Catholics for Active Liturgical Life (CALL) [RG0954.AM]

HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID

RG0954.AM: Catholics for Active Liturgical Life (CALL)

Records: 1981-1993
Lincoln, Lancaster County, Nebraska
Size: 1.0 cu.ft.; 1 box

BACKGROUND NOTE

Catholics for Active Liturgical Life (CALL) organized in October of 1981 in response to the announcement that the Lincoln Diocese would only allow men (installed lectors) to read Scriptures at Mass. Approximately fifty Catholics, representing several Lincoln parishes, attended the first meeting. Those interested in representing their parish volunteered to be on the CALL Steering Committee. The Steering Committee drafted a position paper and eventually drew up articles of incorporation and bylaws.

Throughout the twelve years of CALL’s active presence in the diocese, they published a quarterly newsletter. Always keeping the two main concerns in the forefront (allowing women to read at Mass and allowing lay people to take the Eucharist to the homebound and nursing homes), the newsletter continued to bring other issues of concern to the readers. With the coming of the new Bishop, Fabian Bruskewitz, in May 1992, and the news that women could, with some restrictions, read occasionally at Mass and the installed acolytes could take the Eucharist to the homebound, the members of the Steering Committee decided to cease publication and hoped that other issues would be resolved. CALL officially disbanded in July of 1993.

Some members of CALL later joined Call to Action Nebraska (CTAN). See RG6206.AM for more information.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The collection consists of records relating to Catholics for Active Liturgical Life (CALL), a Lincoln, Nebraska, organization formed in 1981 to address concerns of parishioners in the Lincoln Diocese. The collection includes minutes of meetings, correspondence, position papers, publications, clippings, etc. The materials date from 1981-1993.

INVENTORY

Box 1
Folder

  1. Official documents of CALL (articles of incorporation, bylaws, etc.)
  2. Minutes of CALL meetings, 1981-1993
  3. Minutes of CALL Steering Committee meetings, 1983-1993
  4. History of CALL meetings
  5. Newsletters, 1982-1988
  6. Newsletters, 1989-1993
  7. National Council of Catholic Women statement and reaction of the Lincoln Diocesan Council of Catholic Women
  8. Reaction to CALL in Parish bulletins
  9. Packets sent to various Bishops
  10. Letters from various Bishops
  11. Correspondence with Omaha Archbishop Sheehan
  12. Pastoral bulletins from Bishop Flavin
  13. Pastoral bulletins and correspondence from Bishop Bruskewitz
  14. Conciliation efforts
  15. Press response to conciliation efforts
  16. Miscellaneous correspondence
  17. Nursing home survey
  18. Dismissal of Oblates from Sacred Heart Parish and Hispanic Ministry
  19. Campaign for Human Development Story
  20. Miscellaneous information regarding Diocese and women’s issues
  21. Newspaper clippings

Subject headings:

Catholic Church — Nebraska — Lincoln
Catholicism
Catholics for Active Liturgical Life (CALL)
Catholics — Nebraska — Lincoln
Religion

Revised TMM 10-17-2016; 10-01-2021

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