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MILWAUKEE, WI, July 26, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A group identifying as Catholic has plans to host a conference November 1-3 during which the speakers are scheduled to deliver talks in favor of abortion, same-sex “marriage,” and the “role of dissent” in the Catholic Church.

In light of past liturgical abuses at Call to Action conferences and the roster of speakers who actively work against the teachings of the Church, the Rockford Pro-Life Initiative is calling on Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to prevent the conference from holding a Catholic Mass.

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The Mass is scheduled for 10:45 am on Sunday, November 3.

The conference will screen a film produced by Catholics for Choice entitled, The Secret History of Sex, Choice, and Catholics. The film is a 45-minute-long apology for Catholics who dissent from the church's teaching on abortion.

The film is part of a three day celebration of Catholics who actively oppose Catholic doctrine.

Among the Call to action speakers is dissident Sister Jeannine Gramick, who frequently calls for the Catholic Church to accept same-sex “marriage’ “ Last year she penned an article with priest Francis DeBarnardo, in which they claimed that Catholics engaged in the homosexual lifestyle were not living in contradiction to the teachings of their faith.

Gramick will be sharing the stage with Robert Shine, a former LGBT student advocate at Catholic University of America. The homosexual news outlet Metro Weekly reported in January 2012 that Shine protested against Cardinal Francis George for his affirmation of the Catholic Church’s ancient teachings on marriage and human sexuality.

Miguel De La Torre, a fallen away Catholic and LGBT advocate, is slated to deliver a talk titled “Why the Church, for its Own Salvation, Needs Our Queer Sisters and Brothers.”

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Lesbian activist Lisbeth Menendez-Rivera will be delivering the talk “LGBTQ Family Acceptance in the Latino Community.”

Other presenters teach that the Church should change Church doctrine on moral issues based on the majority opinion of lay Catholics, something they say represents the sensus fidelium.

Ex-priest Robert McClory will be lending his perspective on self-identifying Catholics whose beliefs clash with the Magisterium in his talk, “Faithful to Baptism: The Role of Dissent in Catholicism's New Era.”

Another conference speaker, Fr. Thomas Doyle, has openly stated he thinks the Church should reconsider the ordination of women and priestly celibacy.

The group's troubled history has drawn rebukes from the highest levels of the Roman Catholic Church. Call to Action is “causing damage to the Church of Christ,” wrote Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re as the Vatican confirmed the March 1996 excommunication of all Call To Action members in the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska. 

LifeSiteNews.com contacted the Archdiocese of Milwaukee for comment on the conference and the Mass, which the Rockford Pro-Life Initiative is calling for the archbishop to prevent. The archbishop was in South America at the time.

Archdiocesan officials were not able to provide comment after more than 24 hours.

Contact:

Julie Wolfe, Media Relations Director at the Archdiocese of Milwaukee
414-769-3461
[email protected]