Catholic Research Articles

The Catholic Church and Its Hospitals

In this conversation from a recent episode of SoundPractice, the discussion focuses on Patricia Gabow’s book *The Catholic Church and Its Hospitals: A Marriage Made in Heaven?*. We delve into the role of bishops and Ethical and Religious Directives (ERDs) in shaping policies within the Catholic health system. We reveal surprising statistics about the reach and influence of Catholic healthcare and discuss the implications for patient care and physician understanding, especially regarding reproductive and end-of-life care. Gabow’s book also addresses considerations for the Catholic health system’s return to mission fidelity.

Engendering a Future for the Catholic Church

The future of women in the Catholic Church, and indeed of the Church itself, is a point of heated contention. This article explores how the climate emergency is causing Catholics not only to reposition the human subject in relation to the natural world, but to re-evaluate and redefine the nature of the actors within it. Within this emerging sphere of Catholic environmentalism, institutional priorities have been slowly reconfigured, allowing arguments for greater liturgical inclusivity to resurface in novel ways. This process has been particularly pronounced in the Church of Latin America, where questions of sex and gender have become more polarized than ever.

Appalachia - Bridging the Opioid Epidemic Amid the Fentanyl Crisis.

Although the opioid epidemic and fentanyl crisis are nationwide problems of immense proportions, calming the storm raging across the isolating geo-economic framework of Appalachia demonstrates the need for courageous, culturally effective programs that have the power to address and overcome the grave situation of addiction in this region. In the Appalachian region, unjust social structures are embedded in the communities' socio-economic conditions. As this reality poses even greater barriers to addressing the opioid epidemic in these communities, the restoration of social relationships within a community becomes vital to the development of a broader approach to social functioning and human flourishing. Faith traditions and faith communities can play an important role in helping to establish and support such social cohesion through attention to the individual, social, and spiritual needs of the community. This essay explores the complex problem of the opioid epidemic compounded by the fentanyl crisis. It considers the importance of public health research within the regional geo-economic framework of Appalachia to (a) inform policies that improve health inequities and promote social cohesion, (b) develop social solutions with a spiritual dimension, and (c) reveal remedies capable of informing moral norms in support of building a more just society. Reflecting on the virtue of solidarity, this essay also highlights the witness of the Catholic Church's response to the suffering experienced within the communities and the societies within the Appalachian mountains. While there may be considerable interest in viewing this article as a research document, foundationally, this essay utilizes a literary narrative approach through a Catholic lens to inform ethical deliberations, reasoning, and practice while supporting ethical reflection and consideration of the responses raised. Further, the reader is strongly encouraged to reference the comprehensive footnote system provided for extension and verification of the data presented.

Dimensi Kemanusiaan Seorang Imam: Tinjauan Etika Kebajikan Kristian

The reality of scandals involving priests in the Catholic Church has recently caused deep wounds to the Church. This fact also requires the Church to pay serious attention to the human formation of her priests. This study aims to retrace the human qualities of a priest that can contribute to the development of virtues necessary in his vocation and priestly ministry. By utilizing an analytical study of texts and various official Church documents, the authors seek to bring to the fore the main qualities that the Church requires and expects from a priest. As a result, firstly, the author finds that there is a correlation between the personal qualities of a priest and the development of the virtues required in the vocation and ministry of the priesthood. Secondly, the study also found that it is important for these human qualities to be shaped during the process of formation throughout life, so that they become virtues that are deeply rooted in a priest and his ministry.

How does the Dramatic Theology Approach to Purgatory Contribute to the Idea of Merciful Justice in the Case of Sexual Abuse in the Church?

In cases of serious and complex sexual abuse, the exercise of mercy raises serious controversies and problems regarding the justice that victims of sexual violence deserve. Merciful justice is the idea that under certain conditions it is justified to exercise mercy to the extent that it does more good than harm and does not cause injustice to the victim. Restorative justice, forgiveness, and reconciliation are conditions that allow for the exercise of merciful justice in cases of sexual abuse. Merciful justice is possible in sexual abuse cases when all three conditions are achieved (through long, complicated, and arduous stages and processes). This article offers the idea that the Dramatic Theology approach to purgatory helps to deepen the idea of merciful justice in specific cases of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Keywords: Merciful Justice, Dramatic Theology, Purgatory, Restorative Justice, Forgiveness, Reconciliation.

