Religion, Money, Politics: Theme stirs 3,000 conferees to take action

“This experience is my annual inoculation against rigidity, dogmatism, clericalism, episcopal arrogance, ignorance of the rights and gifts of laity and the general Tridentine ‘Church Militant’ mentality that pervades my diocese and my parish. I always leave refreshed, renewed and ready for another ten rounds with the institutional church and the theo-fascism of the government.”

These words — written on an evaluation form at the close of the 2005 CTA national conference Nov. 6 in Milwaukee — were typical of the mood among the 3,000 who attended. Facing the injustices in both church and society, folks arrived weary and depleted, but went home with hope, energy, and a real desire to do something on both fronts.

The action orientation started Friday night with Rev. James Lawson, who called us to learn the nonviolent action spirituality of a Rosa Parks and to rely on CTA as our community network of support. The action motif continued in dozens of lectures and workshops. Every time slot had a different workshop from a “nonviolent action for change” team led by CTA board members plus staff from a “Violence to Wholeness” program in Oakland, Calif.

As an example of action on church reform, lay synods in dioceses were promoted as concrete and do-able people’s initiatives (story, page 5.) The role of women in the church was substantially addressed (story, page x.) Spirituality to sustain us as reformers was offered by Donald Cozzens, (page 2), Scripture scholar Roger Karban (page 5), Edwina Gateley and Michael Morwood, among many others. And no one represented lifelong active commitment to church reform better than 2005 honoree Charlie Curran. “The Church is semper reformanda — always in need of reform,” he told the crowd. He reminded us that since Vatican II we know that we are a pilgrim church, always moving, though always falling short.

Resisting Militarization

On societal justice and peace, the perverse role of a vastly militarized and dominating U.S. government was elaborated again and again by such speakers as Rita Nakashima Brock, David Korten, and Dave Robinson (page 8). But resistance actions and legislative initiatives were recommended, not discouragement or despair. Some actions were immediate and effective. Postcards to Congress handed out in the plenary hall were signed and mailed, demanding a no vote on $50 million cuts in food stamps, student loans, and welfare. That week the House in an initial vote rejected the cuts.

Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, Cuban-born liberation theologian, was the last plenary speaker Sunday morning. To be an instrument for transforming the world, our church needs to change more than its structures, she said. We must change our very self-understanding as church. To do so, she and other mujerista theologians want to replace “Kingdom of God” with the phrase “kin-dom of God.” The Kingdom metaphor perpetuates elitist and patriarchal systems in the church, and sanctions all sorts of oppression. “Kin-dom” of God means family — la familia de Dios — with the emphasis on kinship, equality, “a true sense of home, of being safe, of being able to be and become one’s self.” Isasi-Diaz paraphrased her mentor, the late Sr. Marjorie Tuite: “If the church is about Kingdom, there is no need to change. The church can ally itself with the world’s powerful, and ignore the poor and marginalized. A kingdom of God Church can preach justice to others while exempting itself from being just. But if church is God’s kin-dom or family, then the church is not only for the poor but of the poor.”

“We as church must take a stand, must take risks in favor of justice,” she said. “Stop calling ourselves liberals. We must be radicals.”

Mainstream Catholics

Paradoxically, the so-called “radicals” at CTA as usual were very mainstream Catholics, including 18 percent women religious and five percent priests. Over 90 percent attend church regularly, and 69 percent are also active as parish volunteers. Twenty-two percent are church employees. Nearly 11 percent were 42 and under, assuring lively energy for a cluster of sessions and events geared primarily to adults in their 20s and 30s.

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