CTA, European Network enter reform alliance
International solidarity of progressive Catholic church reform groups took a quantum leap forward Jan. 3-7 in London, England.
At the sixth annual joint conference of the European Network and Church on the Move (Kirche im Aufbruch), 50 delegates from 20 reform organizations in 11 countries approved a constitution that gives formal structure to their coalition efforts.
North American movements like CTA are already linking with the European Network. CTA co-directors Sheila and Dan Daley participated in the London parley, as did Mary Lou Hartman and Patrick Connor, SVD of the New Jersey-based ARCC -- Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church. Both CTA and ARCC have since become EN affiliates and will urge 30 other U.S. and Canadian groups in COR -- Catholic Organizations for Renewal -- to follow suit. COR meets March 8-10 in Baltimore, MD.
The London meeting was charged with excitement over 1995 "We Are the Church" petitions that garnered 500,000 signatures in Austria and 1.8 million in Germany in a matter of weeks. On Saturday, Jan. 6 the London conferees demonstrated in front of Westminster Cathedral, with banners proclaiming the main points of the Austrian and German referendums: a Church of brothers and sisters, equal rights for women, including ordination, and optional celibacy for clergy. Similar petition drives are under way in Belgium, France and Italy.
CTA and ARCC delegates pledged support for the goals of the European petitions. The European Network in turn endorsed efforts by the U.S. groups to challenge the recent Cardinal Ratzinger claim of infallibility for the pope's ban on women's ordination.
Patrick Kalilombe, a bishop from Malawi now residing in England, told the gathering the spirit of God was behind its work, and insisted "many of my brother bishops, deep down in their hearts, appreciate and wish you well."
Kalilombe was barred from his own land by the Malawian government in 1976 after a speech about small faith communities (SFCs). The promotion of SFCs was a common thread among CTA and most other groups at the London meeting, including Catholics for a Changing Church (United Kingdom), Eighth of May Movement (Holland), Comunitá Cristiane di Base (Italy), Kirche von Unten (Germany), Wir sind Kirche (Austria), and Droits et Libertés dans Les Églises (France).
Language differences slowed things down at the London meeting, with five translators handling English, French, Dutch, German and Italian. "But the sense of common purpose came through more than any differences," said Sheila Daley. "It's amazing how much we are all alike in our vision of church and our hope for reform."
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