CITY BY CITY REPORTS FROM LOCAL ORGANIZERS OF THE CATHOLIC TIPPING POINT TOUR
NEW YORK CITY, TUESDAY JULY 16, organizers were delighted by over 230
Catholics who came to the
tour’s national kick-off event that included many perceptive exchanges
between Fr. Schüller and enthusiastic
attendees. Organizers had expected 90-100 people on a hot weeknight in the
city. Several priests met privately
with Fr. Schuller during his visit.
Contacts: Francis X. Piderit francis@piderit.com C: 917-916-7575 T:
212-826-3118
New York, Voice of the Faithful
With Rita Houlihan, FutureChurch, Lewis Spokes-Tanner, DignityUSA, Art
McGrath, Call To Action
BOSTON, WEDNESDAY JULY 17, from 600 to 660 Catholics heard Schüller speak
despite the stifling heat
and Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s statement forbidding organizers to have the
presentation on Catholic property. The
crowd began lining up three hours early and quickly overflowed the non-air
conditioned back-up venue, a
hospitable Unitarian church with a capacity of 450. Over 200 sat outside on
the lawn, listening attentively as,
among other things, Schüller called for opening ordination rather than
closing parishes to accommodate the priest
shortage. Not much time for priest networking because overwhelming local
media demand and the short
visit. But Schuller did meet some priests informally.
Contact: Ron DuBois debber@beld.net 781-843-1676
Voice of the Faithful…National offices
PHILADELPHIA, FRIDAY JULY 19, local organizers were stunned by an overflow
of 320 Catholics who
came to hear Schüller at Catholic Chestnut Hill College in a room that
normally holds 250. Though Archbishop
Chaput had banned Schüller’s appearance in Catholic parishes, the Catholic
College did not cancel the event citing
its mission: “to encourage dialogue on issues of importance to society.”
Twenty priests met privately for two
hours with Fr. Schuller in the afternoon and many returned for his talk
that night, including some of the
younger men.
Contact: Regina Bannen, reginab317@gmail.com 215-545-9649
Philadelphia, Women’s Ordination Conference,
with VOTF Philadelphia and National Coalition of American Nuns
BALTIMORE, SATURDAY, JULY 20, also saw a standing room only crowd of over
250 with Catholics sitting
on the floor and standing in the aisles at the Presbyterian church hosting
Schüller’s presentation. Five priests met
privately with Fr. Schuller in the afternoon
Contact: Sr. Jeannine Gramick SL, National Coalition of American Nuns
301-864-3604 gramick@verizon.net
With New Ways Ministry, Quixote Center, FutureChurch, and Call To Action
Maryland
WASHINGTON DC , MONDAY, JULY 22 began with a interview with Bill Press,
host of a Current TV
interview show followed by a press conference at the National Press Club
that attracted nearly all the religious
media including National Catholic Reporter, Religion News Service, Catholic
News Service and many others. In
the afternoon, Fr. Schuller was interviewed by EJ Dionne, the well known
Washington Post columnist. The
evening event was held at the Augustana Lutheran Church. The Church was
filled to its capacity of 250. French
television was there for the entire event which lasted for about one and
three quarter’s hours. The audience was
very welcoming and Helmut was interrupted numerous times with applause. On
the morning of the 23rd, the
French crew came to our home and taped an interview with Helmut which
lasted about 45 minutes. He was off to
Chicago at 2pm. Seven priests had a private meeting with Fr. Schuller on
Sunday July 21
Contacts Ben Palumbo – 202-957-2416 – bpalumbo@covad.net___
Erin Hanna – 401-588-0457 – ehanna@womensordination.org___
Sr. Jeannine Gramick – 301-277-5674 – gramick@verizon.net___
Dolly Pomerleau – dollywood20722@hotmail.com
CHICAGO, WEDNESDAY JULY 24, Over 500 people came to hear Fr. Schuller’s
evening presentation, with
many travelling a distance, from cities such as Milwaukee, Iowa City,
Michigan City, Muskegon Mi, Austin Tx.
Reuters reporter, Mary Wisnewski did an indepth interview and her story was
translated into Portuguese, Spanish
and Indonesian.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/31/us-usa-religion-catholics-reforme
ridUSBRE96U1ED20130731
The event garnered two media stories in the National Catholic Reporter and
several reflective blogs.
A prearranged private meeting with diocesan priests at a local parish was
strongly opposed at the last
minute by the Archdiocese. The priests had to move out of their own home to
a nearby Presbyterian
Church. 7-8 attended. Organizers said there would have been more except for
the last minute intimidation.
Helping to lead the discussion was Fr Dave Cooper, chair of the growing
Association of United States
Catholic Priests (AUSCP).
CTA & its local coalition partners filled the stage for a tribute to
longtime Chicago Catholic activists, Pat & Patty
Crowley. Leaders of the Christian Family Movement (with 200,000 couples
participating worldwide), they paved
the way for church renewal and justice. March 24, 2013 would have been
Patty’s 100th Birthday. Sr Patricia
Crowley, OSB, spoke of their lives and legacy (of which she is such a major
part).
Contact: Bob Heineman HeinemanCTA@cta-usa.org 847-682-1056
The Chicago program was also live streamed to the following eighteen cities
Austin, TX
Buffalo, NY
Central Lake, MI
Chadron, NE
Dallas, TX
Germantown, WI
Iowa City, IA
Jackson, NJ
Lafayette, CA
CLEVELAND, THURSDAY JULY 25 Cleveland had a full house with 450-500 folks
at the Independence
Middle School auditorium. Some came from as far away as Rochester NY, Erie
Pa, Pittsburgh PA, Columbus, and
Cincinniti attending (as well as Cleveland and Akron) to hear Fr.
Schuller’s presentation. Standing ovation… A fine
celebration of St. Mary of Magdala accompanied.. Fr. Schuller met with 12
priests for two hours Thursday
afternoon…and three others in between times.
Media NCR covered the story as well as the local Independence news.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer did an advance story
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/07/post_160.html
As did the Akron Beacon Journal
http://www.ohio.com/news/local/the-rev-helmut-schuller-austrian-priest-bann
ed-in-boston-to-speak-inindependence-
and-cleveland-1.414671
The Cleveland Plain Dealer also covered the City Club presentation (see
below)
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/07/outspoken_catholic_priest_
helm.html
Lincoln, NE
Memphis, TN
Middleton, WI
Minneapolis/St Paul
Muncie, IN
Omaha, NE
Platteville. WI
Sacramento, CA
South Bend, IN
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