Catholic Research Articles

Spiritualitas Petugas Pastoral dalam Karya Pelayanan Pastoral Awam

Spirituality is fundamental in the life of pastoral workers. Because spirituality is the main driving force that gives enthusiasm to a pastoral officer, especially in ministry. The service of a pastoral officer is very meaningful if it is accompanied by a person who is brave, enthusiastic and humble, because the duty and war of a pastoral officer is to proclaim the Word of God. Basically, pastoral officers are called and sent by Christ to proclaim the Word of God to all believers with the aim of saving them. Lay Pastoral Officers are Christian believers who have received baptism and been anointed with the Holy Spirit. Through the baptism they have received, lay pastoral officers become members of the Body of Christ, gathered into the People of God, by carrying out the Tri-task of Christ according to their ability to carry out their mission for all Christians in the Church and the world. Lay pastoral officers live in the world, meaning carrying out worldly duties and work, and being in the midst of the realities of family and social life. They are called by God to carry out their own duties by imbuing the spirit of the Gospel, in that way they radiate faith, hope and love, especially the testimony of life. Lay pastoral officers who carry out the Tri-tasks of Christ, one of which is as preachers of the Word of God, strive to develop the faith of Catholics according to the values ​​of the Kingdom of God.

Conspiracy, Congregation, Company, and Commerce in England, 1680–1688: The Narratives of Edward Massey of Braintree

AbstractIn 1683, Edward Massey, an obscure office‐holder in Braintree, Essex, provided the state with one of the most explosive accounts of conspiratorial activities in England during the so‐called ‘Exclusion Crisis’. Massey, a prisoner in the King's Bench, named dozens of individuals in his native Essex, as well as the West Country and London, who apparently aired seditious grievances with King Charles II and his Roman Catholic brother and heir, James, Duke of York, and compassed participation in a national plot to ensure the succession of a Protestant in the form of Charles's illegitimate son, James, Duke of Monmouth. The colourful details of the alleged conspiracy bear reproduction in this article. Nevertheless, the difficulty of crediting the most radical implications of Massey's narratives calls for a cautious assessment of their reliability and value to historians. Fortunately, additional evidence enables us to treat Massey's account as a detailed testimony of how those marginalised by the Stuarts’ post‐Restoration settlements were able to mobilise behind and sustain their discontents, and the anxious secrecy and cautious trust which, amid heightened state surveillance, defined their encounters. Moreover, the article demonstrates how necessarily secretive political and religious networks mapped onto, and drew strength from, bonds which were forged in experiences of parochial administration and business, particularly the production of and trade in cloth. The result is an account of the Restoration's ‘politics of religion’ which highlights the communicative and ideological importance of the politics of local office and (inter)national trade.

Faith and fate: Religious leaders’ Bible, heaven, hell beliefs and end-of-life choices

Controversies surrounding end-of-life choices may be due to differences in congregational affiliation and beliefs about the Bible, heaven, and hell. Focusing on religious leaders (N = 1541), this study investigated how these factors are associated with attitudes toward physician-assisted suicide, allowing a patient to die by withholding treatment, and withdrawing treatment in favor of pain relief. Religious leaders affiliated with White liberal or moderate denominations were more supportive of these end-of-life choices compared to those affiliated with Roman Catholic; White conservative, evangelical, or fundamentalist; and Black Protestant congregations. Literalist view of the Bible and belief in hell were significantly associated with less support across the three choices, whereas belief in heaven was significantly associated with less support for only physician-assisted suicide. This study highlights the varying significance of religious beliefs in understanding variations in views on end-of-life choices and sheds light on the moral distinction associated with various choices.

Evolución del régimen fiscal de las confesiones religiosas. Especial referencia a las últimas modificaciones legislativas

The economic and fiscal regime of religious confessions is characterized by their submission to regulations that are not valid indefinitely, because in most cases they are enacted either for a specific period of time, or for specific situations that occur. Subsequently its extinction, or even depend on the political and economic situations of each country, and in this case on Church-State relations. Throughout this study, the aim is to analyze the recent legislative developments produced around the alleged normative equality between the Catholic Church, the confessions with a cooperation agreement and those that have recognized the well-known roots, and the application to all of them of the tax regime provided for non-profit entities.

