As most of you may know, last week the VATICAN, through its Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), together with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), imposed a “crackdown” on the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR).  For the full text of the Vatican directive, CLICK HERE.

Many Catholic faithful have been concerned and upset at this hierarchical oppression of the women who have not only formed us in the faith, but have continued to serve the most vulnerable in society with fortitude and dignity. The American Catholic Council is cooperating with a number of Catholic reform organizations in forming a concerted response which will include prayer, discussion and action.

Our first step in this response is to sign the online petition which can be accessed via the link below.  Please add your name and forward the link to friends and family so that we will have at least 30,000 signatures by the beginning of the USCCB meeting in June.  We are counting on an overwhelming show of support!

Sign the Petition:  http://www.change.org/petitions/support-the-sisters  

You can also consider and share other “action” ideas regarding this latest act of Vatican repression by posting to a new ACC Discussion Forum on the Assemblies Community Network: LCWR Action Forum.  

On a related note, we invite your support of NETWORK, perhaps the most pre-eminent Catholic Social Justice Lobby organization in the US, and an organization founded through the active support and leadership of women religious. A few days before the Vatican action, Network had just celebrated its 40th anniversary, under the theme Faithful to the Gospel: Then and Now. And four days later, they were implicated in the same Vatican directive questioning their faithfulness to the Gospel. Like the good sisters of LCWR, the leadership of Network was stunned. As the leadership of Network deliberates its response, they have invited friends and supporters to join with them on a conference call this Friday (tomorrow) April 27 at 4:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time. The conference telephone number is 712-432-3900 and the conference access code is 534635.

In Prayer, Action and the Spirit of the Risen Christ,

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What if we are being called to rise up and truly become the Church we were meant to be? What if we begin to transform ourselves, our families (the Domestic Church), our communities, and our world into the “new heaven and new earth” that Resurrection beckons us to? Perhaps, just perhaps, Jesus is calling us to that New Resurrection and a life of radical transformation, and has been doing that for 2,000 years! What a patient God we have!

Since our inner thoughts mold our outer life, what if we were all to become catalysts in a true reform of the Church that has transformed us? For too long, we have been stuck in the quicksand of “pray, pay and obey,” rendering mindless compliance and lockstep conformity, believing that we could not extricate ourselves, for fear of punitive consequences. Sadly, our belief systems are entrenched with FEAR. Easter transformation must cast out all Fear.

Many see little hope for change in the institutional Church, and feel dis-empowered in their perception of a “David vs. Goliath” scenario. But how does one change a seemingly unchangeable monolithic institution bent on protecting its self-image at all costs? We take heart from the old adage about eating an elephant, one bite at a time.

Our approach at the American Catholic Council is different from other reform initiatives; we neither focus on symptoms nor transactions. Our goals are transformations, with primary focus on transforming ourselves as agents of change, then transforming our families, our communities and the institutional Church. While we may support transactional actions such as letter-writing campaigns, vigils, petitions, demonstrations, etc., they must be seen as a means to a well-defined end. This notion is at the heart of some of our current efforts:

• Launching a SWOT Analysis of the Institutional Church as well as the Church Reform Movement;
• Launching an Institute on Nonviolent Action for Church Reform

Both of these initiatives illustrate hands-on our aim to understand how to change an autocratic institution and how to move our own thinking from victim-hood to collaborative transformation and reformation. The SWOT Analysis is in full swing, and with this newsletter, we announce the application process for the Institute. You can read about both of these and other ACC actions below. These endeavors engage us in the necessary work of critical thinking about our reality as American Catholics. They are grounded in our landmark document adopted last year in Detroit, the Catholic Bill of Rights and Responsibilities (CBRR), which provides important guideposts for becoming thinking Catholics empowered to be change agents.

As we celebrate the “new life” of Easter, let us be mindful that the Resurrected Christ challenges us to nurture a mental and spiritual discipline to change our thinking and to assume personal responsibility. The Easter miracle transforms us from mindless acquiescence to responsible accountability in collaborative efforts to save our church from itself. We need not remain in dysfunctional modes of FEAR. We can, indeed, make a choice, a conscience driven choice to practice new, affirming, life-giving modes of thinking that empower, heal and energize us. Together, we can renew the Church we so love!

