Perspectives
Articles, essays, and reflections from progressive Catholic voices.
To contribute to Perspectives or submit an article, contact cta@cta-usa.org.
Keeping Faith in a Messy Church: A Gay Catholic Perspective on Pope Francis' Endorsement of Civil Unions
As a gay Catholic in a relationship and as a PhD student in theology, I feel like I need to say something about Pope Francis’ endorsement of same-gender unions in the documentary Francesco.
Review of Wijngaards’s women’s-ordination primer: helpful, except in its view of gender
Wijngaards’s book has some valuable insights to offer, but it’s also limited. If you want a quick and accessible overview of the history of the ordination justice movement, check it out — and then join us, as we seek not only to ordain women, but to build a church that can truly be a force for liberation.
People’s History: Fred and Nichole
From Vatican II to the LGBTQ+ closet: “open the windows and let in the fresh air.”
People’s History: Intergenerational Connection
In our People’s History of Vatican II gathering, it was wonderful to talk about our broken but beautiful Church and, simultaneously to embody community and Christ in our coming-together across generations and regions of the country.
Please Rise
Natalie Lall is a CTA young adult from Kenosha, Wisconsin, the site of unrest following the recent police shooting of a Black man named Jacob Blake. "Please Rise" is a spoken word poem that evokes the Bhagavad Gita, Black Lives Matter, and God's abiding presence within this "threshold moment."
Living Liturgies
This zine is a collection of snapshots of communities who are using Catholic liturgy creatively to bring into being their core beliefs about justice, inclusivity, and right relationship. These communities are deeply Catholic, but exist adjacent to the Roman Catholic hierarchy, in some ways creating something entirely new and in some ways returning to the oldest practices of the tradition.
Food, Water, and Faith During COVID-19: An Interview with Alloys Nyakundi
2019 Re/Generator Alloys Nyakundi is a co-founder of Emmah’s Garden, a nonprofit that helps the people of Nyandoche Ibere in rural western Kenya stay healthy by providing filters for water purification
Advent & Mary's Radical Magnificat
Mary sings out of joy. Her form of resistance is uninhibited celebration.
Dare to Declare Who You Are
St. Hildegard of Bingen wrote, "Dare to declare who you are!" And yet, there are areas of our selves that the Church discourages us from exploring.
Who is the Church, the universal institution?
I find that in practice, when we say “the Church,” we tend to mean the hierarchy’s institution. For instance: “The Church condemns women’s ordination…” We progressives are not much better than conservatives on this.