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Responding to the Fire: People of Faith Struggle to Create a
Just and Participatory Church through Nonviolent Action

Ken Butigan, Christina Leaño, Ken Preston-Pile, Jeanette Rodriguez and Laura Slattery facilitate this mini-retreat featuring personal stories told by people who are taking creative action to resist unjust policies and conditions in their local church and diocese. Presenters and topics are: Stan Doherty, CTA New England: Boston parishioners resist unjust parish closings. Sandra Gordon and Tom Honoré: In New Orleans grassroots protests reverse the closing of the oldest Black parish in the U.S. José Moya of CTA Rio Grande Valley, McAllen, Tex.: Parish workers unionize to protect their jobs and benefits. A pastor bans CTA members from all ministries. Rachel Pokora, CTA Nebraska in Lincoln: After 10 years of excommunication, CTA members hold a courageous weekend conference. Fr. Marek Bosek: At St. Stanislaus Polish Catholic Church in St. Louis, parishioners keep control of parish assets, hire their own priest, and stay open despite excommunications. Join this day of solidarity advancing the nonviolent action movement in the Church. Butigan, Leaño, Preston-Pile and Slattery come from the Pace e Bene Franciscan Nonviolence Service in Oakland, Calif. Rodriguez is a plenary speaker on Saturday (page 1). For other parts of the Nonviolent Action Track throughout the weekend, see the box on page 5. Friday, 9 AM-2:45 PM (1.01)

Cultural Competency and White Privilege: Getting in on the Converstions

Eddie Moore, Jr. leads an interactive workshop confronting white privilege, oppression and leadership in America, especially in the church. We who want to promote diversity must get in on the tough conversations. We can be positive role models and agents of social and institutional change if we have the tools. We will leave this session with skills and knowledge to begin addressing the issues. With a Ph.D. in Education/Social Foundations, Moore is Director of Diversity at The Bush School in Seattle. He directs his own multicultural diversity consulting team to give motivational sessions with students, K through graduate school, as well as parents, organizations, and government employees. A former student athlete, Moore did his doctoral research on the experiences of African-American football players at small Midwestern colleges. Friday, 9 AM-2:45 PM (1.03)

Prayer, Meditation, Contemplation: The Psychology and Theology of Spiritual Practices

Daniel Helminiak leads a workshop to nourish mature faith. A Lonerganian theologian and psychology professor, he builds on the Roman Catholic principle, “Grace builds on nature,” and helps us both to experience prayer and meditation and to discuss the psychological mechanisms that account for their effectiveness. We gain a integrative overview that spans the gamut from verbal prayer to ritual movement, and from affective or image-filled meditation to the emptiness — John of the Cross’s nada — of contemplation. Helminiak's books include What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality, Meditation without Myth, and most recently, Sex and the Sacred: Gay Identity and Spiritual Growth. Friday, 9 AM-2:45 PM (1.02)

Voice of the Faithful leaders present their Campaign for Accountability that began in March with ads in the NCR. Its twin goals are financial transparency and protection of children from sexual abuse. It pursues the first in both parishes and dioceses by pushing for finance councils that work and release of financial documents. Its tools to defend children include implementation of state laws mandating reporting of child sexual abuse and extension of statutes of limitation on these crimes. Learn how to take action in your parish, diocese and state as part of this national grassroots campaign. NO REGISTRATION FEE. Friday, 9 AM-2:45 PM (1.05)

Bridging the Gap: Gender Equality, Sex and Ordination

The National Catholic Ministerial Alliance, a coalition of groups whose goals include renewing Catholic priesthood, presents this program. Andrea Johnson and Anthony Padovano survey the post- Vatican II history of priesthood reform. Padovano is a professor of theology, literature and philosophy and has addressed U.N. conferences in New York and abroad. Johnson is former national director of the Women's Ordination Conference, and co-founded Women's Ordination Worldwide in 1996. A panel of women and men tell of their journey to answer a personal call to priesthood. Another panel has speakers from CORPUS, FCM, Roman Catholic Womenpriests, Spiritus Christi, Ecumenical Catholic Communion, Young Feminist Network and Women-Church Convergence. A male married priest and a woman priest will co-preside at an inclusive Eucharist of gospel equality and partnership. Friday, 9 AM-2:45 PM (1.04)

Learning How to Say “I Am”

Miriam Therese Winter offers a day of reflection. God said, “I Am.” Jesus said it. We need to say it, again and again, to ourselves and to others, in all aspects of our lives. Why is so difficult to say who I am, how I feel, what I think, what I long for, especilly in the Church? We wrestle with these questions and seek to release the transformative power in those two small, life-giving words. A Medical Mission Sister, Winter is professor of liturgy, worship, spirituality and feminist studies at Hartford Seminary, Hartford, Conn. Among her 15 books are eucharist with a small e, Defecting in Place: Women Claiming Responsibility for Their Own Spiritual Lives, and The Singer and the Song: An Autobiography of the Spirit. Friday 9 AM-2:45 PM (1.06)