In gratitude and humility,

– Janet Hauter
          Chair, ACC National Planning Committee

ACC Institute on Nonviolent Action to

With this newsletter, we unveil the details, schedule, and methodology of ACC’s groundbreaking project to launch an intentional study and practice of nonviolent action to change church structures. The application process is now open through May 30th. The NVA Institute, to begin in mid-August and continue through mid-November, has been in planning for 6 months. The initial cohort of 25 participants this Fall will commit to intensive study and dialogue around theories of nonviolent action, strategic planning and action steps to employ these strategies in changing the institutional Catholic Church.  The works of Dr. Gene Sharp (Senior Scholar at The Einstein Institution in Boston, MA) will form the basis of the curriculum, with additional resources. Though the Institute will require commitment to intellectual rigor and a discipline to prepare for each session, it is not an academic exercise nor is it a  presentation of Gospel nonviolence.  The focus is not theological but rather practical, political and strategic.

The Institute will be delivered mostly online and will employ both synchronous elements (7 live webinar sessions, when participants are online at the same time) as well as a-synchronous activities (where participants share in online discussion boards and other learning activities in-between the live sessions, but at times convenient to each participant’s schedule). The course will culminate with an in-person conference when all participants gather in Washington, DC, the weekend of Nov. 16-18.

For complete details and schedule of all sessions, along with criteria for participation, go to: Changing Power Relationships: ACC’s Institute on Nonviolent Action to Change the Church. A link to the online application form is available on that site.

Using the political techniques of nonviolent action, this ACC initiative aims to enable leaders in the church reform movement to do the difficult but necessary work of social analysis of Church power systems. The curriculum is grounded in the seminal writings of Dr. Sharp in hopes of yielding learning outcomes that can begin to shape a coordinated strategic plan for Nonviolent Action to effect change in governance and leadership structures within the institutional Roman Catholic Church.

Dr. Gene Sharp is founder of the Albert Einstein Institution, whose mission seeks to advance the study and use of strategic nonviolent action for conflict transformation and social change. He is Professor Emeritus of political science at the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth. For nearly thirty years he held a research appointment at Harvard University’s Center for International Affairs. He has authored numerous books, including The Politics of Nonviolent Action (1973) and From Dictatorship to Democracy (1993).

Curriculum and pedagogy has been designed by a team headed up by Dr. Caridad Inda, a Sister of Mary Humility (Davenport, Iowa) and Executive Director of CIRIMEX, the Center for International Resources, in Guadalajara Mexico. Caridad is on the board of the Association of Rights of Catholics in the Church (ARCC) and has served as founding member of the ACC National Planning Committee.

She tells us that most participants were either astonished or angry (or both) at the clericalism, medieval quality of Church leadership, lack of inclusive governance and the general reversal of Vatican II. The group is committed to continue to meet and are resolved that no change will occur if people don’t get involved. Their experience is a marvelous testimony to the power of one (the local organizer) to motivate others to take responsibility to make a difference and “go for it,” as Susan says. Her story is among several “gleanings from the grassroots” on the Assemblies Community Network (ACN). To read the full story, click: CBRR Listening Session in Rochester, MI. If you have not yet signed-up to the ACN, you will be directed to the ACN SIGN-UP PAGE. If you have technical difficulty doing so, contact ACC Technical Support.

We invite other groups to unpack the meaning and power of the Catholic Bill of Rights & Responsibilities. To access complete guidelines on how to plan a session(s), go to CBRR Listening Session Template on the ACN. We encourage you to use it with your book club, small group, house church or prayer group. We also invite you to share your experience via email to sheilapeiffer.acc@gmail.com. You can also share your thoughts and experiences in several CBRR Discussion Forums.

Check out: Other Lenten Prayer & Study Suggestions form ACC

We have studied your feedback, especially the many, many inquiries crying “What’s next?” The National Planning Committee is striving to be good stewards of the mission you have entrusted to us by taking time to discern and deliberate those “next steps.”  Although the original focus when we were conceived nearly three years ago was only the Detroit Pentecost gathering, we have since come to realize that there is a “place” for ACC in the larger landscape of the church reform movement.

Our initial aim was to hold an event that might serve as a wake-up call to the baptized on the blessings of Vatican II, and to celebrate that moment in history 50 years ago.  Our goal was to model the vision and promise of that renewed Church and to focus upon the Rights and Responsibilities we are called to live as adult Catholics. By all accounts,that event was a resounding success and will likely be looked upon as a Watershed Moment in the unfolding history of the Catholic Church in the United States. (See Newsletter Archive, 10/31/11).

