Answering Gumbleton's challenge to social justice
At last November's convention, Bishop Tom Gumbleton challenged CTA to be more active on issues of societal justice. We asked members to react. Here are two views:

I would not want you to dilute your focus on doing social justice within our church structure. I know of no other source addressing the injustices within this particular social structure. It seems like addressing injustices in the world would be easier to be aware of and therefore address if we would acknowledge the injustices that exist in our church family. Why did the U.S. bishops' own plan go down the tubes about 1979 or 1980? Was it because they as leaders are losing their credibility because of their stances within our church's social structure? I know their credibility has gone down within my own eyes when I see them advocating justice within other social structures and not addressing them within the social order they lead.
S. Beth Rindler, SFP, Detroit, Mich.

I agree wholeheartedly that CTA seems too focused on church stuff while the world falls apart around us. Abolition 2000 and the other organizations are doing important work, but they are treating symptoms. I would want to see believers begin to address the fundamental political, legal and economic structures which cause the violence, injustice and ecosystem damage. I am talking about transnational corporations and the 14th Amendment which grants them personhood. The most exciting movement in America today is the campaign to return corporations to their original condition: temporary creations of state legislatures accountable to those legislatures. I would love to see CTA join the other organizations which are educating the public about how the power of corporations must and can be brought under control.
Mary Fitzpatrick, Billings, MT

School of the Americas
I would love to be with you in Detroit. (But) I feel compelled to be part of the vigil and disobedience action taking place at Fort Benning Nov. 16 to close the School of the Americas. My cousin, Fr. Guadalupe Carney, was tortured and murdered in Honduras in 1983 and is still among the hundreds of disappeared. We have become aware that some of those responsible for his death were trained at this school. Our Sisters and their families are among the people of Latin America who have suffered at the hands of military trained at the SOA.
Frances Brenner, OSF, School Sisters of St. Francis, Milwaukee, Wis.

Death penalty
I was delighted with your social justice issue of CTA News and I do agree that we not only need to reform our church, but also the society we live in: all is interconnected. The action ideas and resources given us were good. I'd like to add to this the issue of the death penalty. Over 3,000 persons are on death row in the U.S., and they are being executed at a faster pace than ever before. Most have little or no family support and their treatment in prison is beyond what you can imagine. Our bishops have issued strong statements in 1973 and in 1980, but priests tend to be afraid to preach about this. The people in the pews are not educated about it. In a survey taken in our parish 50 percent favored the death penalty.
Mary E. Hennig, Clarkston, Mich.

Position on abortion?
I went to the CTA conference in Omaha, Neb. almost a year ago, shortly after the excommunication took place. It was also shortly after the infallibility statement came out from Rome. I was in a quandary. I was literally in pain and confusion, begging God for guidance and peace about remaining Catholic. I cried practically the whole time at the CTA conference. I had found a home, a place where I could talk to people -- those who love the church but also see the history and possible corruption of the hierarchy. CTA offers so much but I am concerned about one issue: abortion. I deeply believe legalized abortion is a holocaust of our most innocent members of our human race. I do not know all the answers to this confusion but I do believe abortion is murder and it is an injustice to all of us to sanction this killing by legalizing it. I am a member of "feminists for life." What is your standing on this issue -- I'd say the main issue facing our culture today? I have been told there are those supporting and opposing legalized abortion in CTA. Could you enlighten me more on what the leaders of CTA believe?
Molly Vacha, Omaha, Neb.

Ed. note - CTA's l990 Call for Reform does not mention abortion explicity, nor have we polled our members on their views. Many members undoubtedly subscribe to the late Cardinal Bernardin's seamless garment principles: all life is precious, all life deserves to be affirmed. What CTA tries to do is to serve as a forum where Catholic people with various perspectives on the issue can dialogue, and address those "life issues" which lead women to take this route. They include domestic violence, rape, poverty, little or no knowledge of the miracle of human sexuality, pregnancy and birth; devaluation of the feminine except as related to men, family breakdown, and insufficient support for mothers and children. Such a dialogue will be facilitated on Saturday, Nov. 15 at the CTA National Conference by Common Ground Network for Life and Choice.

Savoring the Sabbath
Now that my husband and I are semi-retired (are housewives ever semi-retired?) we seem to be busier than ever and lose track of time. Thank you for the Spirituality/Justice Reprint on the Sabbath. I am glad you are the kind of people who are willing to publish material by Jewish writers.
Virginia L. Norton, Davenport, Iowa

Hurting for the Church(es)
I want to wish all of you well and to let you know you have a supporter who believes in what you are doing. Raised Roman Catholic and now an Episcopalian, I have never forgotten (and am indebted to ) my RC roots and am forever supportive of my friends in your Church who I see struggling to be true to Jesus's message of love within the politics of the Church's hierarchy. (Not to say the Episcopal Church doesn't have its own political problems.) We really are all sisters and brothers just trying to live as we were taught; and how shameful that power struggles try to hold us down. Hold on to all that's spiritual in your lives and spread empowerment not power and you'll change the world. I will be sharing your newsletter with a Roman Catholic friend who is hurting for her church.
Rita Regnier-Yvarra, Santa Maria, Calif.

We're everywhere
Last month I toured New York City with 40 Elderhostelers. I met three members of CTA, two from Michigan and one from Texas. Just a few of the group were Catholic so it was a pleasant surprise to find fellow CTA members. We are everywhere.
Dorothy Chapman, San Clemente, Calif.

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