Acoustics in Baroque Catholic Church Spaces

After the Council of Trent (1545–1563), the Catholic Church undertook a profound renovation, which affected the spatial configuration of the churches to adjust to the spirit of the Counter-Reformation. The acoustic cultural heritage in these spaces have been studied by different researchers, proposing the joint analysis of 66 Catholic churches from the Baroque period. This study delves into the global characterisation of the sample and establishes correlations between geometric and acoustic parameters. From the acoustic analysis, it is clear that the central floor typology, as opposed to Latin cross churches, presents better average values of musical clarity in relation to their volume. The analysis of the relationship between acoustic and geometric parameters, when the sample of churches is discriminated by typology, allows for the establishment of appropriate correlations for Latin cross floor plans, single naves and basilicas, but not when the analysis is carried out for the entire sample. These correlations are a tool that allows us to evaluate acoustic parameters not measured in situ in Catholic churches of the Baroque period in a predictive way as a function of other measured acoustic or geometric parameters.

Gereja Katolik dan Pengentasan Pengangguran Pemuda di Era Bonus Demografi

Youth unemployment in Indonesia remains notably high at 9.25%, posing a potential threat to the optimal utilization of the demographic dividend anticipated to peak by 2030. This research seeks to explore how the Catholic Church can contribute to addressing youth unemployment during this critical period. By employing the theoretical framework of Catholic social teaching—focusing on the principles of human dignity, solidarity, and integral justice—the study examines the Church's role, potential, and concrete opportunities in mitigating youth unemployment, and provides recommendations for key programs. A qualitative approach is used, involving a literature review of Catholic social teaching documents and analysis of secondary data. The study's findings suggest that the Catholic Church holds strategic potential through its extensive network of parishes and institutions to assist in resolving the youth unemployment issue. Suggested priority programs include skills training, educational scholarships, job fairs, the establishment of youth empowerment institutions, vocational schools, research centers, and business incubators. Effective cross-sector collaboration is crucial to ensuring that these Church-initiated programs function efficiently and offer long- term benefits to Indonesian youth, helping them seize the opportunities presented by the 2030 demographic bonus. This research adds to the understanding of the potential contributions of religious institutions in addressing contemporary socio-economic challenges and opens avenues for further study on the intersection of religion, public policy, and economic development within the framework of Indonesia‘s demographic dividend.

Book Review: "Building Catholic Churches in Hong Kong: Stories of the laity and living faith" by Ayako Fukushima

Book Review: "Building Catholic Churches in Hong Kong: Stories of the laity and living faith" by Ayako Fukushima

Existencia y representación política en el maestro

The document seeks to introduce the problematization of political representation, placing elements of existential order in the lives of teachers. In the section, titled: Searching for the memory of the political representation of teachers, the idea of ​​memory is developed with some references to the teaching of the Catholic Church in statements about the work of teachers and education. The following section entitled Educational everyday life and soteriological meanings aims to give continuity to the problem of memory and the political and existential representation of the teacher from a patristic anchor evocatively inspired by the work of the doctor of the church, Saint Maximus the Confessor. The last part and the conclusions situate the problem and the purpose of the necessary inclusion of narrative forms that truly allow man to emancipate himself from the yoke of Leviathan. The work ventures into the realms of exploration through symbols that have been eroded by modernity. It outlines an archeology of knowledge about elements of educational knowledge from a Christian conception that today is foreign to many modern spirits given the metaphysical crisis and catastrophe that marks our post-modern and neoliberal educational experience, very foreign even to the libertarian mentality of our school teachers. like Fernando González, and whose epigraph captured in the year 1941 in his book The School Teacher has served us to introduce this document.

Religion, politics and war: Recollections on General Ndaya and Kenya’s quest for independence

The mosaic law of advocating the paying of life with life, and an “eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, [and] stripe for stripe” (Exodus 21:23-25), came out clearly on 15th and 16th October 1953, as the politics of land and freedom [wiyathi na ithaka] in the colonial Kenya brought their ugly faces through a deadly violence. While the 15th October saw the Mau Mau rebels attack and kill two Roman Catholic Sisters (Cecilia Wangeci and Rosetta Njeri) at the Baricho Centre, the 16th October 1953 saw the capture of the rebel’s leader (Wanjagi wa Ndegwa, also known as General Ndaya) and his subsequent killing. In trying to understand the interface between religion, politics, and war in the African context, the research article has sampled the twin issues (the battle of River Ragati and the attacks on the Baricho Catholic Church of 1953)to alert the post-colonial Africa on the dangers of conflict among the trio.Contribution: This research article contributes to the broad scope of Theologia Viatorum journal via a multidisciplinary perspective that interfaces religion, politics, and war. It utilises a theo-historical design, and oral history techniques, such as storytelling, archival sources, personal communications with selected individuals, and through an extensive review of relevant literature.

