Call To Action National Conference
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The Only Life Raft Here Is Love: A Call to Inner Revolution

Edwina Gateley
looks at the violence of our world, yet reflects on our perennial invitation to become peacemakers from within. This inner revolution calls us to focus on the God who dwells deeper than our fears, offering us endless opportunity to become healers. Gateley founded the Volunteer Missionary Movement, a lay overseas mission group, and Genesis House, a haven for prostitutes in Chicago. Her Saturday workshop with Brenda Myers from Genesis House is described here. Her books include Growing into God and The Mystical Heart.

Plenary address: Friday, 8 PM

 

 

 

Why I Am a Catholic

Garry Wills
shares the reasons for hope in this time of gospel renewal. Accused of being anti-Catholic after writing Papal Sin about fundamental dishonesty at the heart of the papacy, Wills wrote Why I Am a Catholic, a personal statement of the timeless core of Catholic belief which endures even as the church institution, including the papacy, changes. Professor of history, American culture and public policy at Northwestern University since 1980, the prolific Wills has written 27 books on topics ranging from St. Augustine to Thomas Jefferson to modern presidents Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan. His book, Lincoln at Gettysburg, won the Pulitzer Prize.

Saturday, 10:30 AM

 

 

God's Gift of Infinite Potential: Tending the Seeds of Compassion, Justice, and Nonviolence in the Global Community

James M. Lawson, Jr.
, was invited to the South in 1957 by Martin Luther King, Jr., to teach Gandhian nonviolence. He trained students like Diane Nash, Marion Barry, John Lewis and James Bevel - joining them in the sit-ins and the founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Lawson's words of faith shaped SNCC: "By appealing to conscience, nonviolence nurtures the atmosphere in which reconciliation and justice become possibillties." Lawson worked closely with Dr. King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference starting in 1960. His request brought King to Memphis to stand with striking sanitation workers in 1968 - where King was killed. Lawson continued the work of SCLC. As a pastor in Los Angeles, 1975 to 1999, and today at age 65, Lawson has been tireless in the nonviolent struggle for justice and peace.

Sunday, 9 AM.