Volume 26, Number 1    April 2004

CTA West Coast Conference strong for justice and peace

Peace and justice topics loomed large at the Sixth Annual CTA Western Regional Conference March 19-21 in Pomona, Calif. Jesuit Fr. John Dear spoke of his experiences working for peace – from sharing a table with the Jesuits in El Salvador (who were later murdered) to entering an Air Force Base in North Carolina with Phil Berrigan to hammer on fighter jets in a symbolic act to “beat swords into plowshares.” (Dear returns to our National Conference this November.) Tom Fox stressed that the mission of the church is “outside the church and in the world,” where “our real community is 6.2 billion people.”

Anita Caspary, IHM, discussed her experiences as Mother General of the California IHM Sisters during their efforts in the 1960s to renew their community and the subsequent conflict with Cardinal James McIntyre of Los Angeles, which ultimately resulted in the community electing non-canonical status to ensure that the integrity of their renewal would not be stifled.

Among other speakers, Dr. Jeanette Rodriguez spoke about Guadalupe and the power that this image of the divine holds for the indigenous peoples of Latin America. Theresa and Blaise Bonpane described their work to create the Office of the Americas, dedicated to promoting peace and justice in Central and South America.