Call To Action (CTA) 20/30

11/06/2019

Voters elected seven nonwhite members to the city council during the municipal elections on Tuesday night.

08/12/2017

07/28/2017

I want you to know that I see you. I see you sitting in the pew, with your parents, as your pastor talks about what an abomination those transgender people are. I see your face burn with the recognition that he’s talking about you. I see you slink down in your seat and hope to …

07/26/2017

This young adult community will stand to !

07/10/2017

The conference - Rolling the Stone Away - has established a scholarship fund for students, young activists & scholars. If you're interested in q***r Christian movements for justice & would like to attend we invite you to apply!

The Rolling the Stone Away Planning Team has established a scholarship fund to offer complimentary registrations to a number of STUDENTS, YOUNG ACTIVISTS & SCHOLARS. We understand that such emerging leaders and scholars often have limited financial resources and also believe that their participation...

10/13/2016

Young adult columnist for National Catholic Reporter reflects on the impact Trump is having at her all girls school.

Young Voices: Donald Trump's candidacy undermines my every attempt as an all-girls' high school teacher to nurture girls' dignity, self-worth, and spiritual wholeness.

09/12/2016

No time for hate.

08/28/2016

Rather, when you hold a banquet,
invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;
blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.
For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.
- Luke 14:13

08/28/2016

Reclaim your voice!

08/21/2016

Call To Action young adults Sophie Vodvarka and Joe Kruse continue their Theological Asian Exchange/Conference journey in Phuket, Thailand. Check out their blog reflections!

A central component I’ve been told, of the AYA/ATF conference, is the “exposure”—an immersion experience with local migrant and refugee communities in the country where the conference is based. The approximately 60 conference attendees were split into several immersion groups based on our interests....

07/25/2016

Interested in starting or joining a young adult faith-sharing group in your area? Let us know! Learn more → http://bit.ly/20-30-Faith

07/20/2016

We're again offering scholarships to young adults to attend this year's conference! Let us help you learn from Dr. Torres & others. Scholarship deadline approaching fast!
→ http://cta-usa.org/conference-information

07/19/2016

Perhaps another 20/30 book discussion? Call To Action has partnered with Elizabeth Johnson to bring you this FREE reflection and discussion guide!

Call To Action is excited to partner with renowned theologian Elizabeth Johnson, winner or our leadership award, as she guides us through her new book examining the contribution of female theologians to our relationship with Jesus. We hope you can use these discussion questions with your local fait...

07/14/2016

Religious experience?

The augmented reality game is literally taking people to church.

06/23/2016

Church officials call our siblings "disordered" and "evil." That's wrong! And we're speaking out. Sign our petition & stand with the LGBTQ community. Because !

The Catholic community of Call To Action continues to stand in solidarity with those horrifically attacked in Orlando on June 12, 2016. We feel it is imperative for us to boldly speak out against Catholic Church officials' continued insistence on calling the LGBTQ community’s “inclinations” as “obje...

06/13/2016

Hear our prayer.

05/28/2016

Call To Action recently sat down with Sr. Helen Prejean for a great interview. Check out this Sister working for justice!

In this intimate interview on Cape Cod, Sr. Helen Prejean speaks eloquently about her spiritual journey soon to be detailed in an upcoming book, as well as the ways…

04/23/2016

20/30 leadership team retreat in Florida this weekend. Keep us in your prayers!

The 20/30 young adult retreat is happening this weekend in Florida. Ryan leads us in a harvest process during tonight's session. Please keep us in your thoughts!

03/29/2016

For awhile, Mary Magdalene WAS the Church. Until she shared the Good News with her friends: "l have seen the Lord" (John 20: 18a). Art by Tanya Torres.

03/28/2016

Great group of Sister's working for Social Justice.

The 14 sisters of the Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary make up one of only three predominantly black orders in the country.

03/27/2016

Light has dispelled the darkness! Alleluia!

03/23/2016

Call To Action has worked diligently for the past several weeks to put into place a transitional leadership plan as I step out of the Executive Director role. Today, I am very pleased to share that Amy Sheber Howard of Call To Action’s vision council and Ryan Hoffmann of Call To Action’s national staff will assume leadership as transitional Co-Executive Directors beginning April 1st. Both Amy and Ryan are long-time Call To Action members who have provided critical leadership in various aspects of the organization over the years. Call To Action is incredibly blessed to have Amy and Ryan in these co-directorship roles while Call To Action moves forward in preparing for permanent leadership.

