Catholic Association Research Articles

On the Origins of the Young Men’s Catholic Association as a Response to the Protestant Recreation Ethic in the United States, 1854–1909

In 1854 Reverend Bernard J. McQuaid set forth the outline behind his ideals for a young men’s Catholic association. Similar to the existing Protestant-rooted Young Men’s Christian Association which had arrived in the United States three years prior, McQuaid’s ambitions could be seen as one of many concurrent attempts to embrace the idea of Muscular Christianity and general reform movements of the late nineteenth century. However, to do so, would do an injustice to the ground-breaking, innovative, and controversial, methods embraced by McQuaid. He was one of the first in the Unted States to propose that sports and games of chance were not ‘evil’. Though his association eventually faltered under the weight of his lofty ambitions, he remains an underappreciated figure in the world of sport history. The Young Men’s Catholic Association offered a legitimate challenge to the often unwelcome Protestant morality of the YMCA in urban immigrant communities in the late nineteenth century United States. This paper argues that McQuaid’s recreation aims in Rochester developed as a reaction against the YMCA. McQuaid’s association, the Young Men’s Catholic Association, presented itself to the city’s immigrant, Catholic, working-class population as an alternative to the Protestant-inspired, ‘cult of strenuosity’.

The rise of the Spanish right during the Second Republic (1931–36). Social structures, Catholic associations, and conservative electoral mobilization

AbstractComparative historical analyses have emphasized the role played by conservative parties in the consolidation of democratic regimes in Europe. They have also identified the main factors shaping the political and electoral strength of the right in democratization processes. On the basis of these analyses, the Spanish Second Republic (1931–36) has been characterized as a very inauspicious ground for the development of a strong conservative party. However, the right managed to build a successful electoral force in a short period of time. This paper explores the factors affecting the electoral strength of the Spanish right by conducting ecological statistical analyses in the three republican legislative elections. Empirical results show that the right managed to build strong links with national voters on the basis of sociopolitical cleavages and underlying social and institutional characteristics. In particular, they reveal the key importance of the religious cleavage in the party system of the 1930s and the crucial role played by Catholic lay organizations in the success of the right. Ultimately, this finding shows that, contrary to previous theoretical expectations, initial organizational precariousness was not an unsurmountable obstacle for the electoral success of the Spanish right.

Pope Benedict XVI’s Visit to the Jasna Góra Monastery in 2006

The Jasna Góra Monastery has played an important role, both a religous and patriotic one, in the Polish past. The significance of “the Spiritual Capital of Poland” was emphasised by the activity of subsequent Popes as well as by visits of the last Popes to Częstochowa. Paul VI’s unfulfilled desire to be present there during the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Poland was fulfilled by John Paul II, who visited the Jasna Góra Monastery six times, and later by his Successor, Benedict XVI. The Pope’s stay in Częstochowa became a chance to strengthen consecrated people, seminarians, andrepresentatives of Catholic associations in faith. This proclamation was addressed to the above-mentioned groups of believers from all over the country. The presence of the Pope and the homily delivered by him was welcomed with enthusiasm by numerous pilgrims, to whom Marian piety was an important element of religious life.

Friendship as a Means of Addiction Recovery in the Cenacolo Community: A Case Study on How Work, Prayer, and Friendship Contribute to the Change of Addictive Patterns

Cenacolo community is a Catholic association whose mission is to help people overcome addiction. It originated as a grassroots movement in 1983. by sister Elvira Petrozzi and has over 50 houses worldwide, with headquarters in Italy. Over the years, the community has become known as a place where people change their addictive habits through work and prayer, by living together for an extended period of three years on average. To understand how the method works, we analysed 49 testimonials of former addicts who, at the time of giving testimony, were members of the community. What emerged from the research is that, besides work and prayer, the central motivation for the former addicts to complete the programme, is friendship. This was not clear from the outset, but gradually emerged through the application of the grounded theory. Grounded theory is the methodology developed by sociologists Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss. It allows the researcher to extract the main features of the studied reality by giving voice to the participants in the first place. Grounded theory has rarely been used in theology, and this research is one of the few done so far in the theological realm. The results show that, while work and prayer have a certain importance, the former addicts find friendship to be the main force which helps them to change their habits and start a new life.

