For those who missed it, we encourage you to listen to the recording of our introductory presentation exploring similarities between the rise of Adolf Hitler during Nazism and the rise of Donald Trump under the current U.S. administration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2UpWsoccHg. In this session, it became clear that the Catholic and Lutheran Churches played a significant role in promoting Hitler. After looking at the similarities that concern us that we are once again repeating history, participants then shared ideas among themselves of what we might do as Christians since we are called by virtue of our baptism to stand up to injustices affecting innocent victims and those being inappropriately persecuted. Some have asked why we are moving into politics when we are supposed to be about Church reform. The reason is simple: Our highest calling as Christians is to imitate what Jesus himself did when he was on this earth. That is to stand up for innocent people being treated unjustly and speak out on their behalf.
The rise and detrimental development of Nazism in Germany
April 23 at 10:00 a.m. eastern time
Sign on is https://zoom.us/j/2429500175: Password is spirit.
To find the times for you in your locale, click on Our Universal Calendar.
As we continue our series: 1933 Germany: Are we repeating history, our guest speakers for the next online event will be Fr. Max Stetter, Augsburg; Dr. Regina Franken, Berlin; Christian Weisner, Munich; Fr. Helmut Schüller, Vienna; Paul Ulbrich, Munich, facilitated by Margaret Mary Moore. Our speakers are priests and lay leaders who are officials in their Catholic organizations who promote the agenda of Pope Francis and the synodal processes for reforms. They will share their experiences and insights growing up in post WWII Germany and Austria and the parallels they see in the United States in both the Church and in society. They will use criteria for analyzing fascism based on the work of an institute in Berlin for intersectional justice who have worked with the UN in Tanzania and Uganda. Through a PowerPoint presentation, they will note criteria filled with observations about both Germany and the USA. Participants will again be invited to ask questions and note their own observations about the current US government policies and the policies of the Catholic Church. Are there similarities or parallel behaviors in government leaders and Church officials dealing with these challenges? Are we as Catholics repeating history?
Our objective in this series is to serve as a wakeup call for Americans before it is too late! In the Hitler regime, so many said afterwards: “We didn’t know. . .” Utilizing the recordings being made of this series, we encourage each of you to respectfully reach out to people in your circle who trust you but who are going along with Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s actions. See if they’re open to engaging in conversation with you. Without being pushy, gently encourage them to pay attention to what is happening right in front of them. With no due process, people are being deported to El Salvador, a lawless country cooperating with the U.S. government behaving just as lawlessly.
Wherever you are in the world, you are being impacted by what is happening in the United States. Reach out to your American contacts who have the power to vote. We don’t want to see Trump’s term ending in four years with an irreversible oligarchy established. . . and Americans saying: “We didn’t know….” As Christians, we are called to stand up to injustices and do all that we can to stand with innocent victims and those being inappropriately persecuted by injustices.
Save these dates as our series continues 1933 Germany: Are we repeating history?
Sign on for all events is https://zoom.us/j/2429500175: Password is spirit.
To find the times for you in your locale, click on Our Universal Calendar.
May 7, 2025 Webinar: 11:00 a.m. eastern Courageous Opposition in South America
Congress woman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Cardinal Robert McElroy have been invited as guest speakers. Notable heroes from Nazi times will be highlighted:
Max Josep Metzger, who served as a military chaplain during World War I, became a passionate advocate for peace and reconciliation between nations after witnessing the horrors of war.
Maximilian Maria Kolbe was a Polish Catholic priest and Conventual Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a man named Franciszek Gajowniczek in the German death camp of Auschwitz.
Restituta Kafka was an Austrian nun and resistance fighter during Nazi era. She worked as a head nurse at a hospital in Vienna. Her outspoken criticism of the Nazi regime and active resistance, including hanging crucifixes in patient rooms despite an explicit ban, brought her in conflict with Nazi authorities.
May 21, 2025 Webinar: 11:00 a.m. eastern Courageous Opposition in South America
You will be invited to watch the movie Romero. Roger Ebert depicting the story of Salvadoran archbishop Óscar Romero, who organized peaceful protests against the violent military regime, eventually at the cost of his own life. Frank Callus will facilitate this meeting.
We are grateful to our sponsors for this series: Spirit Unbounded (SU), the Int’l Catholic Reform Network (ICRN), the Association of German Catholic priests, the Association of Austrian Catholic priests, the Association of U.S. Catholic priests, Faithful America, and Catholic Church Reform Int’l (CCRI).
Supporting Local Parish Communities striving to become a more synodal Church with clergy and people working together
Along with our Christian call to stand up to injustices, we are also being called to do our part in evolving our local parishes and Small Christian Communities into synodal Churches. To continue this effort, our next webinar will be:
Establishing and Supporting Pastoral Councils for both Dioceses and Parishes
Sr. Donna Ciangio, Chancellor to Cardinal Tobin in Newark, New Jersey, will offer a step-by-step guide to setting up diocesan and parish pastoral councils. She will offer PowerPoint slides which you can save and use to set up a new council or make adjustments to already existing councils that need to be more inclusive of lay representation in your community.
Sister is a Dominican Sister of Caldwell, New Jersey. She holds a doctorate from Drew University, Madison, New Jersey. She works with parish pastoral councils, Small Christian Communities and other parish structures, as well a one of the Synod on Synodality coordinators for the Archdiocese. She was the Director of Church Leadership Consultation and worked internationally and nationally in promoting parish vitality and pastoral direction, congregational and leadership development,
Sign on is https://zoom.us/j/2429500175: Password is spirit. This will be held at 10:00 a.m. eastern time.To see the time in your locale, click on Our Universal Calendar.
Your donations are most appreciated
When you make a donation to support our cause, you join with others who are investing in restoring our Church to what Jesus intended. The dollars we receive are used to run our programs and to reach a broad spectrum of the People of God. We are focused on reaching out to the Faithful, reform activists, young adults as well as those who feel abandoned by the Church, to mention just a few. Your personal contributions in offering your suggestions and your donations are most appreciated.
We have begun to genuinely join our voices together behaving as a synodal Church. Let us now be willing to assume co-responsibility for our role in our parishes or Small Christian Communities. Becoming a synodal church will not happen unless we the laity together with our clergy initiate the process. We will keep you informed of more to come as we move forward to become a more synodal Church. We will continue to offer more online gatherings as a community.
On behalf of the CCRI steering committee,
Rene Reid, CCRI director