Co-founder of United Farm Workers honored with Call To Action Leadership Award; salutes Fr. Vitale as prisoner of conscience

Dolores Huerta (center) with Pace e Bene community members Ken Preston-Pile and Rose Elizondo

This past weekend, the Pace e Bene community was well represented at Call To Action’s national conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Rose Elizondo, Ken Preston-Pile, David Saavedra, Cindy Preston-Pile, and I were among those who led the JustChurch Nonviolent Action track of six workshops, while Associate Judith Kelly and trainers Amy Sheber Howard and Lena Woltering were in attendance.  (Jeanette Rodriguez, the chair of the Theology and Religious Studies Deparrtment at Seattle University — and a participant in in the Pace e Bene ten month Training for Trainers program this year — had been scheduled to co-lead the Pace e Bene pre-conference workshop but, unfortunately, was recently in a serious automobile accident  which prevented her from making the trip to Wisconsin.  She is, thankfully, on the mend.)

Call To Action is a Catholic church reform movement whose mission is to free the church to be a force for justice and peace in the church and the world.  It chose as the theme for this year’s conference, “From Racism to Reconciliation: Church Beyond Power and Privilege.”  Two thousand people were deeply moved by scores of workshops on dismantling racism, as well as powerful keynotes and presentations by Dr. Jamie Phelps, Dr. Eddie Moore, Myra Brown, Tim Wise, and noted author Richard Rodriguez.

One of the many high points of the weekend was the appearance of Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, who was honored with this year’s CTA Leadership Award.  Huerta opened her remarks by sharing with the audience that her thoughts were with Fr. Louie Vitale, Pace e Bene’s “Action Advocate” who began serving a five month prison sentence on October 17.  She pointed to Louie as one who has responded to the crises of our time by taking bold nonviolent action.

A couple of years ago, it was Louie’s turn to honor Dolores.  In a ceremony attended by hundreds of people in a church in Oakland, California, he bestowed the Pace e Bene Nonviolence Award on this relentlessly persistent champion of justice for the migrant poor.  It was a moment of grace to see the both of them share the stage that night, as they recalled 40 years of work supporting one another. 

And so the journey for justice continues, as Dolores reminded us on Sunday morning.

In the next few blogs, I will reflect more on the powerful days that unfolded in Milwaukee this past weekend.