Call To Action
2012 National Conference
November 9-11, Louisville, KY

Friday Schedule

Retreat Day at Gethsemani Abbey 8:30AM-3:30PM

Pre-conference Seminars: 9:00AM-3:00PM

Exhibits, Networking, Caucuses: 3:00PM-7:00PM

Wide Open Friday: 3:30PM-5:00PM

Dinner: 5:15PM-6:30PM

State Caucuses: 6:00PM-7:00PM

Opening Liturgy & Welcome Address: 7:00PM

Keynote Address with Diane Nash: 7:45PM


PRESENTATION DESCRIPTIONS & BIOS


Retreat Day at Gethsemani Abbey

Gethsemani Abbey near Bardstown Kentucky is the home of the Trappist monks who live the mystery of Christ among us, much as they did when Thomas Merton walked the earth. Merton’s hermitage still stands in the woods as when he left. The bells in the Abbey still sound the hours and the monks still chant the daily office. Join us for a pre-conference day-trip to Gethsemani. Stroll the grounds, experience SEXT with the monks, be welcomed by Brother Luke and share a day together with Rev. Barbara Zeman as we travel back in time to rediscover Thomas Merton in the 21st century. His books, his theology, his passion for peace and his inclusive nature … all are even more relevant today, than they were 45 years ago.

 

PRE-CONFERENCE SESSIONS:

Myra Brown, Martha Sanchez, Marian Fredal

Race and Our Lives:  From Internalized Racism to Liberation

Parallel break out groups for white people and people of color with honest story sharing, dialogue and healing. Sessions will delve into the complex issues of institutional and internalized racism. Members of CTA’S Anti-Racism Team will facilitate a process looking at messages of racism and avenues toward liberation and justice.

Myra Brown is a member of CTA’S Anti-Racism Team. She has led many racial justice workshops and anti-racism trainings for regional CTA groups and other organizations across the country like WOC, YWCA, Metro Justice, Women on the move, etc. Myra is particularly skilled at helping participants reflect on their own racial experiences and the answers that lie within them.

Martha Sanchez is a coordinator for La Unión Del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), member of the CTA Anti-Racism Team and a member of CTA-RGV chapter and other peace and justice organizations in the Rio Grande Valley.

Marian Fredal has been active as a White anti-racist activist for 15 years. She has led support groups, led workshops, and taught classes for white people working to eliminate racism. She is on the CTA Anti-Racism Team, presenting workshops with Myra Brown in Madison, WI, Lincoln NE, and Cincinnati, OH. She is writing about the Gary Indiana Diocese recent 3-year Anti-Racism Initiative, and working locally to decrease racial disparities in the Criminal Justice System.


John Dear

Peace and Justice Rising! The Resurrection of Jesus and Our Work for Justice and Peace

When Jesus rose from the dead, he continued his campaign of active nonviolence by offering his gift of peace and sending us forth to be his witnesses.  He wants us, as people of resurrection, to have nothing to do with Death, to reject violence, injustice and war, and to carry on his life-giving work of peace, nonviolence and justice.  Together, we will read the four accounts of Jesus’ resurrection, reflect on them from the perspective of peace, justice and nonviolence, and share how our lives and work and how we can become more and more people of peace, justice, nonviolence, and resurrection. John will give presentations, offer questions for small group conversation, and lead large group discussions. The morning will focus primarily on Luke 24, the road to Emmaus story, and the afternoon, on John 20-21-- the first breakfast and the call to discipleship. Together, we will hear the risen Jesus send us forth again into the world of war and injustice to be his witnesses of peace and justice.

John Dear is an internationally known voice for peace and nonviolence. A long time peace activist, he served as director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation; and after September 11, 2001, a Red Cross coordinator of chaplains at the Family Assistance Center in New York. He has traveled the war zones of the world, been arrested some 75 times for peace, led Nobel Peace prize winners to Iraq, given thousands of lectures on peace across the U.S., and served as a pastor of several churches in New Mexico. He writes a weekly column for “The National Catholic Reporter” at www.ncronline.org.  Archbishop Desmond Tutu, among others, has nominated John Dear for the Nobel Peace Prize. John’s many books include: Lazarus, Come Forth!; The God of Peace;   Transfiguration;  You Will Be My Witnesses;   Living Peace;  The Questions of Jesus;  Put Down Your Sword;  Jesus the Rebel;   Peace Behind Bars;  Disarming the Heart, and his autobiography, A Persistent Peace.  He is featured in the DVD film, “The Narrow Path.” See: www.johndear.org

Kathy Kelly & Bill Slavick

Middle East and Central Asia:  Rising Justice and the Further Invention of Nonviolence

Emphasizing empathy for people in the Middle East and Central Asia who are trapped in war zones or living under occupation, Slavick and Kelly will use anecdotes, interactive exercises, videos, maps, graphs and updated analyses to dismantle the notion that our violence and support of militarism serves ordinary civilians living in Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Afghanistan or Pakistan.  Participants will work together to develop tools for outreach and education in faith-based communities.

