January – March Events

Jan. 25 (Monday), 7:00 P.M., St. Mark’s Methodist Church*

Fr. Roy Bourgeois: Opening the Stained-Glass Ceiling

Roy Bourgeois is a Maryknoll priest of 36 years and founder of the School of the Americas Watch.  He has risked excommunication to raise his voice for women's full inclusion in the Catholic Church. 


After receiving a Purple Heart in Vietnam, Roy entered the Maryknoll Order and was ordained in 1972.  He has worked with the poor in Bolivia and has become an outspoken critic of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America.  He has spent four years in prison for his nonviolent protests against the SOA.  In October 2008, Roy was informed by the Vatican that he must recant his belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in our Church or he will be excommunicated.  He wrote the Vatican saying that, in conscience, he cannot recant.  Please join us for what promises to be an inspiring evening with Fr. Roy!

Feb. 28 (Sunday), 1:00 p.m., St. Mark’s Methodist Church*

The Death Penalty—Why We Should Stop It:  A Panel Discussion

 An exonerated death row inmate, an attorney with the Office of the State Public Defender, and a local activist against the death penalty will discuss this important social justice issue.

Greg Wilhoit, a former Texas inmate sentenced to death, was found to be innocent and was released from prison.  He now lives in Sacramento and speaks for the Witness to Innocence project.  He will be joined by Ellen Eggers who has been representing death row inmates in their appeals to the California Supreme Court for twenty years.  Before her career as a criminal defense attorney, Ellen was counsel to Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union.  She is a board member of Death Penalty Focus and is an experienced community organizer and spokesperson against capital punishment.  Greg and Ellen will be joined by local activist John Reiger from the Noon Hour Witness—an anti death penalty protest in Sacramento

March 28 (Sunday), 2:00 p.m., St. Mark’s Methodist Church*

Helen Thompson, BVM, Ph.D on The Divine Milieu Explained

One of our most popular presenters at our conference in 2007, Helen will returnto speak to us about Louis Savary’s book on Teilhard de Chardin.

The Divine Milieu Explained is a brilliant but relatively simple explanation of the spirituality of de Chardin who was so prescient and way ahead of his time.  This is an amazing piece, especially for those interested in the new cosmology and a down-to-earth contemporary spirituality.  While there is no requirement that the book be read in advance, the afternoon will be more beneficial if you read it ahead of time.  This presentation may also be useful to those seeking a reading group as it will give us a “kick-off” to determine how and if some of you wish to continue in this vein.   Helen holds a doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction and a master’s degree in theology.  She has 18 years of experience teaching at Graduate Theological Union, School of Applied Theology in Berkeley.

*St. Mark’s Methodist Church is located at 2391 St. Mark’s Way in Sacramento (behind the Country Club Plaza).

Please contact Caryl Callsen at 209-295-2151 or graycall@volcano.net or Teresa Olea at 916-847-7092 or teresaolea@surewest.net for information or to reserve space at any of these events.

Sacramento Call To Action will not have a presentation in April, 2010.  Instead, we encourage you to attend the West Coast Regional CTA Conference to be held in Santa Rosa, California on April 16-18.   Speakers include Michael Morwood, Edwina Gateley, Brian Swimme and many more.  For more information and a registration form, go to www.cta-redwood.org.