from the priesthood unless he recants his support for women's equality. Click here for a list of vigils.

To hold a vigil in your city, contact harold@cta-usa.org.

Fr. Roy Bourgeois, MM, received a "canonical warning" demanding that he recant his support for women's ordination or be dismissed from the priesthood.

Please join us in showing your support for Fr. Roy by signing the petition here. Tell his Maryknoll leadership that you stand with Fr. Roy and his support of women's equality.

Equally Blessed, a coalition of four pro-LGBT Roman Catholic organizations that includes Call To Action, released a statement today lamenting the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' opposition to new fair housing rules that would bar groups that receive federal funds from discriminating against gays, lesbians or transgender persons in housing programs.

To read the full press release, click here.

Call To Action and its 25,000 members stand in solidarity with Fr. Roy Bourgeois who today has been threatened with dismissal from the priesthood due to his support of women's ordination in the Catholic Church.

To read the press statement, click here.

Catholics, more than any other Christian denomination in the United States, support legal recognition of same-gender relationships says survey by Public Religion Research Institute.

Click the image above for a full video report.

Earlier this week, two Catholic bishops dismissed a booklet on marriage equality by a member of the Equally Blessed coalition, saying that its author was not authorized to "speak on behalf of the Catholic Church." Today, faithful U.S. Catholics spoke for themselves, supporting the legalization of same-gender marriage by a 60-38 margin in a new poll commissioned by ABC News and The Washington Post.

To read the full press release, click here.

Call To Action stands in solidarity with New Ways Ministry after Cardinal Wuerl and Bishop Cordileone issued a statement Wednesday, March 16th attempting to discount the pro-LGBT Catholic organization. The letter was issued in response to New Ways Ministry’s recent booklet Marriage Equality: A Positive Catholic Approach.

To read the full press release, click here.

Equally Blessed, a coalition of four Roman Catholic organizations that support full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their families both in the church and in civil society, today asked the Most Rev. Francis Chullikatt, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the United Nations, to condemn violence against lesbian and gay people in Uganda.

Click here for more information.

Call To Action thanks Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers for reinstating its grant funding to SOA Watch! Earlier this year, Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers withdrew its annual grant to SOA Watch, citing its reason as the fact that SOA Watch's founder, Roy Bouregois, is an advocate for women's equality in the church. In response, Call To Action, along with 19 other church and social justice organizations, sent a letter to Maryknoll encouraging reinstatement of the funding.

Call To Action is deeply grateful for Maryknoll's reconsideration and we invite you to join us in thanking them by clicking here.

Equally Blessed, a coalition of four Roman Catholic organizations including Call To Action, that supports full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their families both in the church and in civil society, today called upon the Diocese of Colorado Springs to reconsider its decision to offer a 12-step program for LGBT Catholics in which participants are asked to state that they are “defective.”

To read the full press release, click here.

Pope John Paul II, whose beatification will be celebrated on 1 May 2011, was a pope of great contradiction. His tragedy lies in the discrepancy between his commitment to reform and dialogue in the world and his return to authoritarianism within the church.

To read the full press release, click here.

Dr. Laine Tadlock, a well-regarded professor at Benedictine University in Illinois, married her partner in Iowa this summer. To share the news, they placed a wedding announcement in their local newspaper. Benedictine University's President, William J. Carroll, felt as a Catholic institution he could not employ educators who are openly-gay. She was offered a non-teaching job for which she felt she was not qualified. When she turned it down, President Carroll terminated her.

Please call Benedictine University President William J. Carroll today and demand a public apology and the introduction of gay-straight alliances for students on its multiple campuses to promote understanding and justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people! Dial 630.829.6000, press 0 for operator and ask for his office.

Two bishops in Minnesota have filed a legal motion to force a survivor of clergy sexual abuse to pay $132,000 so that the bishops may recoup their legal costs incurred fighting against his claims in court. "We know that intimidating tactics like these only serve to perpetuate a culture of secrecy where truth is not welcome and justice is denied," says Jim FitzGerald, Executive Director of Call To Action. "While recouping legal costs may be a tactic in corporate culture, this is no way for our moral leaders to behave." To read the full press release, click here.

To help make the pre-Christmas season of Advent a time of hope for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth, a coalition of progressive Catholic organizations has organized a massive campaign of wearing rainbow ribbons to church as a way of showing solidarity and support for young people who may be the victims of bullying or may be contemplating suicide. For the full press release, click here.

Browse through a selection of photos from conference or purchase CDs, DVDs, or MP3 files of conference sessions to re-live your favorite moments of conference or experience it for the first time!

The leaders of Equally Blessed, a coalition of Catholics working for justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, have issued a statement expressing deep concern over the outcome of the election of new leaders for the US Catholic Bishops Conference. For a copy of the press release, click here.

While the Catholic Bishops have been silent with regards to the string of recently publicized LGBT youth suicides, participants and pro-LGBT Catholic organizations at the Call To Action conference issued a statement against bullying. To read more, click here.

Call To Action's Board of Directors has adopted a strategic plan for the organization and Jim FitzGerald, Executive Director, announced the plan Friday night at the opening ceremonies of the annual conference. The plan comes as the organization prepares to enter its 35th anniversary of working for church justice and sets a vision for the coming years. To read more about the new strategic plan, click here.

Four long-standing Catholic organizations announced today that they have formed Equally Blessed, a coalition of faithful Catholics who support full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people both in church and in civil society. To read the press release, click here.