I have spent the last five weeks on a speaking tour of the US, which has included the Call to Action conference in Memphis, and now a visit to Portland, Oregon, for the penultimate stop in my 18-city schedule.

There are a great many Catholic reform groups in this country, ranging from Call to Action, which seems to be the longest in existence, to other middle-of-the-road associations such as FutureChurch, various women’s ordination movements, and others who have agendas around Catholic sexual teaching and differing stances on the abortion question.