The Catholic Emancipation in the 1920s in Ireland

During the period 1825-1829, the New Catholic Association was a major event in the Catholic Emancipation of Ireland. Unlike other Irish Catholic organizations in the past, the New Catholic Association was an organization led by Catholic farmers under the leadership of priests. They formed a powerful force through extensive social mobilization and finally forced the British Parliament to pass the Catholic Relief Bill, which took a big step forward in the liberation of Irish Catholics. Among them, the means by which Catholics mobilized Catholic farmers are worth studying. The article will analyze the situation of the classes before The Catholic Emancipation and try to explain why the clergy and farmers ultimately went towards cooperation.

Social Mobility, Migratory Vocations, and the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association

This paper explores how the confessional politics of Catholic identification has been mobilised into religious callings, from the village to the city and from China to Overseas Chinese communities. Building on fieldwork conducted in Hangzhou and New York City in 2018, I show how a Chinese Catholic migrant priest authenticates the spiritual purity of his vocation by using the legality and ease of transnational travel to legitimise his moral and economic upward mobility.

Pardos’ Triumph

On September 13, 1745, the pardo (mixed-race Afro-Brazilian) brotherhood (lay Catholic association) of Nossa Senhora do Livramento (Our Lady of Emancipation) of Recife, Pernambuco, in collaboration with the pardo brotherhood of Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe) in neighboring Olinda, enthralled Pernambuco’s largest city with a great festival in honor of Blessed Gonçalo Garcia (1556–97). Like many colonial festivals, the festivities included fireworks, artillery salvos, five triumphal carts, seventeen allegorical floats, five different dance performances, and jousting. Yet never before had such an extravagant display of material wealth been made by an Afro-Brazilian brotherhood. The pardo irmãos (brotherhood members) had two important issues they wanted to settle once and for all with this festival. One was the question of Blessed Gonçalo’s pardoness, since the would-be-saint was the son of a Portuguese man and an East Indian woman, and pardoness in Brazil had been defined as the result of white–black miscegenation. The other issue was the popular notion that mixed-race Afro-Brazilians constituted colonial Brazil’s most deviant and unruly socioracial group. In this article, I analyze how mixed-race Afro-Brazilians used the material culture of early modern festivals to publicly articulate claims about their sacro-social prestige and socio-symbolic status. I contend that material culture played a central role in the pardo irmãos’ articulation of their devotion to Blessed Gonçalo and claims of sacro-social and socio-symbolic belonging, and that they used this material culture to challenge colonial notions about their ethnic group.

The exacerbated prevalence of acute malnutrition and growth retardation in Roma children living in camps

BackgroundChild malnutrition is still a concern in marginalized groups of populations, such as immigrants living in very low socio-economic conditions. Roma children are within the most hard-to-reach populations, susceptible to undernutrition and growth retardation. In the city of Rome (Italy), the Hospital “Bambino Gesù”, in collaboration with the Catholic Association Community of Saint’Egidio, is dedicating free services for the health and nutritional needs of vulnerable people.MethodsA retrospective analysis was conducted on immigrant children visited at different ages (0–11 years old). Records including nutritional and growth assessment were collected from 2016 up to May 2020. Malnutrition was classified following the WHO 2006 standards. Data for Roma children living in extra-urban camps and non-Roma immigrant children living in urban areas were analyzed, odds ratios and univariate binary regressions were performed to investigate the risk of malnutrition within the two groups.ResultsA sample of 414 children (57% under-five; 51.9% Roma), was included in the database. In the under-five children, underweight accounted for 7.6%, stunting for 11.7%, and wasting for 2.9%. The first year of life was the most crucial for nutritional status. Compared to the counterpart, Roma children accounted for nearly the total rate of malnutrition (wasting 4.8% vs. 1%; stunting 21.4% vs. 2%; underweight 14.2% vs. 1%). Univariate logistic regression confirmed under-five Roma children being at the highest risk of stunting at 12 months (OR: 16.1; CI 2–132; p = 0.01).When considering the 176 school-aged children, undernutrition affected most Roma children (13% vs 1.9%), followed by stunting (5.8% vs 0.9%). Univariate logistic regression confirmed that Roma school-aged children were more likely to be underweight (OR: 7.8; CI 1.6–37.6; p = 0.01).ConclusionsMalnutrition in immigrant children is still of high concern in Italy. Its prevalence in Roma children living in extra-urban camps exceeds that of immigrant children living in urban areas and the rates of underweight, stunting and wasting of Roma children living in the Balkans. This exacerbating condition highlights the need of better assisting this fragile population that is at most risk of poverty, food insecurity and social exclusion in Italy, particularly during this pandemic crisis.

