Top 10 posts of 2020: CTA’s year in review

In the past 12 months, so much has happened in CTA and the world! At the beginning of April, we quietly launched our new website. In celebration of that project and to reflect on an earth-shaking year, I have compiled our website’s 10 most popular unique posts of 2020. These pieces reflect progressive Catholic responses to a year of suffering, upheaval, reckoning, and glimpses of hope. 

#10 People’s History: Marion Flynn (August 17)
In decades of struggle before 2020, how have progressives found hope? Summer intern Emma Calkins kicked off the People’s History of Vatican II series, recounting the memories of movement elder Marion Flynn. Emma weaves Marion’s story with her own, offering a touching reflection on intergenerational storytelling and connection.

#9 Who are the non-voters? Vote-shaming, the Catholic Worker, and 2020 (October 15)
In the lead-up to the 2020 general election, I reflected on vote-shaming — the condemnation of people who don’t vote or vote “incorrectly.” I draw on my commitment to the Catholic Worker movement to offer a radical yet nuanced perspective on electoral politics. 

#8 Sojourners: Don’t hide bishops’ complicity in white supremacy (August 7) 
In early August, progressive Christians expressed dismay at Sojourners magazine’s decision to remove “The Catholic Church Has a Visible White-Power Faction” by Catholic writer Eric Martin from its website. CTA staff member Dominic Surya called on Sojourners to restore the article amid mass protests for racial justice.

2020 insight: Racial justice takes center stage. 16 years after CTA commissioned its anti-racism team — and in a year of reckoning with police brutality, white supremacy, and systemic racism — almost half of the top 10 posts, including the number-one post, center racial justice.

#7 Toolkit: A People’s Advent for Ordination Justice (November 15)
A team of four Re/Generators — Claire DesHotels, Lindsey Myers, Kascha Sanor, and Mac Svolos — designed a toolkit with prayerful resources, tips, and printable flyers for direct action in a time of pandemic. Using this toolkit, CTA members across the country came together to witness for ordination justice on the First Sunday of Advent, advocating for the ordination of women and trans people to the priesthood.

#6 Keeping Faith in a Messy Church: A Gay Catholic Perspective on Pope Francis' Endorsement of Civil Unions (October 23)
2020 Re/Generator Mark Guevarra reflected on the pope’s words in favor of same-gender civil unions. Mark speaks as a gay Catholic in a relationship, weaving in his academic study of synodality to express a careful yet hopeful reaction to the news. 

#5 To dismantle racism, Catholics must hold our bishops (and ourselves) accountable (December 19) 
Led by 2020 Re/Generator Nadia Busekrus and supported by Working Group leader John Noble, members of the Lobbying Working group researched the statements and actions of prominent U.S. bishops as they relate to race, immigration, and policing. Nadia then designed nine scorecards that illustrate bishops’ records and offer “asks” encouraging them to take further action for racial justice.

2020 insight: A diversity of strategies strengthens us. Our 2020 National Campaign emphasized movement ecology to strengthen coordination among four central strategies: education, lobbying, direct action, and alternatives. The top 10 posts include projects that employed each of the four strategies. A diversity of strategies reflects a strong, vibrant, and adaptable movement.

#4 Denounce Catholic Alliance with Donald Trump (May 5)
Our Vision Council (governing body) expressed CTA’s outrage about a praise-filled phone call between prominent bishops and members of the Trump administration. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York subsequently appeared on Fox News to “salute [Trump’s] leadership.” The Vision Council urged CTA members to call bishops and ask them to “choose God’s vision of peace and justice over Trump’s vision of white supremacy, racism, and xenophobia.” CTA members later joined peer organizations in a phone-zap, generating over 140 calls and emails to bishops across the country. 

#3 Answering the Call: An Advent Retreat for 2020 (November 10) 
A New York-based team of Re/Generators — Alex Gaynor, Benjamin Mead, and Kasey Sinha — organized a series of three retreats for Advent 2020 as part of our National Campaign. This series featured Jamie Manson and Karen Gargamelli-McCreight, two prophetic leaders in the Catholic Church, and the Rev. Dr. Pamela Lightsey, an elder in the United Methodist Church.

2020 insight: Young people take the lead. Half of the top 10 posts feature the projects of our 2020 Re/Generators, young people from across the country whose organizing brought our work to new audiences and communities.

#2 Advent of Liberation: Calendar of Reflections (November 11) 
A team of Re/Generators — Erin Burns, Nadia Busekrus, Nichole Carrubba, and Mark Guevarra — organized this popular calendar for the end of 2020, Advent. With the support of Re/Generation mentor Rosa Manriquez, the team curated pieces from 31 writers and artists, centering people of color and LGBTQ people. Through video, poetry, personal essays, and art, they reflected on Emmanuel, God with us.

#1 Call To Action calls on white Catholics: dismantle white supremacy in the Church and in the world (May 29) 
CTA’s most viewed post of 2020 was our Vision Council’s response to the police shooting of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Joining the voices of protestors across the country, we unconditionally affirmed that Black Lives Matter. The statement then called on white Catholics to speak out, repent, change course, and act. “Every level of the church must engage in this work for Biblical liberation and the justice modeled by Jesus, and we must begin without delay.”

2020 insight: We must heed the signs of the times. The People’s History of Vatican II project reminds us of Vatican II’s call to heed the “signs of the times.” And the popularity of posts responding to new papal statements, national elections, mass protests, and bishops’ actions reflects CTA’s attention to events in our church and world.