Ensino religioso nas escolas públicas: origem e desenvolvimento do projeto católico

The article presents the religious education project of the Catholic Church in reaction to republican secularism in Brazil. After successive approaches, this project was decreed for the entire country in 1931 and incorporated by the Federal Constitution of 1934: elementary, secondary, professional and teaching schools should offer religious education during class hours, optional for students. Starting with the 1988 Constitution, dissent in the Catholic segment intended to replace the confrontation with a hegemonic dispute within the educational field, in the context of a religious field undergoing profound and rapid change. Different legal norms, originating from different demands, defined this discipline in divergent modalities, confessional and non-confessional. Originating from the religious field, the conflict was installed in the educational field, with no prospect of a solution.

The Study of Catholic Church History in Zambia’s Past 50 Years

This article explores the trends that have characterised the study of Zambian Church history with specific reference to the history of the Roman Catholic Church in Zambia to commemorate the 50 years of existence of Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, a journal dedicated to themes of Church History and the history of Christianity within the African and South African context. Drawing on a qualitative case study research design that utilises document analysis, the article focuses on the scholars and major themes that have dominated the study of the history of the Roman Catholic Church in Zambia. It shows that the study of Roman Catholic Church history has been dominated by male Zambian scholars, with a few notable female scholars. The article further shows that the major themes that have preoccupied the scholarly focus on the history of the Roman Catholic Church range from its growth, Pentecostalism's influence, and Zambia’s declaration as a nation, enduring Catholic church engagement with the state to the church’s contribution to national development. The article argues that the scholars and the themes in Catholic Church history in Zambia point to the growth of church history as a field of study that requires sustained scholarly engagement.

Holy Infrastructures: Catholicism, Detroit Borderlands, and the Elements

Abstract Through an ethnographic rendering of the Catholic Church at the Detroit-Windsor borderland, this article foregrounds the ways elemental forces, including water, earth/soil, and air, form an interconnected entity that constitutes part of the theopolitical and religious scaffolding of Holy Infrastructures. We argue that the repetitive inscription of social and affective flows within an urban terrain generates infrastructure projects that contract forces of variable intensity into alliance or disjuncture. The interrelation of these forces as Holy Infrastructure, offers vital information on (dis/en)abling racialized forms of hosting and being hosted by the divine within urban settings, specifically as it pertains to theological labor at multiple scales. Indeed, we understand holiness in Catholic Detroit as a performative sovereignty of partition that mediates a desire for unbrokenness and spatiotemporal rapture. The topologies of Holy Infrastructure thus give rise to overlapping but divergent “wholes” within the racialized urban terrain, offering insight into the Church as a loose network of horizontal alliances that may enforce or subvert hierarchy. Our focus on elemental forces allows us to move beyond abstractions and focus on how theological projects take shape in physical space within an urban ecology. Indeed, Holy Infrastructures come into focus most clearly in relation to the intersection of theology with environmental, climatic, and territorial projects. By approaching Church and State as co-constitutive, we show how Holy Infrastructures offer insight into the racialized and gendered terrain of contemporary Detroit.

A Polish Patriot in Paris: Albert Sowiński, Essayist, Anthologist and Lexicographer

