The National Call to Action Conference was held November 3-5 at the Midwest Conference Center in Milwaukee.
 

The Association for Rights in the Catholic Church (ARCC) sponsored a day-long session Friday billed as "A Vatican II  Reunion". They brought together a number of people present at or involved with the Second Vatican Council to describe their first-hand experiences and remembrances of that watershed event in the life of the church. Put simply, it was a delightful way to spend a day and to start the CTA conference.
 

Asked for some of their personal memories of Pope JOHN XXIII, some responses were:
Many people thought that they had elected a “good man”,
Pope John supported U.N. declaration of rights,
He was very human, loved his family, visited prisons and hospitals,
He let Holy Spirit move in the church,
He selected good people, e.g. sent Cardinal Suenens to the U.N.
He was a “Wonderful Catholic Pastor”
Mary Luke Tobin said when he took her hand it was a warm experience, the hand of a friend.
Pope John XXIII just dropped in on people sometimes.

Robert Blair Kaiser was Time magazine's Vatican correspondent during Vatican II). Of course, the council happenings were supposed to be secret until the documents were officially released, but . . .  In talking with the Archbishop of Bombay, Bob found that the bishop had a 1 hour commute to the council every day. Bob invited him to stay in his guest room, much closer to the Vatican--and he accepted. First they had conversations over dinner. Then they invited another bishop for dinner. And another. And some theologians. And soon they were having Sunday night buffet dinners with dozens of bishops and other people discussing the state of the church around the world and the issues they were grappling with in the Council. Bob said that Hans Küng was always the last to leave.

Bob had asked to meet the Pope. This couldn't be an official meeting (because he was with the press). Bob thought he'd just have a few minutes at Castle Gandolfo but the pope had other ideas and talked with Bob for 1/2 hr. It seems the Pope had things he wanted to tell the world through Time magazine. Pope John asked Bob about his family. Bob said he had one child. The Pope said “Don’t be afraid to have more children, my brother has 12.”

(By the way, Bob is writing a book on the next Pope, to be published shortly after the election and Bob believes John Paul II will probably resign.)

John XXIII's second act as Pope was to sign the laicization papers of a priest he knew.
Pius XII was like a king, John XXIII felt he was far below that calibre. History would tell the story differently.

The Los Angeles Jewish community was excited about Pope John XXIII's election. “Becoming Catholic you don’t become any less of A Jew."

North American bishops had no idea what the council would discuss and do – they were not prepared, had no expectations. They sent documents to the council asking if "it would be alright to carry holy oil in a car" and if "the Vatican library could stay open until 9PM for those studying there" and similar deep theological and pastoral issues facing the church.

Cardinal McIntyre (L.A.)  went home from the council early – he didn’t want to know what the council was doing. Cardinal Suenens  treasured the contribution of women in the church and had an IHM nun working for him on council issues. He published a booklet “The Nun in the World” with a picture of a nun driving a tractor on the cover. This publication had a great influence on all congregations of sisters.

The council created "people of dialog” outside the church (ecumenism). Inevitably, these people became people of dialog inside the church as well.

The council used a rhetoric of expectation and congratulations rather than reproach (which made it difficult and time consuming to implement -- it's easier to implement rules than visions).

The BBC made a movie “Absolute Truth” showing the behind the scenes activities of the cardinals.

Keynote Speaker Sr. Helen Prejean
 

Almost 4,000 people came to the conference this year. Next year the conference will be held in THREE locations: Los Angeles, Chicago, and Philadelphia.
 
 

Sr. Miriam Therese Winter talked about her interview with Ludmilla Javorova, a Checkslovakian woman ordained by her bishop to serve the women in prison during the communist regime.

Unintended Consequences of Vatican II, by Anthony Padovano
“Ambiguous victories” in the three revolutions in the last 500 years of church history:

1) Protestant reformation (which Vatican 2 completed), reversed medievalism (law, authoritarianism, laws on celibacy, divorce)
In the period 1000-1500 the church was preoccupied with power & empire, formed military alliances, and had no interest in spirituality. By 1500 there was a massive failure of the papacy, and this drove Luther. Luther didn’t want a new church -- he said “I’ll never become a Lutheran.” There could have been reconciliation then  -- Luther would have settled for just two things: married priests and communion in both species. If the Vatican had shown any willingness to listen and compromise, we might be 500 years ahead of where we are today!

2) Modernism
Modernism was seen as the great evil of the time. The Council of Trent froze the church in medieval times as a reaction to the Protestant Reformation. Pope Gregory at the time condemned railroads as “engines from hell” and said street lamps would give revolutionaries opportunities to gather under them at night and said freedom of conscience was “a madness”. Pope Pius X excommunicated all modernists and had a spy network. Theologians had to take an oath against modernism. (The Vatican doesn’t learn much from history do they?)

3) Vatican II
Pope John Paul II had to contend with the council and the leadership style of Pope John XXIII.
Before Vatican 2, the Catholic image of contraception was that people thought they were sinners but that contraception was necessary. After Vatican 2 people thought contraception just wasn't a sin.

Today the state protects Catholics from many things the Vatican would like to do. “The papacy prevails today because it’s impotent.” The pope is just a symbol of ideas.

Padovano exhorted us to hope. Church reformer are often melancholy, he said, afraid they won’t see the results in their lifetime. Padovano says “We are already in the promised land.” We need to feel free in our hearts. If reforms were given us by the formal church, we would be grateful to the structure -- for giving what is rightfully ours! “How much we would have lost had it gone easily,” Padovano said.
 
 

All Saints Gospel Choir - awesome music. Why aren't our parish liturgies this joy filled?

Dreaming a New Dream (against global violence), by George Tinker - Sunday morning
American Indians (his term) count 508 years of violence in the U.S. (since Columbus)

The U.S. bought the lands of the Osage Indians from the French (Louisiana purchase).
The Sacred is always both male and female. We must dream the violence out of existence, out of our world.
U.S. law (modeled after Medieval cannon law) allowed, even mandated destruction of those who would not accept  the faith. OK to conquer non-Christian, no matter what.

Capitalism must increase market share, which means it must put others out of business. This is a form of violence, Tinker says. Children in gangs understand too well the American Value system.

Columbus day celebration was seen by Indians as validating the conquest and superiority of whites and continuation of violence against them. The Denver Catholic newspaper devoted 9-10 pages to glorifying Denver's Columbus Day celebration -- “Columbus brought Christ to America.”