ACTA - A Call To Action

MISSION statement:

We are a group of Catholics, some of whom are ordained, brought together by our love of Christ's Church and our anxiety about its future. Still inspired by the Second Vatican Council, we want to contribute fully to the life of our Church so that we may be a more effective sign of the Kingdom of God. To do this, we believe that an atmosphere of openness and dialogue both with each other and with our church leadership needs developing. Accordingly, we aim to supply channels of free and frank communication. We desire to help create a climate of trust and respect for all where this dialogue may be fostered.

THEOLOGY statement:

ACTA is a movement built from below by clergy and laity alike in every diocese in England and Wales. It exists to give those people an effective voice. It is an instrument to establish and promote space for a trusting dialogue within a hierarchically structured people’s Church.

ACTA believes that the reforms of the Second Vatican Council are the only way forward for mission to modern society. It is not a small chapel of selected followers; it believes in the Church as a “big tent”, with open doors. As a free and representative association of believers, it seeks to liberate the expertise in the ranks, so as to bring added energy and witness to the Church in the world.

Visions and Vocations – Catholic Women Speak

This is the second book published by Catholic Women Speak to coincide with a Synod of Bishops. Our first book, Catholic Women Speak: Bringing Our Gifts to the Table, was published by Paulist Press in 2015 in time for the Synod on the Family. Visions and Vocations was published on the occasion of the Synod on Young People, Faith and Vocational Discernment.
catholicwomenspeak.com

Leadership Team

Martin Bennett - Chair

Joseph O'Hanlon - Vice Chair

Peter Farrell - Secretary

Frank Callus - Media

Kathy Bamber - Vice Chair

Ken Holden - Treasurer

Jean Riordan - Membership secretary

Diocesan Co-Ordinators

Diocesan Coordinators

Contact your Diocesan Coordinator

Click here >>>

The God Who Speaks – and ACTA!

: Written by Alex Walker; Published: 02 December 2019

The year of celebrating our scriptures has started – if you haven’t heard the phrase The God Who Speaks yet, do have a look at this link to the Bishops’ conference information:

https://www.cbcew.org.uk/home/events/the-god-who-speaks/

or look at your own diocese’s website.

ACTA members are involved in all sorts of ways around England and Wales. To mention three prominent ACTA-vists: in the Birmingham Archdiocese, the Chair of the diocesan organising committee is our own theologian David McLoughlin, and from the Nottingham Diocese our ACTA Scripture consultant Prof. Joseph O’Hanlon, from the Nottingham Diocese, is part of the national steering group. ACTA member Fleur Dorrell from the Arundel and Brighton diocese works for the Bible Society, and she is the national leader of the whole The God Who Speaks project.

Please report to our web-manager Alex Walker any The God Who Speaks (TGWS) activities that are happening in your own parish or diocese. We can help maximise publicity for this wonderful opportunity we are being offered to deepen our understanding of scripture.

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Advent leads to light

: Written by Chris McDonnell; Published: 29 November 2019

A new Liturgical Year begins, with the four weeks that culminate in the feast of Nativity, the days we call Advent.

The song of the colder days is sung in words of Waiting

from one dark day to the next, each one closing a time

of expectation, till finally Nativity is come.

December dawns, spreading a chill, raw sky of washed out

greens and faded blues, sunrise breaking the nothingness

of night, early light beyond the immediate houses.

First Sunday of Advent Year A

: Written by Joseph O’Hanlon; Published: 24 November 2019

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ACTA

LECTIONARY COMMENTARY

First Sunday of Advent

Year A

Year of Matthew

Download: ACTA 1st Sun Advent YR A Matt Download: INTRODUCTION - MATTHEW 2020

Christ The King Yr C

: Written by Joseph O’Hanlon; Published: 18 November 2019

ACTA

LECTIONARY COMMENTARY

OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, UNIVERSAL KING

Last Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year C

Year of Luke

Download: Christ The King Yr C

Thirty-Third Sunday of the Year C

: Written by Joseph O’Hanlon; Published: 12 November 2019

ACTA

LECTIONARY COMMENTARY

Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year C

Year of Luke

Download: Thirty-Third Sunday of the Year C

Page 4 of 92

Show Full Calendar

An easy way to write to a Bishop:

www.theypastorforyou.com

The Sacramentary Volume 1 Part 1

The Sacramentary Volume One Part 2

The Sacramentary Volume Two Part 1

The Sacramentary Volume Two Part 2

Missal Comparison 2011 v 1998

Pope Francis's Call to Theologians

A new Book by Thomas O'Loughlin,

ACTA’s national theological consultant Buy here >>>

In November 2015, Pope Francis called on theologians to explore whether normal Catholic practice should be changed to allow Christians, belonging to other churches, to share fully at the table when they take part in a Eucharist celebrated by Catholics. Thomas O’Loughlin provides his contribution to that challenge in this volume. He argues that the various ways of thinking about what we are doing in the liturgy should lead us to see intercommunion as enhancing our participation in the mystery of the Church and the mystery we celebrate.

