The 1976 U.S. Catholic Bishops' Call To Action Conference in Detroit

Commonweal Special Supplement
What they voted in Detroit

The Call to Action resolutions voted in Detroit were organized in eight areas:

Church: The delegates called for collective bargaining and just compensation for church employees, national standards of due process for grievances and annulments, financial accountability, local participation in selection of pastors and bishops, protection of free speech and theological discussion, support for Catholic schools, elimination of sexist language, the possibility of a married clergy, acceptance of laicized priests in non-sacramental ministries, dialogue on the ordination of women.

Ethnicity and race: The church should live up to its own teachings on racial and ethnic equality. Delegates advocated affirmative action and respect for cultural pluralism in all church ministries, and appointment of more ethnic, black, and Hispanic bishops.

Family: Delegates reaffirmed Catholic commitment to the indissolubility of marriage but asked for pastoral understanding for divorced and remarried Catholics and dialogue on their readmission to the sacraments. They called for extensive programs of family ministry, family-centered worship and training, and opposition to economic and cultural forces threatening family life.

Personhood: Delegates generally affirmed the bishops' pro-life efforts; opposed capital punishment; backed rights of conscience on birth control; asked for a reconsideration ion of Humanae Vitae; called for sex education involving parents, more sensitive pastoral care for "sexual minorities" and victims of rape, and an openness of the church toward women, youth, elderly.

Work: Delegates advocated a national commission on economic justice, a pastoral letter on equal opportunity, ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, support for unionization, social justice teaching in Catholic education, use of church investments for third-world justice.

Neighborhood: Parishes, and diocesan agencies should support community organizations and reach out to the alienated, elderly, or handicapped.

Nationhood: Delegates again affirmed pro-life and anti-discrimination policies. They urged a variety of committees, task forces, and educational programs to consider disarmament, crime, full employment, housing, etc., and generally to implement the Call to Action.

Humankind: Delegates wanted a peace and justice office in every diocese, plus education and support for human rights, hunger relief, and international economic justice. They condemned all arms sales abroad and "the production, possession, proliferation, and threatened use of nuclear weapons . . . even in a policy of deterrence."

 

This Special Supplement, dated December 26, 1986 has been reprinted with permission of Commonweal Magazine.