Catholic Life Research Articles

Three Shanghai General Meetings and Catholic Publishing in the First Half of the Twentieth Century

The Catholic publishing undertaking in China experienced significant growth in the first half of the twentieth century, both in the scale and in the form of organization. This effort’s importance is twofold: for the Church in China back then, publications facilitated communications both inside and outside the Church; for researchers today, these files contain a vast amount of information on Catholic life, valuable for the enrichment of historical understanding. This paper uncovers the internal driving mechanism of this process through three Shanghai general meetings: the Plenary Council in 1924, the All-China General Congress of Catholic Action in 1935 and the Catholic Press Convention in 1947. The co-ordination fostered by these meetings generated resilience and efficiency for publishing activities allowing them to be sustained and to prosper during an unsettling period. The Council heralded cross-congregational and cross-national co-operation by standardizing publishing practices and forming designated central organizations. Inheriting these guidelines, Catholic journalist delegates of the Catholic Action Congress in 1935 gathered to discuss practical methods, leading to a proliferation of Catholic publications. Despite setbacks during the Sino-Japanese War, Catholic publishing quickly resumed following the Press Convention held in 1947, which reinforced collaboration regardless of affiliations through a central organization. The three general meetings not only showcase the historical trajectory of Catholic publishing, but also the constant endeavor to bridge gaps between communities.

The use of song in RE and worship for spiritual development and wellbeing of pupils aged 7–11 in Catholic schools

This research reports an exploratory study of the use of song in religious education and worship (REW) with pupils aged 7–11. The study examined the use of three aspects of song pertaining to composition, understanding and prayer, and how these could be impactful in pupils’ spiritual development and wellbeing (SDW). This case study research was undertaken in two Catholic primary schools in London with pupils and teachers from all key stage two (KS2) classes. In total, 17 individual and group semi-structured interviews were conducted with 54 participants and this data was combined with that from 207 surveys. The literature review looks at the benefits of music on the individual and school community and then explores spirituality so that a conceptual framework is created. Research indicated that song was effective in developing pupils’ SDW as it enhanced connectivity with God, Others, Self, Cosmos and Social Action. The findings of the research offer possible ways forward for the use of song in RE for the promotion of spiritual growth as well as the Catholic life and mission of the school.

John Paul II and Opposition Activities in Soviet Bloc Countries

The purpose of this article is to present the role of Pope John Paul II in the overthrow of the Communist system in Central Europe based primarily on the scientific literature on the subject and the published documents. The author’s attention is focused, for obvious reasons, on Poland, as well as on neighbouring countries with a significant number of Catholics within their borders: Czechoslovakia, Hungary and the Republic of Lithuania within the Soviet Union. John Paul II’s visit to the People’s Republic of Poland on 2–10 June 1979 went down in history as “nine days that changed the world”. The pilgrimage was the catalyst for changes in social awareness in Poland, leading to the creation of Solidarity in 1980. In the following years, the pope sustained the spirit of resistance in Polish society during the harsh period of martial law and beyond. Under his inspiration, the church played a mediating role in the 1989 Round Table talks between the authorities and the opposition. The election of Karol Wojtyła, a cardinal from a neighbouring country, and the subsequent activities of the new pope had a profound impact on the revival of the religious life of Catholics in Czechoslovakia and Lithuania. Breaking the barrier of fear resulted in more substantial involvement of Catholics in opposition activities. The revival of the Church in Hungary was less successful, but the personality and teaching of John Paul II encouraged Catholics in that country, too, in opposition activities against the Communist regime.

The Actuality of Impulses, Perceptions, Manipulations and Solutions in Social Interactions among Diverse Religious Groups

This research aims to understand residents' efforts to live their daily lives and establish social relationships with individuals of different religious beliefs, as well as to explore the formation of individual concepts and thoughts in interacting with their environment. In this context, differences in religion or belief can create social interactions that are associative or dissociative in nature. The authors will answer related questions, patterns of social interaction, impulses, perceptions, manipulation of individuals in social interactions, and the resolution of final actions regarding religious differences in the Sirnagalih sub-district, Indihiang, Tasikmalaya City. This research uses qualitative research with field methods and uses a sociology of religion approach. The results of the research show that social interaction between religious communities in the Sirnagalih sub-district, Indihiang sub-district, Tasikmalaya City occurs in an associative (unification) pattern where mutually beneficial interactions occur between individuals and each other between Muslims, Protestants and Catholics. The social processes that occur in the daily lives of Muslims, Protestants and Catholics, prioritize aspects of togetherness and harmony based on common or shared interests. The emergence of a slight dispute in the process of social interaction among citizens can be resolved immediately by involving a third party, namely the local government, by prioritizing forms of interaction in accommodation, namely mediation, compromise and tolerance.

