Membership on the Board of a National Catholic Organization

The Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church is looking to expand and diversify its board of directors. Junior faculty, women and minorities are especially welcome to apply.

ARCC was founded in 1980 by lay and ordained Catholics in the wake of Vatican condemnation of such theologians as Edward Schillebeeckx and Hans Kung. From its birth, ARCC has affirmed that all Catholics have fundamental rights and responsibilities.

In its early years, ARCC was concerned with defending the rights of Catholic scholars to question church teachings and practices that were contrary to the progressive spirit of the Second Vatican Council. It worked with other post-Vatican II organizations such as Call to Action and We Are Church to counter the increasingly conservative tone of the Vatican and the American bishops’ conference. In 1991 it joined Catholic Organizations for Renewal, an association that keeps reform-minded organizations informed about their individual activities.

Some of ARCC’s accomplishments have been the development of a Constitution for the Church, the creation and granting of the Hans Kung Award, and the publication of booklets summarizing the rights of Catholics under canon law. It continues to answer inquiries from Catholics who have questions about divorce and remarriage in the church. It also publishes an online newsletter that forwards relevant articles to its members.

In recent years, ARCC has become less active due to a decline in the number of board members and an increase in their average age. It would like to increase its activity in the future, given the openness to change exhibited by Pope Francis.

The duties of board members are relatively light. The board meets once a year in October, and individual members are encouraged to engage in activities that promote an evolving understanding of rights in the Catholic Church such as the right of priests to marry, the right of women to be ordained, the right to non-traditional sexual relationships, and the right of parishes to inspiring worship and excellent preaching.

Please direct questions and expressions of interest to Joseph Martos, a member of CTS and a board member of ARCC. His email address is martos@ai.edu.