Meet the Team

  • lauren@cta-usa.org

    Lauren previously served as interim executive director of Call To Action. She initially came to CTA through her advocacy work with another Catholic nonprofit, Catholics for Choice. After completing CTA’s Re/Generation program, Lauren joined the Vision Council in 2020. While a member of the Vision Council, Lauren served on the programs/strategy committee and Anti-Racism Team. She also led the Vision Council in releasing the first statements and programming on reproductive justice in CTA history.

    Lauren worked for many years as a writer and journalist, specifically covering reproductive justice and religion, and authored the book Faithful Providers: Stories and Reflections from the Frontlines of Abortion Care for Catholics for Choice. Her writing can be found in Religion Dispatches, Ms. magazine, Bustle, Cosmopolitan, The Georgia Review, and Conscience: The Newsjournal of Catholic Opinion, among others.

    She also worked as a member organizer for several labor unions.

    Lauren is currently a Ph.D. candidate in religion at Temple University, as well as an adjunct professor in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Delaware. She serves on the Young Adult Advisory Committee for the Center at Mariandale, a legacy of the Dominican Sisters of Hope, where she plans and facilitates retreats and provides communications support.

    Lauren lives in Philadelphia with her two black cats. She enjoys practicing mindfulness, writing and publishing fiction, volunteering as a clinic escort, and studying Catholic history.

  • christopher@cta-usa.org

    Christopher Ortiz is a bilingual, first-generation Ecuadorian-American born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has been an organizer since high school, inspired by his parents who were involved with their neighborhood association. Christopher has worked as a youth coordinator at an up-and-coming organization called Agents of Change. He was then hired as the Latino Organizer for the same neighborhood association from my childhood, CANDO (Central Area Development and Neighborhood Organization), where he worked for more than four years organizing diverse, intergenerational communities.

    In his spare time, he enjoys writing and is currently working on his first novel. He also enjoys video games and creating in a variety of art forms.

  • tamar@cta-usa.org

    Tamar has a long history with CTA and social justice activism. Her former church (St. William) in Louisville, KY was a strong supporter of CTA in its early days. Tamar went to a CTA conference in 1996 and was hooked from the start. She was so energized that she started a local chapter and began service on the board in 2001. In 1999 she met her husband-to-be, Tom Yager, in Chicago at a Next Generation Retreat. They married in Louisville in 2006. She continued to serve on the CTA board until 2015.

    Tamar lives in Front Royal, VA, and is very active in community activities, including serving on the United Way board and town committees. She attends Our Saviour Lutheran Church where she is a worship leader, serves on the church council, and co-chairs the fellowship committee.