Introduction

Plenary Speakers

Presentations

Schedule

Registration

Friday Seminars

Features

Travel & Hotels

CTA Home Page

Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them…
There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain… Isaiah 11, 6-9

In the cover art on this brochure, the lion is lying down with the lamb. No harm or ruin is occurring. The power and privilege of the lion over the lamb has been relinquished. Such is God’s dream for humanity, Isaiah's vision of the kin-dom, the beloved community of the nonviolent Jesus.

Each November Call To Action convenes its national conference because we are the Church, the people of God, and yet, our work is unfinished. We are a Church always in need of reform, said Vatican II. Always. Ecclesia semper reformanda. To be faithful Church, beyond power and privilege, we do battle with sexism. Classism. Heterosexism. This year, we are called to confront our racism. Why are we, in Call To Action and in the American Catholic Church, still overwhelmingly white, when the human family is predominantly people of color? Even our nation will cease to have a white majority in 2020 — just 13 years from now!

Call To Action’s Anti-Racism Team was formed in 2004, and spent two years of training, analysis and planning before giving the CTA Board a strategic plan for moving the organization toward transformation into an Anti-Racist Multicultural Institution. Now the Team has worked closely with board and staff to design this 2007 national conference: From Racism to Reconciliation: Church Beyond Power and Privilege.

Are we racists? Not, we hope, in the sense of personal prejudice and bigotry. But systemic, institutional racism goes deeper, to include the misuse of power by systems and institutions. CTA is afflicted with systemic racism, because, like the U.S. Church at large, it exists in a society where being white confers an invisible knapsack of unearned privilege, and being persons of color bestows unearned disadvantage. This is unjust, and unworthy of a Church called to embody the Vision of Jesus.

Dismantling racism looms large in the conference, but the other priorities of CTA are not forgotten: there are sessions about women's ordination, democratic church governance, peacemaking and the war, and the rights of GLBT persons and couples. Our JustChurch Project, launched one year ago, is training CTA members in nonviolent action for change, and where church injustice is most acute, nonviolent action is already occurring. At times, racism is also in the picture. One early JustChurch action protested attempted closure of an historic black parish in New Orleans. After people's protests, the archbishop relented — and apologized for having overlooked the undertone of racism in his action just six months after the devastation of the black neighborhoods by Katrina.

The CTA Conference gathers thousands of individuals, faith communities and organizations from all parts of the United States. CTA has 52 regional chapters and links to similar renewal movements in many other countries. Opportunities for caucuses and networking are extensive. The conference is packed with variety. Choose your own level of participation. If cost is a problem, apply for limited income registration. If not, consider making an extra donation to support those who need such assistance.

If you can’t come, be part of the movement. If you haven’t joined CTA, join now. Send a donation. Stay in touch.

Dan Daley
Sheila S. Daley

Co-Directors, Call to Action