We are now able to respond with a new commitment, a re-newed sense of mission, and several new and bold directions. This issue of our newsletter overviews some these key new initiatives that are now underway.

• Action #1: New CBRR Listening Session Template;
• Action #2: Redrafting ACC Mission, Goals and Values;
• Action #3: Nonviolence Institute;
• Action #4: Resourcing Intentional Eucharistic Communities (IECs);

On the administrative front, we are pleased to report that we have secured a renewed commitment from the majority of members on the original National Planning Committee who will continue to serve in that capacity. In addition, we have created two part-time staff positions:  Administrative Coordinator (Sheila Peiffer) and Communications Coordinator (John Frank).

The American Catholic Council is in full swing and we need your help for the work ahead! Blessings to you in 2012!

In gratitude and humility,

– Janet Hauter       Chair, ACC National Planning Committee

In our last newsletter we announced plans to sponsor an Institute to bring together leaders in the church reform movement not only to study the spirituality and practice of nonviolent action for change, but also to do the necessary social analysis of power systems within the institutional Roman Catholic Church. In the coming months we will post to our website an application form for participation in an initial cohort of participants.

The “course” is in development and will be delivered online. It will be substantially grounded in the writings of Gene Sharp, often cited as the father of the Arab Spring. Dr. Sharp is founder of the Albert Einstein Institution, whose mission is to advance the study and use of strategic nonviolent action for conflict transformation and social change. Sharp is Professor Emeritus of political science at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. For nearly thirty years he held a research appointment at Harvard University’s Center for International Affairs. He is the author of numerous books, including The Politics of Nonviolent Action (1973), Gandhi as a Political Strategist (1979), Social Power and Political Freedom (1980), Making Europe Unconquerable (1985), Civilian-Based Defense (1990), and From Dictatorship to Democracy (1993) His most recent book is Waging Nonviolent Struggle: Twentieth Century Practice and Twenty-First Century Potential.

We believe that those of us involved in church reform can learn much from the shift from “dictatorship to democracy” (as Sharp would say) that has been a consistent marker of social progress over the last 300 years, and that is most evident in phenomena like the Women’s movement in the early 20th century, the Civil Rights movement in the latter half of the 20th century, and the Arab Spring in our own time.

The experience of nonviolent action in the political arena shows us shows us that such tactics can succeed because they attack the institutional dictatorship where it is weakest. We believe the same applies to “ecclesiastic dictatorship” that often defines the power systems within the institutional church. The church “institution” must be studied to determine its weaknesses. And from that, a “Grand Strategy” might surface to hasten the day of a new Catholic Spring, born of the power of the Holy Spirit unleashed among the People of God.

The Institute’s format and schedule is still in development and will likely take the form of 6-8 online sessions conducted over several months, ending with a face-to-face weekend retreat. One of the expected outcomes will be the drafting of strategies for coordinated non-violent action calling for targeted changes in the church’s structure and governance, mirroring some of the changes called for at ACC In Detroit and the Listening Sessions leading up to it. (See Detroit Proceedings).

You can share your reactions and ideas for the developing Institute and its projected outcomes by posting comments to the Nonviolence Institute Discussion Forum on the ACN.

Prompts for Thanksgiving Table Talk

As we approach this season of Thanksgiving, it is essential to name the things we are grateful for and why they impact our lives.  On behalf of the Planning Committee of the American Catholic Council (ACC), we are sustained by your continued testimony that our gathering in Detroit this past Pentecost Weekend invigorated attendees with a new understanding of their rights and responsibilities as adult Catholics.

In Retrospect: We took the summer to digest the varied data provided from that memorable weekend in order to determine trends and actionable directions. Those deliberations have reinforced our collective realization that governance continues to be the root cause of the ongoing crises in our Church.  We remain convinced that focusing on solutions that impact leadership and governance structures of the church will yield historic changes.

Early this Fall, the Planning Team concurred that this movement could not simply be a one time event that fades into the history books as a marker event. And so we began to discuss how this movement, with no prior  history, no staff, no office and no guaranteed future funding could define itself and its future.  This was no easy challenge when we were bombarded with calls, emails, notes and letters all asking what our next steps would be.  Because we left the future open to the call of the Spirit and the Sensus Fidelium, we were “listening” but the call was not yet crystal clear.