Additionally, Austen Coker, Call To Action's Director of Operations, and Patti Kay, Call To Action's Accountant, will provide leadership and support in the areas of operations and finance, respectively, as Co-Chief Operating Officers. No expression of gratitude is too small in thanking them for stepping up and assisting Call To Action with the needed support so that we're good stewards of our human and financial resources during this transitional period.

It is a real gift to be working so closely with Ryan, Amy, Austen, and Patti and the rest of national staff who are all taking on additional responsibilities to ensure a seamless transition. As a Call To Action member and financial supporter, I know that Call To Action is in very good hands as we continue our important work of cultivating justice in our Church and world.

If you have questions about Call To Action’s transitional leadership plan, please don’t hesitate to contact me by email at [email protected] or by phone at 773.404.0004, ext. 262.

Moving forward,

Jim FitzGerald, Executive Director

03/20/2016

Hosanna!

03/16/2016

"I might give a wonderful sermon, but if I don't do it out of God's love for the people right in front of me, it won't be as powerful as when I'm participating in divine love. God will still use even lesser loves, but Paul recognizes that human feelings and preferences are quite unreliable. Our affections are fickle and will finally change and fall short when our conditions or requirements are not met." —Richard Rohr

Read his reflection on 1 Corinthians 13: https://cac.org/love-never-fails-2016-03-16/

03/08/2016

Today we honor Sts. Perpetua & Felicity who were North African friends martyred for their Christian faith. We give thanks for their companionship and deep faith! Pray for us, sisters.

02/18/2016

No matter how today went, there’s a very good chance you did the best you could. And so be extraordinarily gentle with yourself as you fall asleep; you want to be rested and ready for the new day ahead.

02/13/2016

Thank you to Radical Grace for this wonderful prayer.

A beautiful prayer for & . Call To Action (CTA) 20/30 prayer & reflection packet available at http://bit.ly/20ZmOhN

02/02/2016

“The final word is love.”
Posted on February 2, 2016 by Rhonda Miska
The following is an adaptation of a sermon preached Saturday, January 30, 2016 at a gathering of Catholic Church workers. The readings for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time were Jeremiah 1: 4-5, 17-19, Psalm 71, I Corinthians 12:31 – 13:13, and Luke 4:21-30.

As we have been reflecting on vocation today, how fitting our beautiful first reading where, through the prophet Jeremiah, God speaks of how we have been known, dedicated, anointed – even before our birth. Yet implicit in the reading is a recognition of the struggle that lies ahead for those of us who say “yes” to divine call. The antiquated directive to “gird your loins” – which meant to tuck in your tunic so it was out of the way for strenuous activity, especially going into battle – seems to acknowledge that while we have been dedicated and called, that is no promise that this is going to be easy. In fact, it’s going to be tough. Jeremiah says God promises to make us a “fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of brass.” These are images of strength and solidness, an assurance that amid the challenges and conflicts of mission and ministry, God is unfailingly present to strengthen us.

Jeremiah

We see this provision of God illustrated in the Gospel reading where Jesus is caught up in angry, violent conflict after his proclamation of mission. Perhaps we can take heart in the fact that – regardless of challenges we’ve faced in ministry– no angry mob has tried to throw us over a cliff!

Imagine for a moment, Ignatian contemplation style you are in the scene. The people are “filled with fury” and they “rise up.” Imagine their voices, the words they are saying, the way an electric energy of anger moves through the group and a mob mentality forms. They are ready to throw him over a cliff. What is it that Jesus hears and feels as he is caught up in the mass of people leading him to the top of the hill?

What happens next is truly surprising. Luke tells us Jesus “passes through the midst of them and goes away.” How is this possible? It makes me think of Harry Potter’s cloak of invisibility – somehow, this man who is the target of so much rage is able to simply walk away and go about his business. Apparently, no one says, “hey, he’s getting away! Stop him!” The way Luke describes it, you can almost imagine Jesus quietly slipping out of the din and commotion, rejoining his community, and continuing his ministry – shaken, certainly, but unharmed from the encounter.