Modes of Mindfulness in Post-Catholic Ireland

The Republic of Ireland has undergone a seismic religious and social transformation in recent decades. Through the processes of secularization and detraditionalization, as well as several major scandals within the Irish Catholic Church, irreligiosity has become an increasing reality in terms of the hitherto overwhelmingly Catholic population. At a time of spiritual climate change in this post-Catholic Ireland, the contemporary phenomenon of mindfulness has exploded in popularity across various elements of society. Against this backdrop, three distinctive modes or strands of mindfulness are proposed as being operative in the Irish context, each catering to the needs of different practitioners. The proposed modes include psychological and clinical mindfulness and commodified and post-secular spirituality. Within the lacuna created by the receding of Catholic belief and practice, the emergence of mindfulness in the Irish context is explored, mapping how this originally Buddhist practice has gained such a foothold in contemporary spiritual discourse.

Listening in Stereo and Communicating in Semaphore: Child Sexual Abuse Survivor-Led Strategies for Culture Change in the Catholic Church

This expository piece, focusing on a grassroots movement called LOUDfence to address child sexual abuse in religious settings, explores the ways in which the symbolic activity of tying ribbons to church fences offers an active and adaptable listening strategy for giving visibility and voice to survivors and survivor-allies. Working through signs, symbols, embodied actions, and ecclesial metaphors, it offers a methodology and mode for creative, trauma-informed, and lay-led cultural change in Catholic and Anglican church contexts.

Beyond Synodal Listening: Theological Action Research and Cultures of Conversation

In the contemporary Catholic Church’s engagement with synodality listening has become the dominant emphasis; methods for “spiritual conversation” are designed to give priority to listening—to one another and, fundamentally, the Holy Spirit. This paper offers some critiques of this emphasis and seeks to explore conversation as the synodal fundamental. Conversation overly controlled by listening is, I argue, susceptible to subtle and unhelpful power dynamics. “Ordinary conversation”—interruptive, informal, spontaneous, and not always polite—has its own theological significance and must also find its place in a truly synodal church. Drawing on extensive experience of theological action research and insights from systems theory, the paper sets out why such “ordinary conversation,” distinct from what might be seen as “formal listening,” is ecclesiologically essential for a full realisation of church. By way of conclusion, key themes are identified whose development is needed for the further enrichment of synodal processes through attention to ordinary conversation.

Asking to Listen: Engaging Social Scientific Methods as a Listening Practice in Global Catholicism

Asking enables listening. This paper explores how the practice of asking, when enacted as an intentional social scientific process, can facilitate the synodal value of listening across the global Catholic Church. Drawing upon social science methodologies and evidence, it demonstrates that effective listening is not merely passive reception but proactive invitation to engage diverse or silenced perspectives. Systematic asking incorporates everyday people and experiences otherwise overlooked and creates space for difficult topics. Seeing listening as a practice of asking underscores the value of setting rules for engagement that promote a posture of reception that fosters trust and openness through humility, curiosity, and willingness to step into worlds different from one’s own. Embracing this mutual approach can prompt a more inclusive synodal process, enhancing the church’s ability to engage meaningfully with all in its midst.

Research-Based Practices to Engage Youth in a Vibrant Catholic Church: The Case for Implementing Sacred Listening Practices

This article explores the theological and practical implications of Sacred Listening, a concept developed in response to the Synod on Synodality initiated by Pope Francis. The Synod emphasizes the church’s call to a more relational and participatory ecclesial life, rooted in listening, dialogue, and accompaniment. Sacred Listening is proposed as a theologically grounded practice designed to rebuild trust and foster deeper connections within the faith community, particularly in a low-trust environment. Drawing on the theological principles of Imago Dei, as well as contemporary social science research, the article presents Sacred Listening as a means to move beyond traditional modes of institutional authority toward relational trust and authentic engagement. The article further introduces practical tools that operationalize these principles, providing concrete strategies for religious leaders to engage with their communities more effectively. This work contributes to the ongoing theological discourse on synodality and offers a framework for creating a more inclusive and responsive church in today’s complex social landscape.

Cathedrals as Instruments of Influence on Public Consciousness in Medieval Western Europe (10th-16th Centuries)

This study explores the functional impact of Christian cathedrals in Western Europe on medieval public consciousness. Utilizing a systemic analysis method and a values-based approach, cathedrals are examined as structural elements within the framework of religious communication, serving as key instruments for shaping public consciousness during the Middle Ages. Through these edifices, the core tenets of Christianity were disseminated to the masses. Special attention is given to the art of stone calendars, which are considered a significant factor in the formation of a Christian worldview during this period. The study identifies the value-laden, symbolic, and functional characteristics of medieval cathedrals as tools of religious communication. It outlines the overarching principles of architectural organization in Catholic churches in relation to their roles in influencing public consciousness. The influence of Romanesque cathedrals on the trajectory of public consciousness in medieval Western Europe is also examined. The author concludes that Christian cathedrals, as instruments of influence on medieval public conscious-ness, possessed a pronounced managerial and motivational effect, fulfilling a wide range of sociocultural functions that contributed to the stabilization and spiritual-moral development of medieval Western European society.