Sepoltura dei feti abortiti e fattore religioso

The essay deals with the case of Catholic associations which bury aborted fetuses when the parents do not give directives in this sense. The analysis focuses particularly on the role of municipalities that grant areas in cemeteries to Catholic associations. The essay supports the thesis that the relationship between municipalities and Catholic associations must respect the principle of secularism and the principle of equality.

Účast Československa na zřízení Spojeného ústavu jaderných výzkumů (Dubna, Rusko) a zastoupení v jeho prvním ředitelství

Within a wider context of establishment of international collaboration in nuclear physics and peaceful exploitation of nuclear energy in the 1950s, this article outlines Czechoslovak participation in the creation of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Energy in Dubna (Russia). This institute was intended to serve as a parallel to the European Laboratory for Nuclear research (CERN) for countries of the Eastern Bloc. Based on archival sources, we include a ‘memory record’ describing how Czechoslovakia was in January 1956 invited to participate in establishing the institute. We outline the composition and contributions of the Czechoslovak delegation at a meeting of eleven founding states in Moscow in March 1956 and investigate the circumstances of election of Vaclav Votruba (1909–1990), a Czechoslovak theoretical physicist, to the post of secretary to Director of the Dubna Institute and his subsequent activities in this function in 1955–1959. The article also describes a visit of the institute by a Czechoslovak governmental and Communist Party delegation headed by President Antonin Zapotocký in January 1957 and subsequent pardon, which the President granted to the Czechoslovak physicist Milos Lokajicek (1923–2019), who was in 1954 sentenced to seven years in prison for participation in a Catholic association called ‘The Family’.

“The priests do their best to inflame the people.” Religious actors in Ireland, 1800–1845: Instigators of violence or peacemakers?

After the 1801 Act of Union uniting Ireland and Great Britain, and the broken promises made to Catholics, Daniel O’Connell founded the Catholic Association which combined religious and political demands. Despite the pacifying dimension of the movement, the decades preceding the Great Hunger (1845–1851) saw several episodes of violence, before reaching a climax during the revolutionary movement of 1848. Relying on Philippe Braud’s definition of political violence and the study of British and Catholic authorities’ correspondence among other sources, this article intends to shed light on the different dynamics at work in the rise in violence. It also examines the various attempts to readjust to and withdraw from acts of violence, to move beyond ambiguities and better assess the role played by religious agents.

Orel – the Catholic physical education association : foreign relations up to 1929

This paper looks at the history of Orel, the Catholic physical education association, and its foreign relations up to 1929. The origins of the Orel movement in the Czech region of Austria-Hungary go back to the turn of the 20th century when the first local Orel associations were established. These associations were strongly connected with Czech political Catholicism. Shortly after being formed, their functionaries began to establish their first contacts with existing foreign organizations. Most of these organizations were from the area of contemporary Slovenia. Their number rose significantly after the First World War when the newly independent Czechoslovakian Orel became a member of the Catholic physical education union – UIOCEP. The members of this organization were all around the world. The number of foreign contacts it had established was also on the increase. The first international physical educational festival, which helped Czechoslovak Orel with its development, was organized in Brno in 1922. But the Czechoslovakian Orel had planned a second big festival of physical education for 1929, hoping to further extend its number of foreign friends. The second physical educational festival was also successful. It helped Czechoslovak Orel to increase its influence in UIOCEP where it became the second-largest organization.

