God, Nature, History: The Search for a Liberating Church

Image courtesy of Zachary Johnson.

Church reform is an essential Catholic practice; it’s just one way (among many) to be Catholic. Practicing church reform means taking seriously how our churches should feel, how our collective faith should be organized and prioritized, and what name we want to call God. Every Catholic should be a church reformer because this work reveals what Catholicism truly means and why we continue to claim this identity.

Inspired by Gustavo Gutierrez, my Catholicism is rooted in a dialectic with real-life poor people. God is the Liberator. In plain terms, I am Catholic when I know the names of poor people around me. Collective practice of corporeal and spiritual works of mercy will reform our church toward this kind of Catholicism. 

For the past two years, I've been closely reading the great Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz, a lifelong Catholic who always wrestled with and stretched his faith. His poetry, among other things, traces a cyclical search for a grand narrative, a framework within which all questions have answers. He once summarized the moments of this cycle: God-Nature-History. Each moment folds back and forth into the others as they take turns wearing out or becoming generative over time. 

As Call To Action approaches its 50-year anniversay, it's time to consider what this community of church reformers asks us about God, Nature, History. What answers does this search provide us now? 

—Zachary Johnson, past executive director, 2017-2022

Help us continue this journey to build a truly liberating church.