As we close out 2025, take a look at all the online presentations being offered by church reform organizations from around the world.

We feel you will find these interesting and valuable. We hope you will attend!

Join our global seminar on Non-Positional Thinking led by Dr. Ariane David.
We live in a time when political and cultural divisions feel unbridgeable. Facts don’t change minds. Debates go in circles.
Non-Positional Thinking offers a way out.

This presentation focused on the life and legacy of Saint Oscar Romero, a Catholic bishop and martyr who advocated for social justice in El Salvador. Next a presentation followed on current human rights issues in Latin America. Discussions covered Romero’s transformation from a conservative bishop to a vocal advocate for the poor, his assassination, and his enduring impact as a symbol of faith and resistance against tyranny. The meeting addressed the deteriorating human rights situation in various Latin American countries, emphasizing the need for continued support for human rights defenders and the importance of upholding democratic values in the face of growing authoritarianism.

The Networks for Church Reform are managing a series of discussions on the role of Christians who have opposed dictatorial Governments. The initiative is led by Catholic Church Reform International. With the rise of autocracies, it is vital that Christians are alert to the dangers they pose. Presentations have examined the life and ministry of Fr Maximilian Kolbe and Sr Restituta Kafka, of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Fr Max Metzger.
On Wednesday 21st May the life and example of Archbishop Oscar Romero will be considered with a presentation by Julian Filochowski. Co-chair of the Romero Trust. Others with experience of life in Latin America will be involved.

There is an urgency, and we need to be committed to the moral imperative to stand against injustice and oppression. We can be inspired by the courage of those who defied Nazism.
The call is for bold action in the face of today’s crises, naming the suffering in Gaza, the erosion of democracy in the U.S., and widespread global injustices.

Silence is not an option.

Communities of faith need to speak out fearlessly.

The individual elected pope, Benedictine Father Donato Ogliari said, “must courageously and gently bear the weight of the church, advance without fear in the challenges of the present time, and be for all a living sign of the Lord’s merciful closeness.”

During the general congregations, or “pre-conclave” meetings, cardinals receive meditations to help prepare them for their future decision. In his meditation on April 29, Father Ogliari outlined the spiritual qualities the next pope should embody, a portrait the cardinals will consider when they gather in conclave beginning Wednesday, May 7.

To guide the cardinals spiritually, Ogliari urged them to center their choice on Christ and be led by the Holy Spirit. He also reminded them of the crucial impact their decision would have on the future of the church, while emphasizing the need for the cardinals to remain open to the challenges of the contemporary world. “Even though the place of the ‘conclave’—as the term itself indicates—is a place locked away, it will, in reality, be wide open to the entire world.”

In this presentation, Sr. Donna Ciangio, Chancellor to Cardinal Tobin in Newark, New Jersey, offered a step-by-step guide to setting up diocesan and parish pastoral councils. Sister used PowerPoint slides, which you can save and use to set up a new council or adjust existing councils that need to be more inclusive of lay representation in your community.

In this session, it became clear that the Catholic and Lutheran Churches played a significant role in promoting Hitler. After looking at the similarities that concern us that we are once again repeating history, participants then shared ideas among themselves of what we might do as Christians, since we are called by virtue of our baptism to stand up to injustices affecting innocent victims and those being inappropriately persecuted.

For those who missed it, we encourage you to listen to the recording of our introductory presentation exploring similarities between the rise of Adolf Hitler during Nazism and the rise of Donald Trump under the current U.S. administration:...

Here is the YouTube recording of our online presentation about the moral corruption being observed and experienced under the current U.S. administration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2UpWsoccHg. This video opens with historian, Dr. Jon Rosebank, offering salient...

2nd Assembly In Rome 2024

Sr. Elizabeth Davis from Canada shares her honest outlook.

You are invite you to join a special synodal gathering on August 14. This is a rare chance for voting delegates to come together to freely interchange with each other ahead of their time in Rome.

Your Vote Matters!

Given the potential consequences of this U.S. presidential election, we invite all People of God to join this online deep listening and sharing gathering on Saturday September 7th.

Your presence and participation were greatly appreciated as we worked on the final document to submit to the Synod Office in Rome. As the “elders” in this process, we recognize that all of you are the future of our Church that Jesus began during His time on this earth. 

Learning What Differing Generations and Cultures Share In Common As We Strive to Rreform Our Church May 2, 2024 On Thursday, May 2, CCRI has scheduled a multi-generational global synodal gathering.

Our Global Ecclesial Synodal Council gathering will host Dr. Elissa Roper on Friday/Saturday, April 12/13. The path of synodality is being revealed through a great desire of faithful Catholics for change.

We share the outrage of millions of people from around the world shocked by U.S. Catholic Bishops using their influence to speak out during an election cycle to Catholic parishioners in favor of one candidate running for the U.S. presidency based on the one issue of abortion.