If there was one musician in mid-nineteenth-century Paris who diligently promoted Polish accomplishments, it was Albert Sowinski (Wojciech Sowiński). From his arrival in France in 1828 until his death in 1880, he championed the Polish cause as a performer, composer and scholar. Sowinski was a prolific writer, but with the exception of his Les musiciens polonais et slaves, anciens et modernes, Dictionnaire (1857), his studies of Polish repertoire rarely receive more than passing attention in modern scholarship. In this essay, I investigate Sowinski’s developing paradigms of Polish nationalism and Polish identity across the entirety of his major writings about and collections of Polish music: Chants polonais nationaux et populaires (1830), Chants de la révolution du 29 novembre 1830 (1830), Mélodies polonaises album lyrique (1833), ‘Chants populaires de l’Ukraine’ (1842), ‘De l’état actuel de la musique en Pologne’ (1842), Dictionnaire (1857) and Chants religieux de la Pologne, Op. 93 (1859). The four works from the 1830s, which focused on Polish folk music and revolutionary songs, were closely tied to Sowinski’s work with Léonard Chodzko (Leonard Chodźko) and his circle in Paris. Especially in the Chants polonais, Sowinski followed Chodzko and Joachim Lelewel in emphasising the exceptional geographic, linguistic and even ethnic diversity of the old Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, viewing this diversity as the basis for a glorious musical and political future. By contrast, in his critical writings of the 1840s, Sowinski interpreted Ukraine’s folk traditions as speaking largely to regional experience; he cast Warsaw and its musical institutions as the basis for a modern Polish musical identity. By the time of his Dictionnaire and Chants religieux de la Pologne, Sowinski de-emphasised Poland’s musical exceptionality in favour of delineating its long tradition of exchange with Western Europe, facilitated particularly through courts and the Roman Catholic Church.

The Reception of the Document on Human Fraternity for WorldPeace and Living Together in the Catholic Church

The Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together signed inAbu Dhabi on February 4, 2019 by His Holiness Pope Francis and the Grand Imam ofAl-Azhar Mosque, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, is something unprecedented. This document is a source of inspiration, and at the same time a huge challenge for many institutions, organizations, political and religious leaders. The article is devoted to the issue ofreception of this declaration in the Catholic Church. It is divided into two parts. In thefirst part two important ideas from the entire document are extracted and commented.In the second part the paper focuses on some elements related to the reception of thisdocument in the Catholic Church. According to some Catholic circles, by signing theDocument on Human Fraternity Pope Francis compromised the doctrine of the Catholic Church. In other circles of the Catholic Church, this document was highly appreciated. The critical presentation of the various reactions related to the reception of the Document on Human Fraternity ends with some personal comments and suggestions given by the Author of the article

Church-State Collaboration in Management of Catholic Church Sponsored Public Secondary Schools in Nandi County, Kenya

Church-State Collaboration in Management of Catholic Church Sponsored Public Secondary Schools in Nandi County, Kenya

Challenges of Church-State Collaborations in Management of Catholic Church Sponsored Public Secondary Schools in Nandi County, Kenya

Challenges of Church-State Collaborations in Management of Catholic Church Sponsored Public Secondary Schools in Nandi County, Kenya

‘For everything, the local priest is a helper in adversity’: Catholic clergy and the new order in post-Habsburg Tyrol

ABSTRACT Austrian North Tyrol – the northern part of the former Habsburg Crownland not occupied and annexed by Italy after the Great War – is often presented as a redoubt of tradition and religiosity, in which conservative powerbrokers and the Catholic Church easily wielded rural allegiances to their own ends. Such narratives, however, elide the substantial efforts necessary to maintain this system through periods of crisis. In this article, the author investigates how a key group of actors within the Catholic conservative elite – Roman Catholic parish priests – navigated one of these periods: the post-imperial transition. Identifying the Tyrolean clergy as a sub-elite that mediated between higher political elites and the wider population, the author uncovers how local resistance challenged the influence of the Church in the aftermath of the war. In response, priests led a Catholic offensive aimed at winning back their parishes and reaffirming the hierarchies that underlay conservative rule in Austrian Tyrol. Ultimately, through their multiple functions and role as mediators, Tyrolean parish clergy contributed in often-overlooked ways to shoring up Catholic conservative hegemony and extending it across the interwar period.

Opposition Attitudes of the Youth in the Polish People’s Republic

The main aim of this article is to discuss the opposition attitudes of the young people in the Polish People’s Republic (PRL). It is not a regular narrative. It is rather a review of selected phenomena, presented in several interlinked essays. The youth subcultures, underground organizations, some opposition attitudes (resistance, dissent and political opposition) and young people’s answer to the proposition of the Catholic Church were analysed in that work. Those attitudes were determined by the political, social and economic circumstances in the years 1945-1989, especially the lack of freedom of legal action outside of rulers’ control, the degree of integration within the regime and the relations of domination and subordination, as well as the associated with them level of frustration.

