CTAers may be better known for pushing church reform, but those in Detroit's Cobo Hall Nov. 14-16 were equally passionate about justice in the world. Some highlights:

• Centerpiece of the opening session was an award to Pax Christi USA, remembrance of those martyred by military regimes in Central America, and an action alert to help close the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA), which trains the Latin American soldiers responsible for the killing. While many CTA members were demonstrating at SOA in Georgia, hundreds more in Detroit acted in solidarity with them by signing petitions to Congress.
  
  
• The Take Action booth staffed by Detroit-based Groundwork for a Just World was crowded all weekend with CTAers signing letters and petitions on some 15 issues covering campaign finance reform, the death penalty, global debt, sweatshops, farmworkers, and more. Gloria Rivera of Groundwork staff said over 1,000 letters were mailed right after the conference.
  
  
• The biggest outpouring of letters backed the Catholic Campaign to Ban Landmines. CTA co-sponsors this coalition effort led by the U.S. Bishops, whose staff came to the CTA event.
  
  
• About 250 convention-goers took to the Detroit streets Saturday evening for a candlelight procession to "stand with those made poor."
  
  
• The throng at Sunday Eucharist was told the offertory collection would go to Pax Christi USA, the U.S. Bishops' Campaign for Human Development, and CTA conference scholarships for students and the indigent. Donations topped $11,500.
  
  
• Bread for the World reported heavy traffic at its booth. BFW's 1997 Offering of Letters to Congress, co-sponsored by CTA, backs the Hunger Has a Cure Act in Congress, to help mend the safety net shredded by welfare reform.
  
  
• NETWORK national coordinator Kathy Thornton led two focus sessions on affecting welfare reform measures at the state level. A separate workshop staffed by CTA brought activists from several states together to swap strategies for action. NETWORK economist Amata Miller made presentations on the current economy, and how to protect the middle class and workers.
  
  
• Large crowds heard Jim Wallis of Sojourners magazine describe a "new spiritual politics," and stepped forward to join Call to Renewal, the new interfaith coalition he has created since the welfare reform debacle (story below).
  
  Small communities do justice
  Even the programs about small faith communities (SFCs) revealed CTAers' abiding interest in social justice. In separate talks, both theologian Bernard Lee and sociologist Bill D'Antonio referred to a new survey in which they compared members of various kinds of SFCs with the general population of U.S. Catholics. They asked if one can be a good Catholic without donating time or money to help the needy. Of those in local CTA groups. 73 percent said no, compared with only 40 percent of Catholics at large. Have you attended a Catholic social justice meeting in the last two years? Of local CTAers, 73 percent said yes, vs. 13 percent among all Catholics. Do you regularly give time to serve the poor, sick or elderly? CTAers: 60 percent. All Catholics: 24 percent.