In regional chapters across the U.S., CTA folks are rising up

MILWAUKEE - The April 8 annual meeting of CTA Wisconsin has been booted from cathedral premises by Archbishop Timothy Dolan. Cathedral rector Fr. Carl Last had happily arranged with CTA leaders John and Lois Ahlhauser to house the event, where Bishop Tom Gumbleton is scheduled to critique the Vatican positions against gay seminarians and priests.

The Ahlhausers believe Dolan barred the meeting from his own cathedral to disassociate himself from CTA's church reform agenda. But not all of Dolan's priests take the same tack. CTA Wisconsin was able to move the meeting to All Saints Parish, where Fr. Carl Diederichs is pastor — one of the 163 Milwaukee priests whose 2004 letter urging the bishops to discuss optional celibacy inspired CTA and FutureChurch activists to poll their priests in nearly 60 dioceses. He and two other Milwaukee priests were given a standing ovation at the 2004 CTA national conference.

All Saints Gospel Choir, a perennial favorite at CTA national conventions, is based at All Saints Parish, and will sing at the CTA Wisconsin event April 8.

SAGINAW, MICH. - On March 19 CTA Michigan's many local branches completed a five-day, seven-stop speaking tour by Angela Bonavoglia, the journalist-author of "Good Catholic Girls: How Women Are Leading the Fight to Change the Church.” Reprising the powerful themes of her talk at CTA national conference last November, Bonavoglia “is making a difference in the way women who never thought about church reform are now seeing themselves,” said Rosemary Moon of Saginaw, last stop after talks in Lansing, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, and three locations in Detroit. The author then traveled to upstate New York for another CTA regional tour in Albany, Utica, Syracuse and Buffalo.

Angela's book is now in paperback. Her website is www.goodcatholicgirls.com

BOSTON - CTA New England, Voice of the Faithful and clergy sex abuse survivors demonstrated outside the cathedral during the annual Red Mass for Catholic lawyers. Justice Antonin Scalia and 200 attorneys, judges and legislators were reminded via signs, photos and a handout that for countless survivors, justice delayed is justice denied. Radio and TV stations were there interviewing the survivors. Said Stan Doherty of CTA-NE, “It felt good to challenge the power brokers a bit.” Get more details from Stan at ctane@comcast.net.

NAPLES, FLA. - Edwina Gateley wrapped up a three-day Florida CTA speaking tour at CTA Southwest Florida on Feb. 28. She brought the message from her national conference address last November on “Becoming a Prophetic and Problematic Church in Turbulent Times.” Other tour stops were in the Tampa Bay area and the Orlando area with CTA Central Florida.

ARLINGTON, VA. - CTA Northern Virginia has scored a victory after a 12 year struggle: altar girls will finally be permitted in the Arlington diocese.

"Hallelujah," said Rea Howarth. "Long we have waited." Rea is a founding member of CTA Northern Virginia, which began in 1994, and mounted its first project: opposing the late Bishop Richard Keating's ban on girl altar servers. There were demonstrations, bumper stickers, and a drive to divert donations from the Bishop's Lenten Appeal to other charities. Keating never gave in. “Our daughter, now 21, had wanted to be an altar girl since she was 8,” Rea told CTA News. “She eventually decided not to be confirmed in the Church because she could not serve at the altar.”

After several years maintaining the ban, Keating's successor, Bishop Paul Loverde, announced March 21 that girl servers would be allowed, but only if a pastor writes the bishop for permission. Both the Vatican and the U.S. Bishops' Conference approved girl altar servers in 1994. Nearly all dioceses quickly introduced the practice. Today the single U.S. diocese maintaining the ban is Lincoln, Neb.

LIVERPOOL, N.Y. - CTA of Upstate New York will sponsor “the New York State Synod for the People of God” June 9-10 aty LeMoyne Manor. The assembly is to discuss the needs of the Church, such as laity in decision-making, the role of women, the priest shortage and parish closings, treatment of gay/lesbian Catholics and victims of priest abuse.

Speakers will include Lena Woltering, a leader of the first U.S. lay synod in southern Illinois; Sr. Kate Kunstler, a canon lawyer; Jim Orgren, president of CTA Upstate N.Y.; Gloria Ulterino, author and liturgist; Aisha Taylor, national coordinator of the Women's Ordination Conference; Marianne Trent, representing SNAP; and David Pacinski, representative of Dignity.

For more information or to register, contact Sally or Jim Orgren: 716 688-4584 or wnycta@adelphia.net