A new leader at the table

One could comment on the errors on almost every line of this article, but that could take weeks. To answer one question, why no one complained about putting someone who formally cooperated in the deaths of thousands (if not millions) of deaths to the board of Call to Action, I submit two reasons. First, would anyone expect any less? And second, much like VOTF, WOC and FC, CTA is as irrelevant to the Church as is SSPX. Crazy fringe groups are crazy fringe groups, whether on the right or left.

The possibility of a negative reaction from conservative Catholics??? Any Catholic--conservative or liberal should react negatively. This is further proof, as if any further proof was necessary, that "Call to Action" is not in conformity with the teachings of the Church and truly desires to destroy her. It is inconsistent to support the goals of Planned Parenthood and to call oneself Catholic at the same time.

Talk about shameless self-promtion. These CTA people are as prolific in the NCR pages as Opus Dei is in some other publications. Some would say that CTA has managed to completely infiltrate this publication. And i can guarantee that this comment will be censored by the webeditor. But its the sad truth. What happened to NCR's Mission to be truly Catholic, rather rather than the "water carrier" of the CTA Rump.

Of course one wonders what one is to do about those who don't just fail to sit at the table and dialogue, they rather feel compelled to upend table, meal, service, and all into the laps of those already seated and waiting.

Or, with those who decline the invitation unless they are to be permitted to set the menu.

Or, worse yet, to those who deny that a table not of their making and setting actually exists.

This is the type of leadership we need in our church: people open to looking at the difficult issues of our times and respecting views on both sides of an issue. This is the only way forward for us as a church.

I see "Milbo," "Snowdrop" and Anonymous are on full time shill patrol for the far right wing nuts and the
Catholic fundamentalist bishops. The only reason they bother posting in threads such as this is because they simply can't handle thoughtful and engaging Catholics such as Jim FitzGerald. I commend Call To Action for their insight and applaud them for making such an excellent choice as Call to Action's new Executive Director. The future Catholic Church will be a true representation of Christ's teachings with people like Jim FitzGerald leading the way. I hope the loving and progressive Catholics of his generation continue to "infiltrate" the Church at every level. Cowardly attackers such as the aforementioned three must be close to nervous breakdowns when they see remarkable young people like Mr. FitzGerald assume positions of leadership in our ever changing Catholic Church. This is one more example of disgraceful and shameful behavior of the far right.

An altogether irrelevant story, illustrating neither Catholicism nor leadership.

“What’s missing in our church is the freedom to talk without fear about issues like abortion or gay marriage or stem cell research."

And, unfortunately, it (FREEDOM) is gonna stay missing at least for the remainder of MY own lifetime, and probably that of Mr. Fitzgerald. But I applaud his and CTA's efforts.

I admire his willingness to dialogue respectfully--THIS is what's going to get us somewhere.

If groups like Call to Action didn't regularly attack the Catholic Church in their press releases, they wouldn't get four inches of news coverage a year.

Like most dissident groups, their main objective is their own group's survival. The Catholic Church is critical to that survival and the jobs of a goodly number of volunteers and paid staff.

Why don't these guys just join the Episcopal Church? Then they could have it all: gays, women priests and an obsession with "social justice" as they see it(i.e., the U.S. is the root of all evil).

If these guys ran the Catholic Church, it would have lost even more members than it has already. Look at the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Extreme liberal Christianity is becoming ever more irrelevant as time goes by.

Why would this appointment be controversial? CTA is a dominantly pro-choice group, so a PP veteran is a logical choice. The hierarchy will not bother to comment on this any more than it would comment on the appointment of a new PP or NARAL executive. CTA is simply not taken seriously.

As I see all of the talk of dialogue and seeing both sides of issues, it strikes me that we have lost sight of "the kingdom of God." Democratic ideals are quite comfortable as they emphasize our power and authority. This whole thing about God as father is comfortable for most of us (God be merciful to those who cannot even cope with that much), but God as a king who makes the laws without consultation, reveals them as truth and calls disobedience sin does not sit so well.

I suspect the reason why the "Institutional Church" has not said anything about this development is because CTA doesn't mean a thing. What an irony to hear a member of Call to Action talk about relevancy....
The group is little more than a haven for aging hippies. They will die, with no offspring, as their ideas are stale and old.

Mr. Fitzgerald is a classic example of when people make their decision based not on Reason, but on affections and emotions. Put these two sentences together and see what you get:

doesn’t believe life begins at conception. FitzGerald “respects life as much as any of us,”

That he doesn't 'believe life begins at conception, shows him to be ignorant of reproductive biology. Any biological scientist will tell you that 'life begin's at conception'. The question is not if it's life or not, the question is if it's a life worth protecting. Mr. Fitzgerald believes not. You might excuse him scientifically for thinking that during the blastocyst stage of development there are minimal 'signs of life', but how about the fetal stage. (read the following to educate yourself: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetus) Obviously, he has let his emotional attachment to the 'pro-choice' moniker overwhelm his reason. This is typical for people who prefer to make 'moral judgements' not based on reason, but based on 'feelings'. He's a perfect fit for CTA. What might Christ call him? Maybe A whited sepulcher full of dead man's bones... Or should we say a soul full of dead baby bones.