Toward An Emerging Catholic Spring: Patience has not been consistently one of our virtues, yet in recent months, a future step has emerged with clarity. We are pleased this Thanksgiving to give you a foretaste for your dinner conversations: We are planning to launch an online Institute on Nonviolent Action to be framed by a social analysis of power systems in the institutional Catholic Church. We hope to engage help from the Albert Einstein Institution, the home of Gene Sharp who has been heralded as the father of the Arab Spring.

Might it be that we can stimulate what some have been calling an emerging Catholic Spring? Our pilot initiative will review the theory and practice on nonviolent action, ground it in Gospel imperatives, and then seek to integrate nonviolent methods into a national action plan.We have presented this new direction to a national association of reform groups and debuted it in a caucus held at the Call to Action conference in Milwaukee earlier this month.  Receptivity was exceptionally high.

We are currently reviewing available dates with the Einstein Institution’s staff and are in preparation for the project to begin early next year.  More information will be forthcoming as it becomes available, but our solution-driven goal is to call for a  coordinated action around one or two initiatives that will have national, regional and local applicability and impact.

We are grateful to you for your patience as we discerned this direction, challenged ourselves to take this movement to the next step, and boldly step out into an unknown future with a strong belief that we have been called.  We hope this news finds you well and that the holidays provide you with the rest and refreshment needed to find yourself called to step out in faith to join us in our efforts to act as the Church we have been called to be.

In gratitude and humility,

– Janet Hauter & John Hushon
Co-Chairs, American Catholic Council, Inc. 

Some 120 people participated in an ACC “caucus” during CTA earlier this month.  After a brief overview of the agenda, John Frank asked for one word impressions of what happened in Detroit back in June. Some phrases that “popped” were: Joy; Jump; Enthusiasm; Plant the seed without seeing the flowers; time to be adults; red stoles; energy; empowerment.

Janet Hauter then presented a summary of the significance of Detroit and ongoing energy to promote a Vatican II spirituality to sustain our commitment to church reform. For some of those related insights, see the article ACC Watershed Moment in our last newsletter (Oct. 31, 2011)

Underscoring ACC’s emerging niche in grassroots organizing, Sheila Peiffer then moderated a mini “listening session”, where participants talked in small groups about what ACC could do to nurture the grassroots of church reform and how it might give support to local leadership and local organizing. Some key responses included the following:

• Use the DVDs from Detroit to educate others and engage local parish priests; publish discussion guides to go with them;
• Expand the Assemblies Community Network and encourage people to use it as a means to get connected in local communities and organize across the country.
• Publish resources to further education around the Catholic Bill of Rights and Responsibilities (CBRR) and other resources that ACC has produced, including the Report on the Listening Sessions leading up to Detroit.
• Provide a Speakers Bureau to resource continued education in large and small towns across the country;
• Provide resources to promote further growth of Intentional Eucharistic Communities (IECs);
• Engage the secular media;

John Hushon then spoke of the emerging plan for an Institute on Nonviolence and Church Reform. The aim will be to develop a strategic plan for Nonviolent Action to effect the changes we seek in church governance and leadership. The pilot program, to begin this Spring, will consist of three phases: (1) social/structural analysis of Catholic Church power systems and vulnerabilities in its hierarchical structure; (2) training in non-violence theory and methods; and (3) development of strategies to implement these methods in specific targeted actions to produce positive reform in the Church. The plan is to have the Institute operate as a university type “webinar” for up to 40 people that would culminate in an in-person retreat in the late Spring. If proven successful, subsequent institutes would follow.

The ACC Caucus at CTA concluded with a post-session later that afternoon where John Frank provided a tutorial on how to use the interactive communication features of the Assemblies Community Network.

(Compiled by Sheila Peiffer, with thanks to Janet Hauter, Tom Kyle, and Margaret Mary Moore)

The aim is to have these new forums provide a means for continued input from the grassroots as we frame a developing strategic mission and action plan to advance church reform and guide the work of American Catholic Council. The new forums are being organized in multiple categories across three primary domains: (a) principles that ground our actions; (b) topical action proposals; and (c) ACC mission & structure. With this newsletter, we announce the opening of the first three

new discussion categories.  Please help jump start the
conversation in the new forums on the left column.

