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	Catholics Speak out in Nationwide Listening Sessions By Linda Pinto American Catholic Council June 8, 2011 http://americancatholiccouncil.org/files/2009/05/ACC-Press-Release-May10-2011-FINAL.pdf [pdf] American Catholic Council PO Box 3106 Barrington IL, 60010 americancatholiccouncil.org Contact: Linda Pinto (c) 973.903.6170 (o) 570.296.5326 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (5/10/11) Catholics Speak Out in Nationwide Listening Sessions Barrington, IL: A key component of the inaugural convening of the American Catholic Council, to unfold in Detroit on Pentecost Weekend June 10-12, will be the release of a report on nearly 100 local and regional Listening Sessions across the country over the past 18 months. These sessions have taken place in diverse settings, from parish halls and living rooms, to hotel conference rooms and retreat centers. Each has been an occasion where the faithful have had the opportunity to dialogue and listen to the promptings of the Spirit as they prayerfully considered fundamental questions about the future of the Catholic Church. Many gathered out of a sense of urgency and a shared sense of responsibility to build a better Church, and one grounded in the vision and promise of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). The overwhelming issue echoed throughout Listening Sessions is the hierarchy's unwillingness to enter into dialogue with the laity about real issues which affect the lives and faith of real people in the church. From the perspective of the vast majority of participants in these listening sessions, the hierarchy is increasingly remote, disengaged and irrelevant to the faith lives of rank and file Catholics. This suggests a fundamental crisis of leadership in an increasingly dysfunctional institutional Church. Many see this failure to engage the diversity of the faithful as undermining the promise of a more inclusive Church that is central to the reforms called for by Vatican II. It is increasingly evident that the primary focus of the ACC when it convenes in Detroit will be to address issues of leadership, governance and structural reform. These dialogues were informed by three fundamental tenets drawn from the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Vatican II).
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