The Paradoxical Power of Vulnerability—What It Reveals about Abuse and Cover-Up

Researching the question of how the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), and by extension other institutional systems, respond or do not respond to the lived reality of abuse and its cover-up cannot be done without seeking to understand the underlying issue: What is the RCC responding (or not responding) to? One elucidating and perhaps surprising answer lies in the little and often misunderstood word vulnerability. Vulnerability, most probably counter-intuitively, has in fact the power to enhance violence or to reverse its destructive influence. This thought forms the basis for an exploration into what Professor Dr. Hildegund Keul has named the vulnerability and expenditure paradox. The logic in both of them seems understandable and straightforward. Yet, when genuinely understood, they are unsettling. They reveal an uncomfortable dilemma, a reality check and, ultimately, a choice as the paradox raises the rather earthly question: do we attempt to cheat death and therefore lose life, or do we opt for “creation through loss”? The first might, though linked to violence, lead to a feeling of security and invulnerability. The second exemplifies the passion of authentic suffering, humility and identity dependence. From a Christian perspective, it is the incarnation of love.

Visions of peace: Exploring how Scottish youth understand and define peace

AbstractIn this article, we report on a study that explored how young people in Scotland understand and define peace. A total of 59 young people aged 12–18, from three schools (independent, state Roman Catholic, and state non-denominational) participated in this study. The young people were asked to participate in a peace data walk and, after that, to draw or paint pictures of what peace means for them in their local community and beyond. We utilize a combination of Personal Meaning Mapping, visual content analytic procedures, and visual art coding scheme to analyse the pictures. We drew on Critical Peace Education as an overarching framework to approach data collection and on the Peace Education Curricular Analysis framework to examine the presence of positive peace elements in youth drawings/paintings. Previous research in different contexts suggests that youth find it difficult to conceptualize peace, whereas it appears to be easy to explain war and negative peace (i.e., absence of war). Previous research conducted in Scotland showed that the curriculum focused on the element of wellbeing, with many other positive peace elements being either absent or not well represented. By contrast, youth in our study showed a strong understanding of positive peace, with a particular emphasis on the following facets: peace zone, eco mind, wellbeing, peace bond, and social justice. In our conclusion, we discuss these findings in relation to Scottish education policies and ways of capitalizing on this method of engagement and overall findings to support youth learning about peace.

Performing heritage at Cordoba’s Mosque-Cathedral

ABSTRACT This article explores the politics of cultural heritage in societies experiencing secularization and religious diversification by examining recent efforts made by Cordoba's Cathedral Chapter to emphasize the Christian origins and identity of the iconic Mosque-Cathedral. We argue that the Cathedral Chapter’s approach to managing and narrating the building over the past two decades responds largely to tensions stemming from the divergence between the primacy of its Islamic or multi-religious identity characteristic of popular representations of the building, both within Spain and beyond, on the one hand, and the primacy of the building’s Christian identity as manifested in the institutional arrangements concerning its ownership, management, and use, on the other. While this divergence has been a source of periodic tensions since the 1970s, such tensions have been amplified by recent symbolic acts and popular movements contesting the Church’s dominion over the Mosque-Cathedral, as well as by broader societal changes that have diminished the Church’s power and influence and heightened its sense of vulnerability. We identify and analyse four main strategies employed by the Catholic Church to (re)narrate the meaning of the building and assert its Christian roots and identity: (1) archaeological projects attempting to demonstrate its Christian foundations; (2) liturgical practices presenting it as a church to establish its Christian identity; (3) discursive practices framing Catholic traditions and rituals as ‘intangible heritage’ crucial to the building's successful preservation; and (4) the unconditional prohibition of Muslims from performing Islamic prayers. In our research, we have focused on the utilization of museological methods and the interweaving of diverse repertoires (scientific, artistic, religious), by Catholic actors, aimed authenticating and validating novel interpretations about the origin and Christian character of the building.

