Vision Council announces staff transitions
An announcement from the Vision Council:
In a spirit of gratitude and anticipation, we write to share that in the summer of 2022, Executive Director Zach Johnson, Re/Generator Coordinator Claire Hitchins, and Communications & Activities Coordinator Abby Rampone will each transition out of their staff roles with Call To Action.
Zach, Claire, and Abby have helped build CTA into the community that it is today. They have piloted new programs, cultivated young leadership, deepened our commitment to anti-racist/anti-oppressive practices, and offered prophetic vision for our movement. They have helped CTA adapt during the pandemic – and even reach new audiences.
Each of our departing staff have discerned new opportunities, which you can read about below. We are proud to affirm their calls to service in our church and world.
While we will miss our departing staff, we have the utmost confidence in Associate Director Tamar Yager and Administrative Assistant & Project Consultant Revalon Wesson, who will remain with CTA and help steward it through this transition. We are grateful for their dedication to the organizational and financial well-being of CTA and thank them for their continued leadership in our movement.
This transition presents an opportunity for CTA to bring in new leaders who will continue to build our movement and deepen our commitment to anti-racist/anti-oppressive practices.
We begin the hiring process with prayer, love, and hope, grateful for all of the leaders who have shaped this movement over the years.
Please feel free to reach out to Zach, Claire, and Abby to wish them well in their next steps!
A message from Zach Johnson
Dear CTA,
A little more than five years ago I was humbled to become CTA’s Executive Director. I'm writing now to share that I will be stepping down from this position over the next few months. CTA's Vision Council and I have begun searching for our next Executive Director, and the call for applications will soon be public.
As many of you know, I came to CTA from the world of homeless street outreach and shelter work, and I am returning to that world again now. As I've learned in my time with CTA, anyone committed to reforming our church must learn to see this work as a process composed of many different seasons, phases, and forms. CTA is a community of people from all parts of this process. I'm thinking of my move back into homeless work as another step in my personal commitment into a new phase, another kind of church reform.
The first time I wrote to you all, introducing myself as CTA's new executive director in early 2017, I referenced Jesus's first parable of the sower from Matthew 13 as the spirit with which I wanted to begin the job. Now I think the parable is a good summary of the past five years for CTA. We've sown many seeds: some ideas (most!) landed in rocky soil and never even took root; some ideas landed among the thorns and were choked out by conflict, confusion, or burnout. But some ideas, like Re/Generation, fell right, were well-tended, and have even begun to sow their own seeds.
The song of this story, “Seed, Scattered and Sown,” has always been my favorite church song. It is the lullaby I sing to my daughter, and I'm grateful that it will always remind me of Call To Action.
In prayer and solidarity,
Zach
A message from Abby Rampone
After two and a half years as Call To Action's Communications and Activities Coordinator, I am leaving CTA to begin a full-time position at DePaul University in Chicago. I was a member of the first Re/Generation cohort in 2018, and I joined the staff in 2020. I’ve worn many hats in this role: I’ve organized working groups and national campaigns, supported Re/Generator projects, written content about our membership, and coordinated communications to our networks.
As I prepare for this next step, though, I'm reflecting that CTA is a community first and foremost. From conferences to chapters to Re/Generation, our best work is building communities of Catholics who want to transform our church. Wherever I go, from Denver to Grand Rapids to New York City, I connect with members of this passionate and dedicated network. A CTA member introduced me to my current intentional community, The Fireplace, where I now live with other CTA members. And some of my closest relationships are with CTA people. I'm so grateful to be in community with all of you.
A message from Claire Hitchins
This August I will move to Nashville, TN to complete my final year of my Master of Divinity degree as a full-time, in-person student. After two years of part-time, remote study, I am excited to finally experience the sort of holistic formation that embodied learning makes possible. Sadly, however, I’ve discerned that I will not be able to continue my work with Call To Action as I focus my energy and attention on this next step in my vocational path. It has been an absolute gift to co-create Re/Generation over my four years at CTA.
When Zach and I first dreamed up a mentoring program for progressive young Catholics in the fall of 2017, I had hoped that I could participate in the program. I longed for a community of peers rooted in the best parts of the Catholic tradition and working together to dismantle the worst parts of it, and I longed for elders to learn from and with. I couldn’t have imagined that I would have the honor of leading this program, or that Re/Generation would grow from the first cohort of 11 young adults and their mentors to an ever-widening community of over 100 people! I am profoundly grateful for CTA giving me this opportunity and for the Re/Generators and mentors who made this work so meaningful, formative, inspiring, and joyful. I can’t wait to see what new possibilities emerge in this next season for Re/Generation and CTA!
