September 2001 Call to Action News

Fresh from Dublin, Chittister brings prophetic message to CTA

"People do not question because they reject their church. People question because they love it."

To these lines from Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister, the CTA conference audience in Los Angeles exploded - for the umpteenth time - in thunderous applause. Her stirring speech on Aug. 5 - about being a Church with Vatican II roots but also wings to soar unafraid into the future - was the highlight of the first of three national conferences marking CTA's 25th anniversary. She is bringing the same message to an expected 1,500 in Philadelphia Sept. 14-16 and to an even larger crowd in Chicago Nov. 2-4.

Giving her first major address in the U.S. since her historic appearance against Vatican orders at the Women's Ordination Worldwide meeting June 29 in Dublin, Chittister attracted unusual media interest. The L.A. Times plugged the CTA event in a Saturday edition, and published a long feature with photos on Sunday about the courage of Sr. Joan and her Erie Benedictines in standing up to Rome. Time Magazine covered the weekend and devoted a full page to "A Nun's Dangerous Talk." So did a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Her Aug. 19 article, "They will not be silenced," also referred to Sr. Jeannine Gramick, another speaker, who has resisted a Vatican ban on her gay-lesbian ministry.

Gramick's congregation, the School Sisters of Notre Dame, had been forced by Rome to move toward expelling her. But the Sisters of Loretto recently agreed to accept Gramick, giving her a new community of support for her work. Gramick and longtime collaborator, Salvatorian Fr. Bob Nugent, will receive CTA's Leadership award this month in Philadelphia.

A complete roundup of all three 2001 conferences will fill the December issue of CTA News.