Catholics Speak Out

The Quixote Center supports gender equality, including ordination for women; the civil rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons; and advocates for an end to the rule of celibacy for Catholic clergy. We support full communion for divorced and remarried Catholics; due process for church employees and theologians; and democratic reforms in the governance of the Roman Catholic Church. We call for lay involvement in the formulation of church teachings on sexuality and reproduction, improvements in interfaith and ecumenical dialogue, and a strong church voice on issues of social justice.

Current Initiatives:

The Inclusive Scripture Project

A crucial part of the Quixote Center’s work toward equality has been the Inclusive Scripture program initiated by Priests for Equality. After 20 years of diligent scholarship, the Quixote Center completed the Inclusive Bible, which incorporates poetically balanced language in regard to gender, race, and class. The Center also publishes the Inclusive Lectionary, Cycles A, B, and C for the Sunday readings.

Inclusive Citizenship

The Quixote Center has adopted the spirit of the Inclusive Language project into a liturgy for Inclusive Citizenship; calling people of faith to be more accepting of visitors to our land and of the myriad differences among the people that are to be celebrated. You can review the prayer and action items related to this project here.

Publications

Over the years the Quixote Center has produced a number of publications that integrate faithful reflections on issues and provide guides to action. Among these are the Inclusive Lectionaries and the Inclusive Bible, as well as the Quixote Center all-time bestseller, Bill Callahan’s Noisy Contemplation, Deep Prayer for Busy People It has sold over 100,000 copies…You can review a list of publications and order here.

History

When the Quixote Center was founded in 1976 the goal was to establish a social justice center that would engaged in advocacy for impoverished people and demand fundamental equality for everyone, while maintaining independence from the Catholic Church hierarchy. One of the Center’s first programs, Priests for Equality, was launched in 1975, to promote the equality of women at all levels of church governance and in society.

During the 1980s the focus of PFE shifted to creating inclusive language materials for worship, beginning with the Inclusive Language Lectionaries. This was followed by an Inclusive Language New Testament, and over the course of the next 15 years a three volume Inclusive Language Hebrew Scriptures (The Torah, The Writings, The Prophets). In 2003 the Quixote Center entered a publication agreement with Rowman and Littlefield to produce a single volume Inclusive Bible. In 2006 PFE was merged with Catholics Speak Out.

Catholics Speak Out was launched to mobilize lay Catholics to take responsibility for the Church; to encourage active, and critical engagement with the Church in order to help build an institution that animates the call to create a world more justly loving. Through the years Quixote Center has mobilized the voices of the laity to speak out against Vatican sanctioning of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, called on the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops to be an active voice for social justice, and worked to amplify the voices of those seeking reform.