Is there an encouragement and lesson here for us as church workers? Is there is a way in which we can be surrounded by, and even the center of conflict and division, and yet some part of us remains untouched and untouchable? Some core, some center – in Jeremiah’s words is a “fortified city” – that through God’s grace is immune to whatever chaos surrounds us? In Merton’s words, a “hidden wholeness,” some inner place that remains strong and untroubled?

Even when we are discouraged by institutions and people who are supposed to mediate the riches of our spiritual tradition and inevitably fall short, we hold to this deep truth of God with us, active in the world for love and life. Like Jesus, can we “pass through the midst of them” and continue on our way with peace and inner certainty – trusting that we are known, anointed, and dedicated by God for service to God’s people?

Against this backdrop of Jeremiah’s moving words of being known, anointed, dedicated by God, and Luke’s narrative of Jesus’ clash with the congregation in his “home parish,” we can hear Paul’s well-known words about love with new ears. As all ministers know, this reading is a favorite for weddings, often associated with married, romantic love. Yet Paul was writing to an early community of Jesus-followers in regards to their relationships in the ekklesia – the Church – with one another in Christian discipleship. In his own way, Paul is challenging the Corinthians to gird their loins and acknowledging that authentic Christian living in community is hard. There will be conflict. In writing that love “doesn’t brood over injury,” there is an implicit understanding that there will be injury. Love does not rejoice in wrong-doing…but wrong-doing is going to happen. Love bears all things, he writes – and there is stuff we are going to have to bear. This truth resonates with each of us in our unique ministerial contexts. Love never fails, and at the same time, this is going to be hard. Dorothy Day echoed this idea, quoting Dostoevsky, that “love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing, compared to love in dreams.”

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“The final word is love.” – Dorothy Day



I dare to believe that there is a core of strength, a core of love, which is a gift from our gracious and merciful God present in each of us…present in each member of the Body of Christ. We are bearing witness to it in each other as we hear and reverence each other’s stories of ministry and the living out of our “yes” to God’s call. The more that, with God’s grace and the support of each other, we can live from this core of strength, the more able we are to pass through the midst of the tumult – the conflicts caused by assignments of new pastors or bishops, the anxiety of parishes being clustered or closed, the dilemmas created by questions of conscience and obedience, the stresses of financial uncertainties, the scandals of power misused and abused. While we haven’t been nearly tossed over a cliff like Jesus, we have been personally and painfully touched by these realities.

Each of these readings recognizes in some ways the challenges of the life of faith and invites us to lean on God and one another – faithfully proclaiming with Paul that “love never fails.” We respond to these readings by connecting with that inner core of strength. We renew our commitment as ministers anointed and dedicated by God, girding our loins and trusting we are given the strength to live out the call, as broken and beautiful people in a broken and beautiful church in a broken and beautiful world.

About the author: Rhonda Miska ([email protected]) is a former Jesuit Volunteer (Nicaragua, 2002-2004) and a graduate of the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. Her past ministries include accompaniment of the Spanish-speaking immigrant community, Muslim-Christian dialogue, social justice education, direct outreach to people who are homeless, congregation-based community organizing, and coordination of a community with adults with intellectual disabilities.. Her writing has appeared in appeared in various print and online publications and she is a contributor to Catholic Women Speak: Bringing Our Gifts to the Table (Paulist Press). A native of Middleton, WI, she lives in Dubuque, IA.

01/31/2016

How about a LIKE for these Church Workers singing while on retreat during evening prayer? They're leading the way!

01/24/2016

So thankful for parish's like St. Matthews

“It’s important for both of us that Rosie grow up in the Church,” says one of the dads.

01/18/2016

01/07/2016

Now is the time to register for a retreat designed for those who work for a Catholic Institution. “Workers in the Vineyard” will be held January 29-31, 2016, at the Mercy Conference and Retreat Center in St. Louis, MO.

Are you a teacher, health car provider, administrator or pastoral minister?

Have you ever felt vulnerable in your work environment?

Have you ever encountered challenges specific to working for a Catholic institution?

If so, Workers in the Vineyard will offer you a safe place to connect with others and renew your spirit!

Register online or contact Call To Action’s Aaron Bianco at [email protected] or 773-971-2025 for more information.

Registration deadline is January 12 – register today!

01/07/2016

The video is a beautiful reminder that we are all children of the same God!

(Vatican Radio) From Wednesday January 6th, the traditional monthly prayer intentions of Pope Francis will be available on video, thanks to a new initiative launched by the worldwide Apostleship of Prayer.