ИСТОРИЯ КАТОЛИЦИЗМА В БАШКОРТОСТАНЕ: КРАТКИЙ ИСТОРИОГРАФИЧЕСКИЙ ОБЗОР

The article examines the main publications covering the centuries-old history of the Catholic Church in the lands of modern Bashkortostan, as well as partly affecting the interaction of local Catholic communities with coreligionists from other cities located in the South Urals, as well as in the Middle Volga region. Unfortunately, there are quite a few special studies on the history of this Christian denomination in our republic. Many works, in one way or another related to this issue, are of a general nature and contain a schematic listing of factual information, or are more devoted to the history of national communities, for which this religion is, to a certain extent, one of the most important elements of traditional ethnic culture. Here it is necessary to note, first of all, publications on the history of the Polish and German diaspora, which provide information about the participation of representatives of these communities in the creation of Catholic parishes and public associations associated with charity and education. At the same time, the significance of the confessional aspect is to a much lesser extent revealed in works on the history of Latvian immigrants from Latgale, Belarusians and Ukrainians from Volyn and Eastern Galicia, who, due to various circumstances, left their homes during the First World War, as well as other Catholic emigrants from Central and Western Europe, located in the Ufa province at the beginning of the XX century. In some articles on demography and striking features of social stratification, one can find indirect references to the presence of Catholics, but this information only It is noteworthy that most publications indicate the middle of the 17th century as the earliest dating of the appearance of believing Catholics in the South Urals, and evidence of missionary trips to the Eastern Hungarians during the 13th-15th centuries allows us to make hypothetical assumptions about their role in the life of the local religious community. It can be noted that the presence of a certain part of Catholics on the territory of Bashkiria during the 16th20th centuries. was associated with forced migration due to the fact that, as a result of military clashes, some of them were captured, as well as due to participation in activities that conflicted with the interests of the Russian leadership are considered, with a few exceptions, only in the context of the problem of the origin of the Bashkir people, most likely due to the modest results of the preaching.

Catholic Youth Ministry between 1896 and Today

Abstract The involvement (participation) of young people is the central characteristic of youth work in Germany. Where does this approach come from? And what role does it play in practice today? The following article gives a short introduction into youth work in Germany and traces how the idea of participation has developed in Catholic youth associations and what demands and challenges it poses in practice today.

Sino-Vatican Rapprochement: An Assessment of Pope Francis’ Realpolitik and the Provisional Agreement on the Appointment of Bishops

ABSTRACT In September 2018, the Vatican and the People’s Republic of China reached a landmark provisional agreement, marking a new phase of relations between the two states since the severance of ties in 1951. What led to the signing of the agreement? What are its critical achievements and failures? This article argues that it was the realpolitik of Pope Francis, the first Jesuit Pope, that led the Vatican to make ‘a leap of faith’ and diverge from the two previous papacies. The most significant achievement of the agreement was arguably the establishment of a ‘China model’ in appointing bishops. However, this development has also stirred up confusion and sidestepped crucial issues such as the status of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.

CATHOLIC SPIRIT OF ASSOCIATION: CATHOLIC POPULAR CULTURE, CONFRATERNITIES, GUILDS AND a RESTORED COMMUNITY IN THE INDUSTRIAL DIOCESE OF LATE VICTORIAN-EARLY EDWARDIAN WEST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE

If we wish to test the strength of the Catholic spirit in the industrial Diocese of late Victorian early Edwardian West Riding of Yorkshire, we should first consider what types of institutions and societies existed among them. Thus, wherever the spirit of Catholicism flourished in the hearts of the laity, it should manifest itself in the Church’s different confraternities, guilds and societies. These Catholic institutions functioned mostly independent of each other but controlled by the central council of the Church. They were an effective means of developing a new Catholic identity with forms of self-legitimisation that would come to increase Irish Catholic communal and religious life. They were indispensable to the cultural expansion of the Church and the spirit of Catholic association. The immediate purpose of these societies was a moral and spiritual provision, but they achieved much more than this. These societies worked side by side with the Catholic Church and mutually supplemented each other, becoming the twin children of the same spirit. They owed their existence to the same powerful reaction of the Church against the moral and material deterioration of English Protestant society.

