ACTA AGM 14th July 2024
- Written by: Alex Walker
ONLINE - 9th ACTA National Conference
- Written by: Frank Callus
The Board of Trustees are pleased to announce that the National Conference for 2024 will be held on Saturday 28th September 2024 10.00 BST.
Over the last few years ACTA has been examining the synodal process as we moved towards October 2023.
Now we are on the cusp of the Synod on the Future of the Church which opens in Rome in October 2024. The Board of Trustees wanted to focus greater attention on the practical applications of a synodal Church and its mission.
One of our guest speakers for this year is Dr Liam Hayes, Director, Centre for Ecclesial Ethics. Margaret Beaufort Institute, University of Cambridge. He will be speaking about his research Believing Not Belonging. It is an investigation of the causes for people who fall away from the Church. It was based on an initiative of Bishop Alan Williams of Brentwood Diocese.
Our second key speaker is Dr. Luca Badini Confalonieri, Director of Research, Wijngaards Institute. He will be speaking about his involvement in the development of A Proposed Constitution for the Catholic Church. What are the structures/ the principles/ the ideals that are at the heart of a synodal Church?
ACTA is an active member of the International Church Reform Network [ICRN] and the Conference will be made available to this wider membership as we start to understand how the Universal Church can live out its synodality in the years ahead. As in the recent past there is no charge for attendance. If you can make a modest donation, that will be appreciated. By tradition, any surplus is donated to good causes [Our commitment to the Charity Commission precludes our making a profit on any educational activity]
ONLINE National Conference: The Practical Implications of a Synodal Church
ONLINE NATIONAL CONFERENCE
The Board of Trustees are pleased to announce that the
National Conference for 2024 will be held on
Saturday 28th September 2024
10.00 BST
Our guest speakers are
Dr Liam Hayes, Director, Centre for Ecclesial Ethics.
Margaret Beaufort Institute, University of Cambridge
[Speaking about his research : Believing Not Belonging]
Dr Luca Badini Confalonieri, Director of Research,
Wijngaards Institute
[Speaking about A Proposed Constitution for the Catholic
Church]
Dr Catriona Fletcher
Director of the Ignatioan Spirituality Centre, Glasgow
Applications open on Sunday 16th June
Go to the website www.acalltoaction.org.uk
Event Properties
| Event Date | 28-09-2024 10:00 am |
| Event End Date | 28-09-2024 3:00 pm |
| Capacity | 150 |
| Registered | 109 |
| Available places | 41 |
| NO CHARGE | FREE EVENT (Donations welcome) |
| Location | Online Zoom Meeting |
| Downloads -> |
CEE-Believing-Not-Belonging-Final-Report_2023.pdf
DiaryMarker28092024.pdf |
Speakers
Dr Liam Hayes
Director, Centre for Ecclesial Ethics, Margaret Beaufort Institute, Cambridge
Liam currently works as the theology programme adviser in CAFOD’s Theology Programme. He completed his doctoral research at Heythrop College, University of London, in which he explored the disjunction between Catholic teaching and practice in sexual ethics, and the significant role that experience plays in moral discernment. Liam is a priest in the Diocese of Brentwood in the UK and will be commencing a research fellowship at the Margaret Beaufort Institute, Cambridge in October 2022.
Dr. Luca Badini Confalonieri
Director of Research, Wijngaards Institute.
He will be speaking about his involvement in the development of A Proposed Constitution for the Catholic Church. What are the structures/ the principles/ the ideals that are at the heart of a synodal Church?
Dr. Catriona Fletcher
Director of the Ignatian Spirituality Centre, Glasgow
I have worked in the Church - in England, Wales and Scotland - for many years and have met wonderful, inspiring people along the way. I studied theology at Heythrop, New College in Edinburgh and at Durham was awarded my doctorate for my research on ecclesiology and in particular lay ministry. After 16 years away from Scotland I came back in 2001 and worked as a Pastoral Assistant in a parish and University Chaplain. For the last 10 years I have returned to my Jesuit roots, working at the Ignatian Spirituality Centre in Glasgow and am now its Director. For 4 of these years through Covid I was also Catholic Chaplain at Cornton Vale women's prison. I have found wisdom and direction for myself in Ignatian spirituality and I recognise Pope Francis embodying Ignatian thinking and using many Ignatian tools. This is particularly obvious in the synodal process.
I will address members on the need to underpin the work of pastoral councils with the discernment that comes from conversations in the Spirit.
Watch: CBS interviews Pope Francis on 60 Minutes
- Written by: Alex Walker
Pope Francis sits down for a global exclusive interview with CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell from the Vatican.
In this wide-ranging conversation, Francis speaks about the wars across the world, immigration, climate change, his vision for the Catholic Church and his legacy. Ahead of the Church's first World Children's Day, the Pontiff talks about children as hope for the future.
CBS News 24/7 is the premier anchored streaming news service from CBS News and Stations that is available free to everyone with access to the internet and is the destination for breaking news, live events, original reporting and storytelling, and programs from CBS News and Stations' top anchors and correspondents working locally, nationally and around the globe.
It is available on more than 30 platforms across mobile, desktop and connected TVs for free, as well as CBSNews.com and Paramount+ and live in 91 countries.
Describing the Pope as "warm, engaging, thoughtful, and funny," Norah O'Donnell tweeted on X: "When 60 Minutes interviewed Pope Francis, he insisted on shaking everyone's hand in the room, including our entire crew."
Watch the interview here:
SYNOD: ACTAs Response to the Synthesis Report
- Written by: Frank Callus
"One man, two vocations is perfectly possible"
- Written by: Chris McDonnell
Founded in Britain in the 1970s, the Movement for a Married Clergy is closing down its work on Easter Sunday and handing over the reins to a new synodal group, explains its secretary.
I return this Easter to an issue that refuses to hide its face, the continuing fall in the number of priests serving our parishes. We should be considering this question as a matter of some urgency if we are to maintain our present diocesan structures at anywhere near their present level, let alone seek to become a missionary Church.
A number of factors might be considered that have given rise to our present predicament. The age profile of serving priests continues to rise. Parishes with more than one priest are rare so the return alone to an empty house is uninviting. Above all, the question of a compulsorily celibate clergy remains with us. How often do our bishops face the unenviable task of replacing a priest who, through age or infirmity, can no longer continue with his duties? Or a younger man who has fallen in love and is unable to sustain his vocation?
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