Relevansi Etika Politik Peter L. Berger bagi Pembangunan Pariwisata di Indonesia

This paper aims to discuss the relevance of the political ethics of Peter L. Berger's development to the development and development of tourism in Indonesia in general and NTT in particular in Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai. The development and development of tourism in Indonesia aims to increase the quality and quantity of tourism destinations and create a tourism industry capable of driving the national economy. This has been carried out properly according to its purpose. However, there are several tourism developments in NTT which in the end only give rise to domination, resource grabbing, marginalization, subordination, exploitation and violence in its various forms. Peter L. Berger through his book Pyramid of Sacrifice, suggests a moral dimension, namely the problem of costs that may exist in political policies. A politician must take into account the consequences of his actions for others, especially cost considerations, namely the calculus of pain and the calculus of meaning. It is interesting that tourism development also creates a new context for the work of the Catholic church's pastoral ministry. Therefore, the Catholic church is required to actively participate in directing tourism development in order to ensure that all people can access and enjoy prosperity and justice together. The method used in this paper is the method of literature and the contribution of this paper to the welfare of the nation and state in all dimensions of life.

Hierarchical Social Distance: Social Attitudes Toward Ethnic and Immigrant Groups in a Midwestern City

Using the Bogardus social distance scale, the study examined residents' social attitudes toward 10 ethnic and immigrant groups. The analysis focused on Burmese immigrants, a rapidly growing ethnic group in the community. Findings suggest that residents consider whites the closest in social distance, followed by African Americans and Latino immigrants. Burmese immigrants are positioned only slightly closer than Russian immigrants and Muslims. Respondents who are male, Roman Catholic, hold a college degree or higher, and have a higher income demonstrate a greater level of social acceptance of Burmese immigrants. Those who had direct interaction with Burmese, support public resources for diversity and cultural events, maintain optimistic perspectives about the economy and community safety, and believe that immigrants strengthen American society also prefer a closer social distance with Burmese immigrants compared to their counterparts. When comparing these findings with previous research, the rank order of whites–African Americans–Latinos–Asians–Muslims on the social distance scale remains consistent across studies. We argue that social distance scores reveal hierarchical group positions in the larger society.

Democrazia fiscale e finanziamento delle religioni. Le campagne pubblicitarie per l’8xmille della Chiesa cattolica: dalla rendicontazione alla promozione

Fiscal democracy and the financing of religions. The advertising campaigns for the Catholic Church's 8xmille: from reporting to promotion ABSTRACT: On the eve of the fortieth anniversary of the law (No. 222 of 1985) that introduced a new regulatory framework for the Catholic Church's financial system, which was subsequently extended to other religious groups, presents an opportunity to reflect on the significance and utility of the revisions introduced from the Villa Madama Agreement and to evaluate the ongoing critical issues raised by doctrinal and legal developments in light of recent developments. In the present era, while some doubts appear to have reached a state of equilibrium with regard to the stability of the data, others have the effect of introducing a certain degree of uncertainty. An analysis of the issues pertaining to advertising and reporting reveals a tendency on the part of the Catholic Church to focus less on the primary driver of change, namely the sustenance of the clergy, and instead direct attention towards welfare interventions that bear resemblance to those typically undertaken by Third Sector entities. The persistence of old doubts and the emergence of new challenges, it is pertinent to assess whether the consolidated 8xmille mechanism remains a viable and effective response to the prevailing circumstances. SOMMARIO: 1. I (quasi) quarant’anni dell’8xmille - 2. Il sistema di finanziamento pubblico della Chiesa cattolica. Un prima e un dopo - 3. Come funziona l’8xmille? Le aporie di un sistema tra punti di forza e punti di debolezza - 4. “Dati alla mano”. La rendicontazione CEI 2023 - 5. Diritto, religioni e pubblicità - 6. Gli spot 8xmille - 7. Quale futuro per il finanziamento delle religioni?

Reason, Islam and Christianity

The debate sparked off by Benedict XVI’s speech in Regensburg has not only relaunched relations between Islam and Christianity, but has also provoked an internal debate in all around the world. In these lines we offer a summary of some interventions that have appeared so far, which serve to rethink and relaunch the current dialogue between faith and reason, modernity and Christianity, non-Christian religions and the Catholic Church. In this article, we will look at the responses that emerged after the speech and other subsequent interventions, which have made this a “globalised discourse.” Rationality must be found not only in the sciences but also in philosophy, religions, ethics and art.