Thomas O’Loughlin is professor of historical theology at the University of Nottingham, UK. He uses the tools of the historian to look afresh at how we ask and answer theological problems. O’Loughlin was elected president of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain in 2016. He is the author of The Rites and Wrongs of Liturgy: Why Good Liturgy Matters and Washing Feet: Imitating the Example of Jesus in Liturgy Today, both from Liturgical Press.

Are we being honest to God?: A critical look at Christian worship, priesthood and authority

The central theme running through all five chapters is the way the image of God shown in and through the person of Jesus Christ has become distorted in the main-stream Churches, resulting in many of the practices and doctrines of worship, priesthood and authority not being ‘honest to God’.

It explores the biblical understanding of worship, particularly with reference to Jesus’ teaching about worship in ‘spirit and truth’, and compares this with the language, terminology and doctrines used in the Churches today which contain neo-pagan expressions of appeasement and obeisance.

The subject of ‘altar sacrifice’ is explored in the context of the rise of a cultic priesthood, the members of which became mediators of God’s ‘grace’. How did such a situation arise in contrast to the teaching of Jesus about himself being the only mediator for our access to God, and about his Father wanting mercy and not sacrifice?

What kind of ‘authority’ did Jesus give and teach to his disciples and apostles? Was it the kind which we now experience in the main-stream Churches, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church, as one in which office-holders rule and govern or was it one in which leaders are to guide, teach, care for and feed the People of God?

Is the Christian Church, particularly in its Roman Catholic form, ‘fit for purpose’? Are there radical changes needed for that purpose to be realised? Are its forms and structures for ministering to the People of God suitable for that purpose? Is it really being ‘honest to God’?

A Catholic Christian for nearly 60 years, as husband, father, grandfather, theologian, Brian Pointer poses radical questions and some answers about the Church.

SaturdayMorningEarly The book's sounding board is my belief in a creator God who can be detected in everyday life, inspiring and enthusing us each day.

Please send cheque for £17 (inc. postage) to Fr Va Farrell, St Winifriede's House, Low Moor Rd Bispham, Blackpool, FY2 0PA or by BACS: 11658163 Sort 16-13-29

ORDER NOW by completing this form >>>

In this book, Gerald O'Collins, SJ, takes a systematic look at the 2010 English translation of the Roman Missal and the ways it fails to achieve what the Second Vatican

Council mandated: the full participation of priest and people. Critiquing the unsatisfactory principles prescribed by the Vatican instruction Liturgiam Authe

nticam (2001), this book, which includes a chapter by John Wilkins:

- tells the story of the maneuverings that sidelined the 1998 translation approved by eleven conferences of English-speaking bishops,

- criticiz

es the 2010 translation, and

- illustrates the clear superiority of the 1998 translation, the "Missal that never was"

Pre-Order Now £11.99

BUY NOW £10.00 >>>

AWAKENING

'A remarkable contribution to solving women's inequality as one of the biggest problems within the Catholic Church today'.
Luca Badini Confalonieri, PhD in Theology (Dunelm),
Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research

BUY ONLINE £6.77

Great Catholic Parishes

The Book Werner used in his talk at the National Conference

BUY ONLINE £12.99

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	4TH SUN OF THE YEAR A MATTHEW 2 Downloads	1.16 MB
	Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Yr A 27 Downloads	660.2 KB
	Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A 33 Downloads	630.22 KB
	THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD YR A MATTHEW 38 Downloads	446.08 KB
	ACTA EPIPHANY YR A MATTHEW 1 Downloads	537.21 KB
	ACTA HOLY FAMILY MATTHEW YR A 75 Downloads	429.2 KB
	MIDNIGHT MASS YR A 78 Downloads	367 KB
	ACTA 4TH SUN ADVENT Yr A 67 Downloads	431.76 KB
	Advent 3rd Sunday Yr A 46 Downloads	412.71 KB
	ADVENT 2nd Sun Yr A MATTHEW 76 Downloads	892.94 KB

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MISSION statement:

THEOLOGY statement:

Visions and Vocations – Catholic Women Speak

Leadership Team

Diocesan Coordinators

The God Who Speaks – and ACTA!

Advent leads to light

First Sunday of Advent Year A

Christ The King Yr C

Thirty-Third Sunday of the Year C

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Roman Missal 1998 (Approved Not Recognised)

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