Third annual
CONGRESS FOR SPIRITUAL AND PUBLIC LEADERSHIP: PILGRIMS OF LIBERATION
By identifying as “Pilgrims of Liberation,” we assert the notion that community organizing is a long-distance journey that requires sustenance of community and inner strength amid challenges and uncertainties. At CSPL’s annual Congress, a three-day conference/retreat, we will explore skills that equip us to live as Pilgrims of Liberation together.
JUNE 6-8, 2025
Three days growing, learning, and strategizing in community.
Gather with people from across Chicagoland who care just as much as you do about making positive change in your community. Encounter the historical Jesus and develop the tools to build the Kin-dom of God he envisions for us. Learn from national experts in liberation theology and community organizing.
our goals for the 2025 Congress:
Bring together 120-150 Catholics and Christians from across Chicago and the Midwest for theological formation, organizing workshops leadership trainings, collective discernment, relationship building, strategic planning and collaboration in a direct action related to our campaign goals
Have participating organizations leave with a clear, strategic plan for leadership development within their organization and local organizing in their community and part of the region.
Deepen relationships across CSPL’s coalition of churches, organizations, universities and religious congregations.
Affirm CSPL’s strategic goals over the next 5 years.
LISTEN & DISCERN
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COLLABORATE & STRATEGIZE
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GAIN PRACTICAL TOOLS
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BUILD NEW RELATIONSHIPS
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LISTEN & DISCERN • COLLABORATE & STRATEGIZE • GAIN PRACTICAL TOOLS • BUILD NEW RELATIONSHIPS •
What does the Congress look like?
2025 Congress Theme
PILGRIMS OF LIBERATION
The new Jubilee Year, “Pilgrims of Hope” is traditionally intended as a holy year to be in right relationship with God, your neighbor and Creation. Jubilee is a time when debts are forgiven, captives are freed, and misappropriated and colonized land is returned.
This is a critical and prophetic year in our faith tradition. It is countercultural in a world that normalizes the piling on of unimaginable amounts of debt on working-class families, the imprisonment of people of color and those who are poor or mentally ill for petty offenses, and a global economic environment where corporate colonialism runs rampant.
Our faith offers a critical spiritual and moral compass for people of faith to be engaged in the world through a liberatory framework. The Jubilee Year is ripe with potential for engaged participation, spiritual renewal, and social transformation. Hence, our Congress theme, “Pilgrims of Liberation” is directly related to this sacred year of Hope.
One of the most concrete ways to cultivate hope is to organize with your community, parish, and institution. Organizing is a sacred invitation to build loving relationships with one another with a common goal to build spirit-rooted grassroots power to create a better world.
By identifying ourselves as “Pilgrims of Liberation,” we assert the notion that community organizing is a long-distance journey that requires sustenance of community, inner strength, in the midst of challenges and uncertainties.
make this transformative event possible
We rely on generous sponsor organizations to make the Congress accessible to our entire membership base.
Your sponsorship donation will help to cover the costs for the materials, training and workshops, food and other expenses that make 3-day event such an enriching experience.
In order to help offset the extensive costs for this year’s congress, we encourage you to consider making a sponsorship donation.
STILL HAVE QUESTIONS?
Our staff is happy to share more about the Congress and why it might be a great opportunity for you!