American Pilgrimage: A Historical Journey Through Catholic Life in a New World by Christopher Shannon (review)

American Pilgrimage: A Historical Journey Through Catholic Life in a New World by Christopher Shannon (review)

A Theresian Moment: French Catholics and the Spirituality of the Ordinary in the 1930s*

The subject of this article is the lived religion of lay Catholics devoted to the woman described as one of the greatest saints of the modern era, Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, known as Thérèse of Lisieux (1873–1897). It draws on letters written to the Lisieux Carmel in Normandy at the time of the Munich crisis in 1938. Much scholarship on the laity in the interwar years concerns itself with renewal and militancy in the public sphere. By contrast, the body of evidence at hand provides insights into continuities in established forms of devotion and into the religious thinking of the kinds of believers about whom we know relatively little. I argue that Catholics influenced by Thérèse's teachings, notably the “Little Way” and her “Spirituality of the Ordinary,” modelled the saint's destabilisation of the active/contemplative (or public/private) dichotomy. The letters reveal the entanglement of the spiritual and the secular in the lives of ordinary Catholics and how, after Thérèse, they participated in the Christian animation of society beyond the home. In their writing we also see evidence of the correspondents' attachment to the universal Church when they felt, acutely, the uncertainties of the international situation.

Catholic Thought and Catholic Action: Scenes from Australian Catholic Life by James Franklin (review)

Catholic Thought and Catholic Action: Scenes from Australian Catholic Life by James Franklin (review)

The Role of Catholic Life Formation in Fostering Sustainable Environmental Attitudes among Selected Filipino SHS Students

A relevant Religious Education needs to confront the life-threatening global issues humanity faces today. The present study investigates how Catholic Life Formation (CLF) through religious instruction may predict environmental attitudes among students in Cebu City, Philippines. This study analyzes how the following variables may influence Christian environmentalism: students’ reception of CLF inputs, Catholic Social Teachings (CST) perceptions, and students’ beliefs and environmental responses (STB) from a sample of 491 Grade 12 SH students of a private university in Cebu, Philippines. This descriptive quantitative survey used ordinal logistic regression to test our model. We adopted a two-step procedure to gather data: First, an open-ended interview was used to tease the themes and viewpoints of students. Second, incorporating the qualitative output from the interviews, a survey was conducted using a researcher-made self-report paired with the Christian Environmentalism Scale (CES) to describe student attitudes toward the environment. The findings are discussed with respect to Religious Education and CLF environmental advocacy.

생태 위기의 시대적 요청에 응답하는 한국가톨릭교회의 현실 진단과 신자 재교육 방향성 모색: 세계 시민교육(Global Citizenship Education)과의 접목을 통해서

[Objective] This study explores the direction of re-education of the faithful in the Korean Catholic Church, integrating global citizenship education in response to the contemporary demands of the ecological crisis.
 [Contents] This study first diagnoses the reality of the re-education of the faithful in the Church through data such as the ‘Statistical Analysis Report of the Korean Catholic Church’ and ‘Religious Consciousness and Faith Life of Catholics’, analyzes the practice of Pope Francis’ ecological theology and the response to the ecological crisis of the Korean Catholic Church, and proposes the idea of transforming the existing re-education of the faithful into a model of Catholic global citizenship education that revives the call of the times.
 [Conclusions] The re-education in front-line parishes must be a lifelong education for cultivating global citizenship(“Catholic civic education”) at the social and ecological levels, where the common consensus(“Synodalitas”) is realized through mutual learning. To achieve this, Catholic civic education should be actively utilized through various organizations and committees that engage in ecological environmental movements inside and outside the Church.

Ano te mahara e reka, how sweet the memory: The changing remembrance of Bishop Jean‐Baptiste François Pompallier in the Twentieth Century*

In 2001, Catholic pilgrims, led by Māori priest Henare Tate, travelled to France to exhume the remains of Jean‐Baptiste François Pompallier (1821–1872), the first Catholic Bishop of Aotearoa New Zealand. Placed in a lead‐lined coffin, the remains were taken back to New Zealand and laid to rest in Motuti, Hokianga. The interment — 131 years after Pompallier's death — marked the end of an extraordinary renovation of the Bishop as a historical figure, shaped by the tides of Māori and non‐Māori Catholic life, and fulfilling, it seemed, a sentiment expressed in this memorial song which Pompallier himself had composed as a parting gift to his Katorika (Catholic) faithful: “Ano te mahara e reka/a ki nga motu o Nuitireni i/sweet is the memory I hold/for the islands of New Zealand.” This article explores the shifting remembrance of Pompallier that underpinned the repatriation and its legacy for New Zealand Catholic communities, especially Hokianga Māori. Three interrelated themes emerge: locally, Hokianga as a foundational place of Māori Catholicism, and the institutional remembrance of Pompallier as the apostolic Bishop of Auckland; and, globally, the reshaping of collective memories in the theological and social changes of the Catholic Church.

