Perspectives
Articles, essays, and reflections from progressive Catholic voices.
To contribute to Perspectives, email Jason at: Jason@cta-usa.org
First Sunday of Advent
As you get quiet in your prayer this Advent, follow God’s lead as she shows you what she wants you to look at.
Keeping Faith in a Messy Church: A Gay Catholic Perspective on Pope Francis' Endorsement of Civil Unions
As a gay Catholic in a relationship and as a PhD student in theology, I feel like I need to say something about Pope Francis’ endorsement of same-gender unions in the documentary Francesco.
Who are the non-voters? Vote-shaming, the Catholic Worker, and 2020
“Vote-shaming” is telling people who don’t vote (or vote third-party) that they are stupid, evil, or the source of all the nation’s ills. It does not engage radical political traditions that have criticized the failures of the liberal nation-state to adequately represent and serve the people.
Review of Wijngaards’s women’s-ordination primer: helpful, except in its view of gender
Wijngaards’s book has some valuable insights to offer, but it’s also limited. If you want a quick and accessible overview of the history of the ordination justice movement, check it out — and then join us, as we seek not only to ordain women, but to build a church that can truly be a force for liberation.
People’s History: Fred and Nichole
From Vatican II to the LGBTQ+ closet: “open the windows and let in the fresh air.”
People’s History: Intergenerational Connection
In our People’s History of Vatican II gathering, it was wonderful to talk about our broken but beautiful Church and, simultaneously to embody community and Christ in our coming-together across generations and regions of the country.
People’s History: Reneta Webb
“I have great hope… It’s not even a century since Vatican II and we haven't even begun to squeeze the juice out of that.”
People’s History: Jim Sullivan
We can sense Jim’s story interweaving with our salvation story, this story of ongoing creation of the beloved community, of clear vision and hope—a relational story of our interconnectedness with each other and our triune God.
Please Rise
Natalie Lall is a CTA young adult from Kenosha, Wisconsin, the site of unrest following the recent police shooting of a Black man named Jacob Blake. "Please Rise" is a spoken word poem that evokes the Bhagavad Gita, Black Lives Matter, and God's abiding presence within this "threshold moment."
Church Labor
Most of the labor that created and sustains the Catholic Church was and remains unpaid and exploited. It is no coincidence that Catholicism and capitalism mirror each other in their structures.