Boomers of a Lesser God

Call to Action, some 30 years ago, had an epiphany. It discovered a god it could understand, a savior who never utters a discouraging word -- like "Pick up your cross and follow me."

The god of Call to Action tells its members women can be Catholic priests. (Theology be damned! What a bore!)

The god of Call to Action isn't big on authority -- be it that of the pope, the bishops, sacred scripture or 2,000 years of Catholic tradition. (The ancients weren't so clever as you, you aging Baby Boomers you!)

The god of Call to Action talks a lot about herself as Sophia, and she encourages the group's female members to make the deity in their own image, rather than the other way around. The god of Call to Action just can't stand it when the ladies get a patriarchal case of the vapors.

The god of Call to Action tells its members sexuality is a personal thing, and that whatever floats their boat when it comes to artificial birth control and abortion is OK by her.

Oh . . . and the god of Call to Action forgot to consult fetuses everywhere before she told CTAers that last thing.

If you ask me, it must be terribly hard to commit oneself to an eminently understandable Less Than Supreme Being. Or, as Flannery O'Connor once wrote to a friend:

Whatever you do anyway, remember that these things are mysteries and that if they were such that we could understand them, they wouldn’t be worth understanding. A God you understood would be less than yourself.

THAT MAY EXPLAIN why Call to Action is a small, feckless and graying group of alleged Catholics. They've been more concerned with their devotion to the Inconsequential Climax than with breeding, and they've embraced an eternal cause that's smaller than even themselves.

Then again, you have to wonder about folks like those of Call to Action Nebraska, who've actually been excommunicated -- for 11 years, now -- by Lincoln Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz but who just won't vacate the premises. After all -- when tortured by membership in an organization which does violence to all your most cherished beliefs and preconceptions, and when every attempt at "reform" has failed miserably -- isn't the rational response to . . . leave?

As in, "You can't fire me! I quit!"

REALLY, there's not really much at all that Call to Action and the Church agree upon. And that includes basic moral theology and, in some members' cases, the makeup of the Holy Trinity.

Martin Luther never had such a beef with the Vatican.

Yet, there they were last week. Excommunicated -- in other words, ex-Catholic -- members of Call to Action Nebraska protested the beleaguered bishop of Lincoln and his failure to sign onto the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' "safe-environment" audit procedures as they tried to convince the world that they're still Catholic because they have proclaimed Bruskewitz and the Vatican (which upheld the ousters) full of bull.

I guess authority is OK when you're the one wielding it all, huh?

Nine popes trying to nail deliver their 95 Theses petition to the Cathedral door chancery, only to be overwhelmed by more than 100 Lincoln faithful who see God as being greater than themselves and think their shepherd is doing OK.

The Lincoln Journal-Star was there to cover Call to Action's Big Surprise:

Nine members of the group Call to Action stood outside the Cathedral of the Risen Christ Friday to call attention to Lincoln Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz’s refusal to participate in an annual sex abuse audit.

But they were upstaged by more than 100 local Catholics who came together on less than an hour’s notice to show support for the bishop.

Call to Action, a group calling for reforms in the Catholic Church, had petitions signed by more than 1,000 people nationwide asking Bruskewitz to comply with the annual study of whether local dioceses are compliant with church rules to prevent and respond to sex abuse.

But in about a day and a half, the group on the other side collected more than 1,400 signatures on a petition praising the bishop and thanking him for his service.

Rachel Pokora, president of Call to Action-Nebraska, had announced a prayer service for Friday afternoon outside the Catholic Chancery, but the group’s leaders decided to switch to a morning press conference after learning of a counter-demonstration planned by the bishop’s supporters.

Still, Mary Quintero, an organizer of the supporter group, was able to get 116 adults and children to pray and sing while the Call to Action people were talking.

Just as Pokora was starting to speak to reporters, the supporters, many dressed in red, walked by singing the hymn “Ave Maria.”

The Call to Action group joined in the singing for a few moments of unexpected togetherness.

Despite the greater numbers on the other side, Pokora said she believes Call to Action represents the majority of Catholics nationwide who want bishops to fully comply with the annual sex abuse study.

“We are the church, and it is important that the voices of the faithful who are concerned about the children of the diocese are heard,” she said.

Bruskewitz has been identified as the only bishop of a Catholic diocese who declined to participate in the audits.

Bruskewitz has said the Lincoln Diocese is in full compliance with all civil and church laws regarding abuse of minors. The audit is not mandatory, and other bishops have upheld his right to opt out.

“There’s no requirement to do something that isn’t a law,” he said Friday. “If it were a law, we would obey it immediately, of course.”

(snip)

The Call to Action members had planned to deliver the petitions to the bishop’s office, but several police officers were on hand to prevent them from crossing onto church property. Krejci said they would deliver them by mail or a delivery service.

“We were told that if we set foot on church property, we would be arrested,” Pokora said.

Friday afternoon, about 100 supporters gathered again outside the Chancery. Many were still signing petitions, including a number of children who added signatures to the document expressing “our fervent support” for Bruskewitz.

The bishop came out and accepted the petitions, saying, “You are all very kind, more than kind.”

“We love our bishop,” Quintero said.

“I can see that,” Bruskewitz responded.

He asked them to pray for Call to Action members, that they return to the true Catholic faith. Bruskewitz considers the group anti-Catholic, although its members say they are faithful to the church’s teachings.

Doug Vandervort, who headed up the supporters’ petition campaign, noted that signatures came from people in Lincoln and several other states and were collected in 31 hours. Call to Action’s 1,000 signatures were collected over several months, he said.

Heh heh heh.