Overcoming the Patronage System: Propaganda Fide and Its Portuguese Patronage Documents on China in the Early Modern Period

From its foundation in 1622, the Congregation de Propaganda Fide held supreme jurisdiction over all missionary activities of the Catholic Church at the global level, with authority coming directly from the pope. Its main goals were the expansion of the Catholic faith, the reaffirmation of papal spiritual primacy, and the promotion of Indigenous clergy throughout the world, which put Propaganda Fide in direct competition with secular rulers who also wanted to control missionary activities in their overseas territories. This article will examine one such conflict, namely that regarding Portugal and its royal patronage system in China. The Historical Archive of Propaganda Fide in the Vatican City holds extensive material concerning Portuguese patronage and China, which has remained relatively unknown and understudied. Through an examination of several of the most significant documents, such as the formal terms sent by the Portuguese court to the Holy See, the response of Propaganda Fide, and the final declaration of the Holy See, which would become the cornerstone for all future decisions over the patronage system, it is suggested that these negotiations about China are in fact central to a wider shift in global Catholic policy and politics in the field of missionary activity.

Faith, Climate, and Energy Frugality: Unravelling the Nexus in European Perspectives

This study explores the relationship between religious beliefs, perceptions of climate change, and preferences for energy frugality in Europe using data from the November 2023 European Social Survey across 22 countries. The research reveals a predominant inclination toward median values in addressing climate change, with subtle variations based on levels of religiosity. Lower religiosity tends to be associated with a nuanced attribution of climate change to human activity. There is a complex interplay between religiosity and the perception of personal responsibility in mitigating climate change, indicating some polarisation but an overall increasing sense of accountability. Religious affiliations show distinct attitudes, with Protestants more inclined to attribute climate change to human causes. Roman Catholics are closer to some Protestants, while other Christian denominations exhibit flexibility and common ground with Islam and Judaism. However, it is concluded that demographics and political alignment play a more pivotal role compared to religiosity levels or religious denominations.

The inclusive potential of synodality: Pope Francis, merciful discernment, and a validity of a kind

ABSTRACT This paper explores Pope Francis’ vision of synodality, fundamentally underpinned by his commitment to mercy through discernment, to underscore certain grounds for the pastoral inclusion of the gay community, in particular same-sex couples, within the Catholic Church. This paper identifies the bases of Church tradition on the subject and identifies questions that have surfaced, both prior and during, the XVI Ordinary Synod of Bishops. This paper focuses on Francis’ treatment of synodality, through an exploration of the methods of his discernment and his gospel driven propensity toward mercy to those on the margins of society. These elements contribute to a vision of a validity of a kind which, when understood in light of Amoris laetitia, holds the potential for gay inclusion. The Synod of Bishops is further held as the platform of synodality regarding controversial issues, due to its reflection of the wider, universal Church.

Catholic Diocesan and Religious Priests’ Perceptions of Social Support from Their Fellow Priests, Bishops, and Religious Superiors

In the wake of the clergy sexual abuse crisis in 2002, the Catholic Church underwent a tectonic shift that affected the well-being of priests and the relationship between bishops and priests. The present study aims to understand how Catholic priests perceive social support from both their fellow priests and their episcopal leaders nearly 20 years after the crisis’ wake as it could potentially have significant implications for the well-being of priests. The data gathered for this article is from in-depth interviews with U.S. Catholic priests ( N = 104) including both diocesan ( n = 70) and religious priests ( n = 34). This article explores the question “How do Catholic diocesan and religious priests perceive support, or lack thereof, from their fellow priests and their bishop or superior?” Our analysis examines the presence as well as absence of vertical and horizontal support among diocesan and religious priests. By further understanding how priests experience social support from those in their organization, we can cultivate better avenues of support for Catholic priests that are specific to their needs and desires which could potentially improve their overall well-being. Some practical implications of this study are discussed which could help aid Catholic leaders and formators in nurturing these kinds of support structures.