Other features of the ACN include a private messaging system and search engine to find others in one’s local area that are committed to the goals of the American Catholic Council. Members of the network can post their local and regional events to the ACC Calendar as well as form private Planning Groups designed to promote secure and confidential collaboration within geographical communities such as a state, metropolitan area, region or diocese. These “Groups” bring local leaders together as they collaborate in planning events and programs to further church reform in their area.

Though the  home page of the ACN is public, access to the interactive communications on internal pages does require member sign-up. The ACN provides a reasonable balance of protecting members’ privacy while at the same time promoting transparent communication among fellow Catholics committed to the vision of Vatican II. Members’ personal contact information is never appears online and is not disclosed to third parties.

There are now close to 1000 members on the network, with representation across most of the US and Canada, and with particular concentration in the Northeast, the Midwest, Florida, and the West Coast. To learn more, please explore the Assemblies Community Network and consider signing up. If you have difficulty, please contact Technical Support.

The Council attracted substantial Detroit, national and international media attention, primarily related to the actions taken by the Archdiocese of Detroit.  Some of the media was not entirely accurate, particularly concerning the chain of events.  Here is what our archives demonstrate:

Over two years ago when we first chose Detroit as the Council site, we invited the Archdioicese of Detroit (AoD) to participate in listening sessions and in planning the Council.  We also contacted Elephants in the Living Room, a large Detroit-based organization of concerned Catholic priests, deacons and laity that had been in existence for many years as an educational venture in the Archdiocese. Elephants enthusiastically joined us and offered to be our Detroit-based partner. The AoD ignored us.

When ACC issued its preliminary program and invitation (October, 2010), the AoD published a warning on the diocesan website and asked pastors to reprint the warning in their bulletins.  That “pastoral advisory” forbade the use of parish property for Listening Sessions and planning meetings.  Under those circumstances, Elephants concluded that they could not as an organization formally partner with ACC. Yet, many of its members became our biggest supporters and source of volunteers.  In response, the ACC Planning Committee sent a letter to the AoD asking for a meeting to discuss our plans and the warning.  Our letter was apparently ignored. We published it on our website and many parishes published our response. The media picked up the ACC response. (Click here to see further background)

The Executive Committee of Elephants then sent a letter to the Archbishop asking for another meeting. That letter was a detailed defense of ACC and the Motifs of the Spirit of Vatican II which we had published in our response to the AoD.  Eight weeks later, five representatives of Elephants (all priests) met personally  with Archbishop Vigneron of the AoD, and after a long and difficult meeting, parted without resolution (with the Elephants representatives stating that “in conscience” they could not agree or comply with the warnings of the Archbishop).

Eight days before ACC was to open, Msgr. Robert McClory, Vicar of Priests of the AoD, sent via email to Janet Hauter and John Hushon (ACC Co-Chairs), a letter requesting details about the planned Sunday liturgy. We consulted the anticipated presider, two Canon lawyers, and several planning committee members and responded by email within 48 hours.  Our response provided a full description of the liturgy, stating there would be only “one presider, an ordained priest with faculties in the AoD.” Our letter underscored that in the opinion of our canon law consultants, the liturgy would be valid.  We noted that the language throughout the liturgy would be fully inclusive and that we had planned to use a sung/responsive version of Eucharistic Prayer #10, appropriate for Pentecost.

Less than one hour after we sent our response, the AoD chose to ignore it and posted another warning to the Archdiocesan website, this one threatening to initiate laicization proceedings against any priest or deacon who participated in an illicit liturgy.  Our lawyers advised that the liturgy was licit, and therefore the threat was meaningless. This warning also stated that all previous attempts by the AoD to dialogue with ACC had been ignored. That statement simply is not true.

Subsequently, when the AoD learned the identity of our presider, he was threatened with the loss of his parish where he has served for many years.  The consequence would have shattered the parish community where he is deeply loved and respected. Rather than risk that, we invited Fr. Bob Worm to preside. Worm is a retired priest in the Archdiocese of Detroit.  After the liturgy, a spokesperson for the AoD issued a press release which used the “abuse” word in describing the liturgy, just as the Archbishop was packing for the USCCB meeting where the bishops refused to make the strengthening recommendations put forth by the National Review Board to the Charter on the Protection of Children.