The Role of Extra-Campus Organization in Building "Bela Negara" Character: Case of Cipayung Group of East Java

This study aims to explore the role of the Extra-Campus Student Organizationsincorporated in the Cipayung Group, namely: Indonesian National StudentMovement (GMNI), Indonesian Islamic Student Movement (PMII), IndonesianStudent Association (HMI), Indonesian Christian Student Movement (GMKI) ),and the Catholic Students Association of the Republic of Indonesia (PMKRI) inraising awareness of the nation defense in East Java. This study uses a qualitativeapproach with data collection techniques in the form of content analysis ofcredible news, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions (FGD) oninformants or informants selected based on purposive techniques. The dataanalysis technique used is an interactive model, and the data validity test techniqueuses triangulation. The results of this study indicate that the Copying Group interms of regeneration implanted the values of the country's defense throughcompulsory material delivered in activities ranging from member recruitment,primary education and training, and further training. In terms of scientific studiesand issues, the Copying Group often conducts study discussions that also carry thetheme of defending the country. In terms of student actions or movements, thevalues of state defense instilled through efforts to criticize government policiesthat are considered non-Pancasila. Copying Group members also carry outcommunity service which aims to instill in their members that love for themotherland and willingness to sacrifice for the nation and state. Then it can beconcluded that the Copying Group has a role in raising awareness of the defense ofthe student state in East Java.

Organizacja i funkcjonowanie przedszkoli podległych Zrzeszeniu Katolików Caritas – Oddział Wojewódzki w Kielcach w latach 1950-1960

<p>Po zakończeniu II wojny światowej w 1950 roku doszło do przekształcenia dotychczasowego katolickiego Caritasu w świeckie, całkowicie podległe władzy komunistycznej Zrzeszenie Katolików Caritas. Zakres działalności nowego tworu miał sprowadzać się do pomagania najbardziej potrzebującym oraz udzielania wsparcia najbiedniejszym. ZKC przejął cały zastany majątek Caritasu. Wśród placówek, które były pod jego zarządem, znalazły się też przedszkola. W Kielcach w omawianym okresie pod zarządem ZKC pozostawało 21 placówek wychowania przedszkolnego. W artykule opisano, jakim zapleczem dysponowały placówki podległe ZKC , zasady ich funkcjonowania, metody pracy z wychowankami, przedstawiono ponadto specyfikę ówczesnego personelu pedagogicznego oraz skalę świadczonej opieki wobec dzieci w wieku przedszkolnym w ówczesnym województwie kieleckim.</p>

Católicos e relações de classe: as visões de Liga Operária Católica, Juventude Operária Católica e Associação Cristã de Empresários e Gestores

This paper focuses on a theme that has been underestimated: that of reciprocal relations and representations between Catholics separated by different class belongings, in this case, between employers and workers. These representations focus on the relationship between labor and capital, as well as on the production and distribution / redistribution of wealth, and involve the notion of social justice. I chose to study, three Catholic associations - one of businesspersons (Associação Cristã de Empresários e Gestores / ACEGE – Association of Christian Entrepreneurs and Managers), one of workers (Liga Operária Católica / LOC – Catholic Worker's League), another of young people, mainly students, but of working-class tradition (Juventude Operária Católica / JOC – Young Catholic Workers) - based on their own documents and interviews. ACEGE members see religion as integrative and never insubordinate in the company; LOC members reveal a disenchanted conception of economic relations that forces permanent mobilization and an eventually disruptive role for religion; JOC lacks systematic opinion and reveals the generational limits it faces.

Racism, Xenophobia, and Migration in Italy, a Post‐Catholic Country

AbstractThis paper looks at the present situation of xenophobia and racism in Italy through the lenses of land and displacement. It examines the relationship between the homeland and the phenomenon of migration – internal and international – from the beginning of the unitary unified state of Italy (1861) and the Catholic identity of Italian society. Colonialism opened the door to disdain for Black people, while fascism decreed racial laws against Jews without opposition from the Catholic hierarchy. After the Second World War, the Italian Republic banned any form of racism; but more recently the fear of the stranger has led to intolerance of migrants arriving in Italy because of war, violence, hunger, and poverty in their homelands. While Pope Francis, Italian bishops, and many Catholic associations and individuals have called for an attitude toward migrants based on the gospel, sentiments of racism and hate against foreigners are widely present among the population of a formerly Catholic country.