I think that Jim Fitzgerald is a great asset to Call to Action and I hope with all my heart that he's right about young Catholics wanting a loving and inclusive church. I recently dialogued with young members of Regum Christi and was so unprepared for their sheer anger and hatred for all older Catholics. Apparently, if you're a "mature" Catholic and you enjoy the reforms of Vatican II than you have played a major part in "ruining the Catholic Church". However, according to my young RC friends there is great hope on the horizon. As we older Catholics die so will the reforms that have ruined the Church and the Legionnaires of Christ and Regnum Christi will restore the Church to it's former glory. One of the missions or duties of the young and enthusiastic RCs is to post comments such as we see on NCRs website denouncing anything other than the most traditional of Catholic thought and theology. Well, I'm all for people expressing their opinions but have you noticed how angry these young conservative are? And frankly, there is no room to dialogue with them which is so unfortunate. I would love to be able to sit down and have a calm, rational and intellectual conversation with them. I'm sure that there is much I could learn from them and hopefully they would learn something from me. At the very least, we could agree to disagree and part in peace.

I can't believe, Call to Action members as well as VOTF and SNAP members really think they can make any change in the way the hierarchy has been running the church into the ground for the past hundred years. All you are doing is putting out fires. When will you realize change can only take place when there is a change in the criminals that are in charge. When there is a change in who controls the way church money is spent. Then and only then will any meaningful change take place and I don't see the bishops running out of defensive moves.Ask yourself, has there been any accountasbility and just stop there. There has not even been any attempt at accountability. Open your eye's. There still there. They still run fund drives and the sheep keep giving. Wake up, Catholic's are still getting the shaft and still being financially abused and the shafters and abusers are still in complete control. Who moved abusive priest from parish to parish. who allowed abusive priests to go free without having to register as sex offenders. Who has used billions of dollars of church money to protect these pedohiles and themselves. The bishops that are responbsible for all this, don;t tell anyone, but there still here, and you think Call to Action, VOTF or SNAP can compete with the money and power this group has. Wake up and smell the roses.

Congratulations to Heidi Schlumpf and NCR for their coverage of Call to Action's selection of Jim Fitzgerald as its executive director. Mr. Fitzgrald is correct in saying that young Catholics today are moreprogressive than previous generations. A 2005 Gallup survey of American CAtholics found millennials (ages 18-25) to be the most Democratic (58%), with 29% identifying themselves as Republican, and 13% as independents. They voted for Obama in almost the same proportions. While all Catholics across generations see helping the poor, the Millennials led all generations with 91% saying that was a crucial element of what identified them as Catholics.

That same 2005 survey found that only a minority of Catholics regardless of generation see Church leaders as the final source of moral authority on the five major sexual issues ranging from birth control to abortion and non-marital sex. The largest plurality of Catholcis in all cases sees resort to their own conscience as the locus of moral authority ( pp 96-99 American Catholics Today).

Call to Action has an opportunity to grow and attract the millions of young Catholics who identify easily with Jesus's teachings on serving the poor (Matthew 25 and elsewhere), working for peace, forgiveness and reconcilation, while relying on their own lived experience and reason and Jesus's inclusive love to help them find a different way to understand and live as sexual beings created by a loving God. Lumen Gentium Ch. 12 teaches that the Church will not err when all of its members are at one. The reality on issues like abortion, birth control and homosexuality is that the Church is not at one. There is clearly a lack of the sensus fidelium.

Fitzgerald is right on! It's all about dialogue. We need to dialogue with other Catholics until we educate them and they understand and drop their hatred of women and gays and then can accept the benefits of abortion and same sex and poly marriages. Right on! It is up to us to create our own Catholic Church that reflects us and not some male centered institution that claims Jesus was a man and considers abortion evil.

You go, NCR! You (and America) are the only Catholic media out there brave enough to expose the evil of that old man in the Vatican and his American minions in the pointy hats. The Church belongs to us, not them, and we get to say what is right or wrong, not them and their male-dominated "scriptures".

I am sick to death of hearing about "murdering babies". Who cares? Do any of these people care about the women who are not ready to be mothers at this stage of their lives? Do any of them care that they are judging others simply for loving or enjoying other people of the same sex? I say to hell with these intolerant and judgmental people. They don't belong in our church and we should let them know that they are not welcome.

"There has been little or no outcry from Call to Action’s 25,000 members -- or even from the Catholic hierarchy or pro-life groups -- about FitzGerald’s appointment..."

Of course there hasn't. Call to Action, for the most part, is irrelevant to the Catholic hierarchy. They are a group of people who long ago left the Catholic Church, except in name. This group of geriatrics has nothing constructive to offer to real Catholicism. The sooner they fade away into the cemeteries, the better off our Church will be.

I'm more upset at CNR for carrying this than CTA for appointing him. CTA is a group of heretics who has long since abandoned the Church's teachings. National Catholic Register still attempts to sell itself as a representative of the Church, but when they post articles suggesting that its acceptable to be pro-abortion and pro-birth control, clearly they are on the road to apostasy as well.

For the people who talk about the Legion of Christ as representative of "conservative" catholics, this just isn't true. The Legion was founded by a man who was abusive, secretive and controlling, and the entire order is currently undergoing an apostolic visitation to determine its future.

"New leader at the table" CTA Jim Fitzgerald

Evidently, the institutional Church is struggling with contradiction
as is the institutional Board of Director of Call to Action. For example, the
Church acknowledges the baptismal equality of women yet denies them ordination. CTA "has worked [hard]to remain neutral on the hot-button
issue of abortion", yet its new Executive Director's views are solidly
pro-choice [pro-abortion]. Contradictions are part of the human condition and we see them in the human side both of the Church and CTA.

I would like to see a CTA policy statement that would reaffirm the
status quo of being neutral on abortion and add to it the welcoming and
honoring of all life from the very beginning to the very last moment. This
could forward the dialogue that Jim Fitzgerald favors and that we need so badly.
David Rudolph, A Postmodern True Feminist, drudolphcta@greencafe.com