Życie religijne katolików obrządku łacińskiego na Ukrainie sowieckiej w latach 1953–1964

This article is an attempt to present the religious life of Latin-rite Catholics in Ukraine in the years 1953–1964 as well as to present the policy of the Soviet authorities towards the Roman Catholic Church. The structure of the publication consists of five chapters. The first chapter presents the situation of the Latin Church in Ukraine against the background of the socio-political changes in the Soviet state that followed the death of Joseph Stalin. The second chapter presents the specificity of pastoral work in Soviet Ukraine. The third chapter presents the participation of the faithful in the sacramental life. The fourth chapter is devoted to one of the most important forms of the prayer life of Catholics in the USSR, which was „liturgies without a priest”. The last, fifth chapter presents the activities of secular associations, which in turn, despite numerous restrictions by the state authorities, have had a significant impact on the preservation of identity and religious practices and the transfer of the link of faith to younger generations.

MENGKAJI PEMAHAMAN UMAT TENTANG LITURGI SABDA DALAM PERAYAAN EKARISTI DI PAROKI SANTO YOSEPH NAIKOTEN KEUSKUPAN AGUNG KUPANG

The celebration of the Eucharist is central to all Catholic life. There are four parts to the celebration of the Eucharist: the Opening Rites, the Liturgy of the Word, the Liturgy of the Eucharist, and the Closing Rites. In the Liturgy of the Word there are readings of Scripture, psalms, homilies and prayers of the people. People believe that Christ Himself speaks through His Word. In this research the author uses a qualitative research method using content analysis in which problems or findings in the field are verified with empirical data. Researchers use a descriptive level of explanation, so that they hear more input from informants as a data source in order to find the root of the problem. The results of this research show that the people do not properly appreciate the celebration of the liturgy of the Word because the main inhibiting factor is the absence of catechesis or socialization about the Liturgy of the Word and also the lack of awareness within the people about the Liturgy of the Word in the Eucharist Celebration. So, from the results of this research, it is hoped that the parish can provide outreach regarding the liturgy of the Word for the people.

Religious life of greek catholics of Halychyna and Transcarpathia under conditions of soviet totalitarian system (mid 1940s - mid 1960s)

Religious life of greek catholics of Halychyna and Transcarpathia under conditions of soviet totalitarian system (mid 1940s - mid 1960s)

Observations on Belonging and Brotherhood in All-Male Catholic Schools

Abstract “Brotherhood” is used for marketing all-male Catholic schools and is often synonymously with “belonging.” This article examines those terms from three perspectives—the academic literature, the students’ views, and the views of faculty and staff—to define them. Regarding school, belonging can be defined as being affiliated with the institution, being personally accepted, respected, and included in the social environment. In Catholic schools, belonging is fostered through religion classes, religious art, statues, crucifixes, and displays of student work that illustrate beliefs and practices of the Catholic life, as well as social justice projects. The elements of brotherhood are a shared experience that unites the members and is consistent with the values of the group, group members caring about each other with a desire to see the members of the group succeed, and members taking responsibility for the group and making sacrifices when necessary.

Beheading the Hydra: Antonio Castelvetro, The Congregation of the Index, and an Imagined Future for Print Censorship

In 1587, Antonio Castelvetro, a little-known physician from a well-known Modenese family, circulated a manuscript treatise that proposed a radical new vision for a Catholic press and a reformed system of press censorship: The Brief Treatise on the Reform of the Press (Trattato breve sopra la riforma della stampa). Historians have typically treated this text with a combination of amusement and outright ridicule, but this essay explains the ways that Castelvetro’s text captured a particular ethos of expertise and reform at the end of the sixteenth century in Italy. Although never implemented, Castelvetro’s treatise represents a moment of creative tactics in confrontation with the hydra of print. Censorship lay firmly within the project of the Counter-Reformation—a response directed at undermining and controlling the immediate and long-term effects of religious upheaval across Europe. However, systemic solutions to managing the press were part of the creative process of Catholic Reform. As Castelvetro’s treatise shows, some of these suggestions were more far-fetched and self-aggrandizing than others, but each contributed to a flourishing landscape of ideas aimed at combatting heresy and restructuring Catholic life.

