From the Riane Eisler opening address Friday night to the Edwina Gateley homily at Sunday's closing Eucharist, the theme was transparent: women and men seeking equality. And despite formidable resistance to women's equality by the Vatican and church officials, the 3,500 at CTA's national conference Oct. 30 - Nov. 1 in Milwaukee were upbeat and full of hope.

More than the speeches, it was the experience of inclusive liturgy that conveyed hope. "The Sunday liturgy was especially uplifting and egalitarian," said Krista Reitz of Pittsburgh, Pa. "It wasn't somebody else celebrating, but me and everybody around us," said Ann Mattern of DePere, Wis. Written evaluations mentioned "the sense of hope -- even as we acknowledge the painful realities, tensions, and injustices in our world and church."

A powerful symbol of hope despite pain was the large delegation from Corpus Christi Parish, Rochester, N.Y., with their recently ousted pastoral staff, Fr. Jim Callan and Mary Ramerman. Gateley's homily drew parallels between Corpus Christi outreach ministries -- an inner city shelter, a free clinic, missions in Haiti and Mexico, peace marches against war in Iraq -- and the beatitudes of St. Matthew's Gospel for All Saints' Day. Corpus Christi parishioners are struggling to maintain these parish projects, while still defending parish policies that got Callan and Ramerman removed under Vatican pressure: welcoming gays and lesbians, inviting all believers to receive communion, and having women pastoral leaders at the altar in alb and half-stole. Mary wore the same garb as one of several prayer leaders at the closing CTA Eucharist.

Gateley, who received CTA's 1998 Leadership Award before the Mass, drew sustained applause when she herself donned a stole during the homily. "There comes a time," she said "when those who are persecuted in the name of righteousness must claim the seal of Yahweh, the sign of discipleship." CTA veterans remembered a similar CTA event exactly five years ago when wearing a stole at conference Eucharist got Gateley banned from speaking in several dioceses.

Mainstream Catholics abound
As usual, the 3,500 conferees were decidedly mainstream Catholics: 95 percent said they attend church regularly, and 75 percent also serve the Church as volunteers. They are 5 percent priests and bishops, 20 percent religious, and 75 percent laity. The clerical-lay distinction was downplayed by Harvard theologian Elisabeth SchŸssler Fiorenza in a plenary address on the radically egalitarian community Jesus envisioned, before his followers adopted hierarchical structures borrowed from the Roman empire. "Never call yourself Ôlay' (Ôlaicos' in Greek, meaning subordinate to the clergy)," she said. "We are the people of God, not second-class citizens. We hold the power of the people. If we refuse to consent to dominative teachings, the Vatican loses its power of control."

Earlier that same week in Austria, this democratic spirit was being implemented by delegates in a highly official assembly called the "Dialogue for Austria." (see story) Ironically, lay pastoral worker Ingrid Thurner of Innsbruck, a leader of the 1995 We Are Church petition drive that garnered 500,000 signatures and inspired an international movement, was photographed in the entrance procession with the Austrian bishops, wearing the purple stole that has become an international badge of advocacy for women's equality in the Church, including ordination.

At CTA, all 3,500 participants were given "a Call to Action for Women's Equality" -- a flyer with a menu of actions so "everyone can do at least one thing." Some chose to wear purple ribbons as signs of mourning over women's exclusion from leadership. Many signed up to help implement "From Words and Deeds," the U.S. Bishops' October statement urging the appointment of more women to leadership positions. Many also pledged to speak out for women's ordination, or to get involved in the CTA/FutureChurch project on Women in Church Leadership.