Announcing a Great Gathering in the Local Church!

.
Kick-off: April 18, 2009

A message from the editorial team of the PCV:

For some time now, many of us have felt our consciences prodding us. We can no longer ignore the questions.

Does the Roman Catholic institutional church practice the Gospel message?

Does it walk the talk?

As lay Catholics, what is our place and role in determining and responding to the answers to these questions?

We have learned from the Church’s preaching that Jesus stood for the good news that God is about love for the whole of creation, and that humanity is destined for fulfillment in God. Jesus said the model was a kingdom where all people are equally loved and all thrive. He also showed us that it is in the material world and in the human spirit that God is manifest.

To practice what it preaches, wouldn’t the Roman Catholic Church have to support the full human development of its members so that they in turn could model a community of mutual love and cooperation to the world? We take this modeling to be the mission of all Christian churches.

We are deeply grateful to our ancestors in the Church for bringing the Gospel message down through the centuries, and we are as grateful to our brothers and sisters who have dedicated their lives to maintaining the institution for that purpose. But when we see inconsistencies between the message and the practices and policies, is it our moral obligation as lay Catholics to raise the questions and insist on discussion? Or is that the job of priests and bishops? Our ecclesiology, our vision of church, says it is a job for all of us.

The Progressive Catholic Voice is joining forces with other Catholic organizations in the Archdiocese to think about these questions together. We are asking what changes need to be made in the Roman Catholic institution to make it more supportive of human development on which grace builds. The other organizations that, to date, have committed themselves to raise and discuss these important questions are: the Association for Rights of Catholics in the Church (ARCC), Call To Action-MN (CTA-MN), the Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities (CPCSM), Corpus, and Roman Catholic WomenPriests.

We are calling ourselves a Catholic Coalition for Church Reform (CCCR), and we are planning our first working session or “synod of the baptized” for 2010.

You are invited to come to the Metropolitan Ballroom, at 5418 Wayzata Blvd., in Golden Valley, on Saturday morning, April 18, in Easter Week. Registration is from 8:30 to 9:00. We will pray and sing and eat breakfast. Then, in order to prepare for the 2010 synod, we will also sign up for working groups in the areas of institutional life that we are concerned about.

Finally, we will learn from our guest keynote speaker, Janet Hauter, about the plans for an American Catholic Council, a national coalition of organizations that is considering the same questions. Janet is the vice-president of Voice of the Faithful and the co-chair of the American Catholic Council.

For a map and directions to the Metropolitan Ballroom, click here.

For a registration form you can print out and mail to us, click here.


See also the previous PCV posts:
Save This Date!
American Catholic Council Issues “Declaration of Reform and Renewal”