Cosmic anthropological perspective and panentheism on the peripheral pious exercises within popular Filipino religiosity

Within various expressions of Filipino popular religiosity are found different peripheral pious exercises. Specifically, they are acts of the piety of the people rendered commonly on religious images, such as touching, caressing, wiping, embracing, and kissing them. These pious actions of the people elicited great objection and even condemnation from other people with different religious orientations. From this context, this research was conducted. It intended to present a different perspective on the peripheral pious exercises of the people within popular religiosity expressions. By applying Ferdinand de Saussure’s dyadic model of sign analysis on collected digital images, layers of meaning about the acts of piety were formed. The semiotic results were translated into deeper but relevant meaning using as a lens cosmic anthropological principle. The peripheral pious exercises were recognized as the unconscious expressions of the panentheistic view of the people. They are expressions of wayless way spirituality that is considered beneficial for progress in the spiritual life of Filipino Catholics. They affirm the very idea that God is found in one’s ordinary life of the believers. They are behavioral symbols identified with and shared by the common people within the Catholic tradition and made Catholic culture more vibrant, colorful, and transformational which affects the inner and outer lives of the ordinary Catholics. They too are expressions of the concept of hiyang that creates some sort of harmony and integration between humans and the divine, which led people to acknowledge their place in the cosmic social order, and that they need to express something to someone whom they can have complete harmony with, God. Finally, they can be regarded as behavioral affirmations of what is naturally true at the quantum level, the interconnectedness of the physical and the metaphysical.

“I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of thy house’: Magnificence and Catholic Architecture in Ireland, 1850–1900

Abstract This article explores the deliberate invocation and communication of ideas of ‘magnificence’ by Catholic building projects across Ireland between 1850 and 1900. Through an analysis of the rhetoric and discourse surrounding the construction of three case studies in Tipperary, Limerick, and Armagh, the article identifies shared concerns with articulating architectural magnificence through drawing attention to the site, on architectural detail and formal style, and the high quality of building materials. This emphasis on magnificence is examined in terms of the need to justify and legitimate expansive and expensive building and re-building projects, which often relied heavily on fundraising from communities already under financial pressure. The symbolic importance of magnificence is also explored in the context of the increased focus on the church as the central location of Catholic life and worship in the second half of the nineteenth century. Finally, the decision by Catholics to invest in magnificent architectural styles that referenced the medieval cathedrals of France and the classical grandeur of Catholic Rome is repositioned. Rather that framing this as a diffuse architectural eclecticism, the use of these diverse historical exemplars is considered as part of the need to rebuild a ruptured Catholic architectural traditional in Ireland, and to create an architectural identity that expressed triumph over past adversity, as well as confidence in Ireland’s role in spreading the Catholic faith around the world.

ESENSI PASTORAL SEKOLAH DALAM MEMBANGUN KOMUNITAS KRISTIANI DI SEKOLAH KATOLIK

School pastoral is an activity that aims to develop, improve and foster the faithful life of Catholics in the school environment. So through the school pastoral, it is hoped that the Christian community in the school environment will really be realized. Christian community is a fellowship whose members believe in Jesus Christ and are able to realize the teachings of Jesus Christ in their lives. Writing this scientific article aims to answer several main questions related to the relationship between pastoral schools, Christian communities and Catholic schools, these questions include: What is the essence of school pastoralism in building Christian communities in Catholic schools? Is the pastoral essence of the school in line with the idea of ​​administering a Catholic school in accordance with the vision and mission of the Church? How is the division of tasks and responsibilities so that the pastoral school can run well? Based on the analysis and discussion, it can be concluded that school pastoral is an essential program that is really effective in efforts to build a Christian community in Catholic schools. In addition, looking at the pastoral goals of schools and the goals of Catholic schools, it can also be concluded that the pastoral essence of schools is also in line with the idea of ​​organizing Catholic schools in accordance with the vision and mission of the Church. In realizing a good and effective school pastoral, there needs to be cooperation between the school, parents of students and the Church. This concerns promotive tasks, facilitative tasks, and executive tasks.

"As we contemplate our future": Fiscal Responsibility, Archdiocesan Authority, and Race in Philadelphia's 1993 Parish Closures

Several studies have examined Catholic parish and school closures in U.S. dioceses at the turn of the twenty-first century, arguing that conflicts surrounding these decisions reflected tensions between diocesan institutional authority and parochial autonomy. This article extends the study of these tensions from the immediate conflict surrounding the 1993 parish and school closures in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to the development and implementation of closure as part of Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua and the archdiocesan administration's larger strategic plan. It pays particular attention to how Catholic Life 2000, a major capital campaign initiated in 1991, shaped the bureaucratic grammar of archdiocesan authority and parish fiscal responsibility the archdiocese later used to justify the 1993 closures. Contestations over this grammar began with the campaign's implementation and exploded into conflict during the closures.

The Radical Transcendence of Black Catholic Life

The Radical Transcendence of Black Catholic Life