Failing America’s Faithful--How Today’s Churches Are Mixing God with Politics and Losing Their Way
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, eldest
child of Robert and Ethel Kennedy, two-time
lieutenant governor and now a superdelegate
from Maryland, opens our conference three
days after the national election. Her message
shares the title of her 2007 book. There is
an appropriate role for religion in politics,
she writes, one that reconciles the liberating
vision of the Founding Fathers with values
born of faith, such as those contained in Leo
XIII’s Rerum Novarum. In this election, she
thinks America may be ready. Is she right?
Kennedy Townsend is also passionate about reforming the churches,
especially her own Catholic Church. She is inspired by Charlie Curran
and Theresa Kane. After Vatican II, the Church she loves lost its way, chiefly on questions of women and sex. But her book credits Dan and Sheila Daley for founding the independent CTA movement to reform the Church from below. And like CTA, she labors to change the Church so that the Church can serve the common good, especially those in poverty.
Plenary address:
Friday, 8 PM |
Growing Smarter: Achieving Livable Communities For All
Robert Bullard is called the father of environmental justice. Teaching sociology in Houston in the late 1970s, he discovered that all the city-owned landfills in Houston were in black neighborhoods, though blacks made up only 25 percent of the population.
As he studied the siting of garbage dumps, he identified systematic patterns of injustice.
The book that Bullard eventually wrote in
1990 about that work, Dumping in Dixie, is
the first book to fully articulate the idea of
environmental justice. Bullard became an
activist for environmental justice. He helped
plan the First National People of Color Environmental Summit in 1991, which wrote the principles of modern environmental justice. He later helped Bill Clinton issue an executive order that all federal agencies must factor environmental justice into their programs. Under Bush, that progress
came under attack, even from the U.S. EPA. But Bullard is leading
the resistance. When Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, it turned Bullard's
attention to the area devastated by the storm. He calls it “the latest urban
environmental sacrifice zone.”
Plenary address:
Saturday, 10:15 AM |
Embrace our World! Herald a New Pentecost!
Bishop Remi De Roo, 84, is a pilgrim of Vatican II. He keeps preaching it because it must not be forgotten! Named a bishop
in 1962, right after Vatican II began, he participated in all four sessions, the youngest bishop present, became its articulate apostle, and spent 37 years in Victoria, B.C, trying
to embody the Vatican II vision of church. Since retirement, his mission is to share that message with others, especially young
people. De Roo for years chaired social justice for the Canadian bishops. Bold statements were issued on behalf of victims of injustice, even women.
Today he speaks for the ordination of women. He also knows the power
struggle over ministry. Vatican II said the basic sacraments for ministry are
baptism/confirmation, not holy orders. But the restorationists led by John
Paul II have been trying to roll back Vatican II. De Roo trusts the Spirit and
keeps fighting clericalism. He says, “Vatican II ideas— religious liberty,
conscience, justice — are more relevant than ever. We need to reclaim that
freedom. There is no scriptural basis for a monarchical episcopacy.”
Plenary address:
Sunday, 9 AM |
