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
- Official documents of CALL (articles of incorporation, bylaws, etc.)
- Minutes of CALL meetings, 1981-1993
- Minutes of CALL Steering Committee meetings, 1983-1993
- History of CALL meetings
- Newsletters, 1982-1988
- Newsletters, 1989-1993
- National Council of Catholic Women statement and reaction of the Lincoln Diocesan Council of Catholic Women
- Reaction to CALL in Parish bulletins
- Packets sent to various Bishops
- Letters from various Bishops
- Correspondence with Omaha Archbishop Sheehan
- Pastoral bulletins from Bishop Flavin
- Pastoral bulletins and correspondence from Bishop Bruskewitz
- Conciliation efforts
- Press response to conciliation efforts
- Miscellaneous correspondence
- Nursing home survey
- Dismissal of Oblates from Sacred Heart Parish and Hispanic Ministry
- Campaign for Human Development Story
- Miscellaneous information regarding Diocese and women’s issues
- 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