With the Synod 2021-2024, Pope Francis initiated a participatory process for the first time in modern church history, in which fundamental questions about the shape and future of the Church were first discussed at the grassroots level.

Our Global Ecclesial Synodal Council gathering on March 23 hosted Helena Jeppesen-Spuhler, delegate from Switzerland to the Synod in Rome. She shared her experience of the 2023 Synod and her anticipation for the 2024 Synod.

Since the first of the year, CCRI has been facilitating monthly synodal gatherings for all who have no other way to participate. These are the coming synodal gatherings to be held in March: Synodal gathering, 1st Saturday of every month next on March 2, 2024 Women's...

As the Vatican prepares to host the second part of Pope Francis’ major summit on the future of the Catholic Church this October, one of the event’s main organizers said a central purpose of the gathering is to create “a new style of leadership” for the global faith institution.

John Wijngaards of the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research will be speaking to our Global Ecclesial Synodal Council on our two-fold Church:

Church as People of God and Church as Institution.

Filo Hirota, member of the Synod Preparatory Committee for the Synod 2023 and 2024, shared her experience this past weekend of the 2023 Synod.

View the recording of the session.

Join us!
A gathering of the Global Ecclesial Synod Council on Friday, January 26, or Saturday, January 27.

Sister Filo Hirota, member of the Synod Organizing Committee, will share her experience of the 2023 Synod, her anticipation for the 2024 Synod.

The synthesis report of the synod reveals that hierarchy and patriarchy are firmly in place in the Church structure. There is no indication that anything is going to change, writes Virginia Saldanha.

Dr. Mary McAleese, former president of Ireland, speaks on Being Denied the Discipleship of Equals.

Guidelines that we believe will help transform the Church into the kind of community that Jesus would want.

Giving Tuesday, The Joan Chittister Presentation Recording and Transcript, Next Event – Save The Date, Preparing for The 2024 Synod

As we close out 2025, take a look at all the online presentations being offered by church reform organizations from around the world.

We feel you will find these interesting and valuable. We hope you will attend!

Join our global seminar on Non-Positional Thinking led by Dr. Ariane David.
We live in a time when political and cultural divisions feel unbridgeable. Facts don’t change minds. Debates go in circles.
Non-Positional Thinking offers a way out.

This presentation focused on the life and legacy of Saint Oscar Romero, a Catholic bishop and martyr who advocated for social justice in El Salvador. Next a presentation followed on current human rights issues in Latin America. Discussions covered Romero’s transformation from a conservative bishop to a vocal advocate for the poor, his assassination, and his enduring impact as a symbol of faith and resistance against tyranny. The meeting addressed the deteriorating human rights situation in various Latin American countries, emphasizing the need for continued support for human rights defenders and the importance of upholding democratic values in the face of growing authoritarianism.

The Networks for Church Reform are managing a series of discussions on the role of Christians who have opposed dictatorial Governments. The initiative is led by Catholic Church Reform International. With the rise of autocracies, it is vital that Christians are alert to the dangers they pose. Presentations have examined the life and ministry of Fr Maximilian Kolbe and Sr Restituta Kafka, of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Fr Max Metzger.
On Wednesday 21st May the life and example of Archbishop Oscar Romero will be considered with a presentation by Julian Filochowski. Co-chair of the Romero Trust. Others with experience of life in Latin America will be involved.

There is an urgency, and we need to be committed to the moral imperative to stand against injustice and oppression. We can be inspired by the courage of those who defied Nazism.
The call is for bold action in the face of today’s crises, naming the suffering in Gaza, the erosion of democracy in the U.S., and widespread global injustices.

Silence is not an option.

Communities of faith need to speak out fearlessly.

The individual elected pope, Benedictine Father Donato Ogliari said, “must courageously and gently bear the weight of the church, advance without fear in the challenges of the present time, and be for all a living sign of the Lord’s merciful closeness.”

During the general congregations, or “pre-conclave” meetings, cardinals receive meditations to help prepare them for their future decision. In his meditation on April 29, Father Ogliari outlined the spiritual qualities the next pope should embody, a portrait the cardinals will consider when they gather in conclave beginning Wednesday, May 7.

To guide the cardinals spiritually, Ogliari urged them to center their choice on Christ and be led by the Holy Spirit. He also reminded them of the crucial impact their decision would have on the future of the church, while emphasizing the need for the cardinals to remain open to the challenges of the contemporary world. “Even though the place of the ‘conclave’—as the term itself indicates—is a place locked away, it will, in reality, be wide open to the entire world.”

In this presentation, Sr. Donna Ciangio, Chancellor to Cardinal Tobin in Newark, New Jersey, offered a step-by-step guide to setting up diocesan and parish pastoral councils. Sister used PowerPoint slides, which you can save and use to set up a new council or adjust existing councils that need to be more inclusive of lay representation in your community.