Call To Action 2008
Last weekend I journeyed the rural roads and freeways down into the buzz of Milwaukee firstly learning that I'm in control of my city-induced fear, and I'm not too bad with directions, or not having directions, afterall. What called me to Milwaukee was not only the camaraderie of dear friends and family, but a deeper connection to a whole community which is, oddly enough, Catholic. Every year a National Call To Action (CTA - http://www.cta-usa.org/) Conference is held in downtown Milwaukee, and it is a meeting of great minds to address the injustices of the world. It is the reason I can still call myself a Catholic.
This year my mom and I coerced my father and two friends to also join us- none of them are Catholic. And they were afraid of a "Cum Ba Ya" experience where the devil is taken out of every sinner, or we all just sit around praising God, but CTA is not that type of Catholic Conference. CTA was in fact somewhat banned by the Catholic Church, probably because we are more like Christ than they can handle. The main goal of CTA, as I said before and as is the best I can summarize, is to fight the injustices in the world. We analyze social issues, environmental issues, governmental issues, and we find ways that we can help change the world in which we live. Of course it is largely analyzed from a Christian-perspective, but we are staunch believers in non-violent, open-minded action, and as such there are workshops exploring Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism. We, like Christ, want to make the world a place that loves and accepts all people.
This year was especially meaningful for me and I would like to highlight some of the bigger things I saw, but I think I will do it in installments, as otherwise this post is likely to get HUGE. So I will leave this one at an introduction to the conference and more will follow on the amazing sessions I attended.
This year my mom and I coerced my father and two friends to also join us- none of them are Catholic. And they were afraid of a "Cum Ba Ya" experience where the devil is taken out of every sinner, or we all just sit around praising God, but CTA is not that type of Catholic Conference. CTA was in fact somewhat banned by the Catholic Church, probably because we are more like Christ than they can handle. The main goal of CTA, as I said before and as is the best I can summarize, is to fight the injustices in the world. We analyze social issues, environmental issues, governmental issues, and we find ways that we can help change the world in which we live. Of course it is largely analyzed from a Christian-perspective, but we are staunch believers in non-violent, open-minded action, and as such there are workshops exploring Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism. We, like Christ, want to make the world a place that loves and accepts all people.
This year was especially meaningful for me and I would like to highlight some of the bigger things I saw, but I think I will do it in installments, as otherwise this post is likely to get HUGE. So I will leave this one at an introduction to the conference and more will follow on the amazing sessions I attended.