For three decades Kathy Kelly has been an active and dedicated witness against war. She visits areas of neo-imperial military intervention, stays in the homes of ordinary people who are victims of war and brings back their stories to ordinary people in the United States and other countries to make them aware of the human effects of U.S. policies of military domination. In this calling, since 1985, she has visited Nicaragua, Guatemala, Haiti, many times to Iraq during both U.S. invasions and the period of economic siege warfare between the invasions, Bosnia, Palestine during the Intifada, Gaza during the Israeli invasion, Pakistan, and many times to Afghanistan since 2010. She has also been arrested and imprisoned in the United States many times for nonviolent protests against war, nuclear weapons, and most recently, drone warfare attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Kathy is a founder and co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence based in Chicago.

Bill Slavick was the coordinator of Pax Christi Maine for 23 years. He has published hundreds of Church World peace and social justice feature articles and newspaper op eds. Bill founded Maine for Palestinian Rights and has spoken, written, and led several CTA caucuses on Palestine.  In 2006, Bill was a candidate for the U.S. Senate.


JacksteitKaufmann

Mary Jacksteit & Adrienne Kaufmann

Seeking Common Ground: Reproduction and Justice

This workshop offers CTA participants an opportunity for non-confrontational dialogue about abortion and reproductive issues through what we call searching for common ground. The dialogue will yield deeper understanding of differing perspectives, of real (not assumed) issues of common ground, and of genuine (not assumed) differences. Similar workshops have yielded ongoing dialogue and opportunities for joint action, which is our hope for the CTA community. This will be the first in a series of CTA dialogues titled, Seeking Common Ground, where CTA members will discuss timely topics such as reproductive justice, capital punishment, euthanasia and war.

IMPORTANT: This session is limited to 24 participants who are committed to being present for the entire day and pre-registration is required. The facilitators will be in touch prior to conference to confirm your participation.

Mary Jacksteit and Adrienne Kaufmann are professionals with extensive experience bringing together those with differing perspectives on deeply heartfelt issues. Together, they founded the Common Ground Network for Life and Choice in 1993 which for seven years fostered dialogue in community and other settings (including CTA) around the country. Adrienne is a Benedictine sister, mediator, facilitator and educator and currently the Vocations Director in her community in Watertown, South Dakota. Mary, who lives outside Washington DC, currently works with the Public Conversations Project supporting dialogue on contentious issues, and also provides mediation, facilitation and consulting services to non-profits and government. The two met at George Mason

University’s Program in Conflict Analysis and Resolution where Mary earned a Master’s degree in 1993 and Adrienne was awarded a PhD in 1999.


Don’t miss Wide Open Friday - beginning at 3:30 PM & 4:15 PM

The Exhibit Hall will be bustling with activities. Our “Authors’ Forum” will feature a number of authors showcasing their books. Several individuals and organizations will lead round-table discussions on topics of controversy. If you would like to facilitate a 30-minute discussion on a topic of your choice, please sign up here. (link back to wide open Friday form).

FRIDAY KEYNOTE: Diane Nash

The Nonviolent Movement of the 1960s:  A Legacy for Today

The presentation will include stories of the nonviolent movement of the 1960s (including many facts that are not widely known) and will explore how that movement left a legacy that can be used effectively to make social change today. 

By 1961, Diane Nash had emerged as one of the most respected student leaders of the sit-in movement in Nashville, TN. She was raised in a middle class family in Chicago and attended Howard University before transferring to Nashville’s Fisk University in 1959. Nash was shocked by the extent of segregation she encountered in Tennessee and became a founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960. In 1961, she served time in jail in solidarity with the “Rock Hill Nine” – nine students imprisoned after a lunch counter sit-in.

Diane Nash’s work is discussed in several well-known books: Freedom Riders 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice by Raymond Arsenault; Parting the Waters and Pillar of Fire by Taylor Branch; The Children by David Halberstam; Walking With the Wind by Congressman John Lewis; and Freedom’s Daughters, by Lynne Olson. She has also appeared in the following shows and films: The Oprah Winfrey Show; The Tavis Smiley Show; The Today Show; The PBS American Experience Film, Freedom Riders directed by award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson; the Spike Lee film, Four Little Girls; Eyes On The Prize: America's Civil Rights Years - 1954 to 1965, the Public Broadcasting System series; A Force More Powerful; and A LITURGY FOR A JUST WORLD "Faith Rising in Action".