Coming Soon: 2022 Advent Calendar
Four Advent candle, each one lit. The pink Advent candle is imprinted with the CTA logo (a blue dove surrounded by rays).
Each year, we search for the return of light to the world that occurs during the Winter Solstice. Early Christians wisely placed the Birth of Christ to coincide with this return of light.
In 2022, perhaps now more than ever, we find ourselves staring into the darkness and longing for that light.
Call To Action is proud to provide an Advent Calendar for 2022 focused on justice, solidarity, and reconciliation. This year, CTA’s Indigenous Solidarity Collective has designed a special calendar featuring 27 days of prayer and study that will lead us into action in solidarity with indigenous communities. Our 2022 Advent Calendar will feature the prodigious work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, which compiled calls to action directed at both the Canadian government and church officials. On each day of Advent, we'll share one or more of the TRC calls of action, along with a prayerful meditation and resources for further study and action. For each Sunday during Advent, we'll release a scripture and homily, written by one of our CTA members, reflecting on justice and reconciliation.
These daily meditations and weekly homilies are meant to be both inspirational and sobering. It's our hope and our prayer that sharing these calls to action from our sisters and brothers in Canada will lead to similar calls of our own, both within ourselves, our church, and our nation. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland recently vowed to undertake a historic investigation into the lasting social impacts—such as historical and intergenerational trauma—of the federal Indian boarding school system. Our 2022 Advent Calendar will help us to prepare for evaluation and response to the eagerly awaited results of this investigation.
Please join us this Advent as we continue to cultivate our solidarity with indigenous communities across the U.S. and Canada and discern these calls within ourselves.
More about the 94 Calls to Action
Indigenous Solidarity Collective will be highlighting the first 42 of the 94 Calls to Action by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. The 94 Calls to Action were created to highlight the horrors of the Indian residential school system and the historical mistreatment of Indigenous peoples These calls also include actionable policies to prevent future abuse and further aid in the healing process. The first 42 calls to action acknowledge how these atrocities took place and the long-lasting effects they have had on Indigenous communities, which continue in the present day.
Who is the Indigenous Solidarity Collective?
The 2022 Advent Calendar is a project of CTA's Indigenous Solidarity Collective, a working group that addresses the Catholic Church's historical and current role in colonialization. The goals of the collective include educating Catholics about the importance of collective responsibility for violence against Indigenous peoples; lobbying the hierarchy and political leaders, and building relationships with Indigenous groups so that we may be in solidarity with their activism and leadership.
