Call to Action is an organization that advocates for a variety of causes within the Roman Catholic Church. Call to Action's goals include women's ordination, an end to mandatory priestly celibacy, a change in the church's teaching on a variety of sexual matters, and a change to the way the church is governed. The Roman Catholic Church or Catholic Church (see Terminology below) is the Christian Church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, currently Pope Benedict XVI. It traces its origins to the original Christian community founded by Jesus, with its traditions first established by the Twelve Apostles and maintained through... Ordination is the process in which clergy become authorized by their religious denomination and/or seminary to perform religious rituals and ceremonies. ... Clerical celibacy is the practice of various religious traditions in which clergy, monastics and those in religious orders (female or male) adopt a celibate life, refraining from marriage and sexual relationships, including masturbation and impure thoughts (such as sexual visualisation and fantasies). ... This article is about sex acts and practices (i. ...

History

In 1971, Pope Paul VI wrote that the laity of the Catholic Church should "take up as their own proper task the renewal of the temporal order". He further wrote that, "it is to all Christians that we address a fresh and insistent call to action." In response to this, the bishops of the United States put together the Call to Action Conference in Detroit, Michigan in 1976. Pope Paul VI (Latin: ), (Italian: Paolo VI), born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini (September 26, 1897 – August 6, 1978), reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and as sovereign of Vatican City from 1963 to 1978. ... A mitre is used as a symbol of the bishops ministry. ... Nickname: Motor City, Motown Motto: Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus (Latin for, We Hope For Better Things; It Shall Rise From the Ashes) Location in Wayne County, Michigan Coordinates: Country United States State Michigan County Wayne County Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Area    - City 370. ...

At the conclusion of this three-day conference, the 1,340 voting delegates voted that the Catholic Church should "reevaluate its positions on issues like celibacy for priests, the male-only clergy, homosexuality, birth control, and the involvement of every level of the church in important decisions." They also called for an end to racism, sexism, and militarism in the United States.^[1] Clerical celibacy is the practice of various religious traditions in which clergy, monastics and those in religious orders (female or male) adopt a celibate life, refraining from marriage and sexual relationships, including masturbation and impure thoughts (such as sexual visualisation and fantasies). ... There are a variety of positions on the ordination of women among different religions, sects and denominations within each religion. ... Homosexuality refers to sexual and romantic attraction between two individuals of the same sex. ... Birth control is a regimen of one or more actions, devices, or medications followed in order to deliberately prevent or reduce the likelihood of a woman becoming pregnant or giving birth. ...

Although many of the American bishops were sympathetic to the political aims of this conference, most of them disavowed or avoided discussing the conference's demands for changes to doctrine and organization within the Catholic Church. As a result, the Call to Action organization that was born out of the Detroit conference was a lay-run organization. By 1978, this organization had been formed in Chicago, and by the 1980's it had spread throughout the United States.

Many church leaders have criticized Call to Action. Others have given them limited support while avoiding becoming too closely associated with the group. Still others have given public support to the organization. At the 1995 Call to Action conference, Bishop Jacques Gaillot, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, and theologian Hans Küng were among the featured speakers. Jacques Gaillot (born September 11, 1935; generally known in French as Monseigneur Gaillot) is a French Catholic clergyman and social activist. ... His Excellency Rt. ... The Reverend Father Hans Küng (born March 19, 1928 in Sursee, Canton of Lucerne), is an eminent Swiss theologian, and a prolific author. ...

Controversial aspects

Within the Catholic Church, Call to Action is seen as a liberal or left-wing organization. As a result, a number of other organizations seen as "liberal" sometimes have overlapping membership with Call to Action, even if they do not share the exact same aims. Groups and individuals seen as conservative or reactionary have often pointed to Call to Action as a group they particularly oppose.^[2] Look up liberal on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Liberal may refer to: Politics: Liberalism American liberalism, a political trend in the USA Political progressivism, a political ideology that is for change, often associated with liberal movements Liberty, the condition of being free from control or restrictions Liberal Party, members of... In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition... This article deals with conservatism as a political philosophy. ... Reactionary (or reactionist) is a political epithet, generally used as a pejorative, originally applied in the context of the French Revolution to counter-revolutionaries who wished to restore the real or imagined conditions of the monarchical Ancien Régime. ...

Some conservative Catholics were so disapproving of Call to Action that they supported Mother Angelica's formation of Call to Holiness, an organisation formed to counter the percieved 'liberalism' of Call to Action. [1] Mother Angelica born Rita Antoinette Rizzo is an American Roman Catholic nun and founder of the Eternal Word Television Network. ...

See also

• Voice of the Faithful
• FutureChurch

Voice of the Faithful is an organization formed in response to the sexual abuse scandals within the Roman Catholic Church, by Boston-based Roman Catholics who felt that those guilty of abusing children, or failing to protect children, should be brought to account. ...

References

1. ^ See the Call to Action website at http://www.cta-usa.org/index2.php?dest=history.html.
2. ^ For example, see George A. Kelly, The Battle for the American Church (Doubleday, 1979), and Joseph Bottum, "When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano", First Things, October 2006, pp. 30-31.

First Things is a contemporary intellectual journal concerned with the creation of a religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society (First Things website}. Father Richard John Neuhaus, a prominent American Catholic intellectual, is the founder and editor in chief. ...

External links

• Call to Action offical website