Paris Commune Research Articles

Parish Futsal: A Technical–Educational or Pastoral Challenge? Notes on a Multiple-Case Study in Rome

This article aims to present a multiple-case study of parish sports clubs affiliated with the Centro Sportivo Italiano (a Catholic-inspired sports promotion body), present in the Rome area. The purpose of this research is to explore whether there is a relationship between futsal activities and the parish pastoral project. It was a qualitative study that, after listening to key informants, conducted group interviews with some coaches (13) of the teams linked to the parish. This research brought out what the elements of distance between the sports groups and the parish community are, as well as what the strengths may be for the integration of the sports education project within a pastoral dynamic. Two lines of interpretation of the data in pedagogical-improvement terms were also provided: one of a deductive nature and one of a hermeneutic nature.

Historical Development of the Rozhnyativ Deanery of the Lviv Archdiocese of the Greek Catholic Church (1907-1946)

The article examines the historical development of the Rozhnyativ deanery of the Lviv Archdiocese of the Greek Catholic Church. The structure and activities of the parish network during 1907-1946 are highlighted. The key role of the Church in the development of parish communities is revealed.

Место веры или центр услуг? Как московские православные выбирают храм

This article examines the problem of church selection among Moscow residents, using Orthodox churches as an example. By highlighting the factors that make churches significant for parishioners and analyzing the various types of services offered by churches, the author considers the church in three dimensions: social, environmental, and informational. Through the course of the research, the author answers the question of why some muscovites are willing to prefer a distant church over one within walking distance. The article is based on empirical data collected by the author during field research in seven Moscow churches in 2022–2023. The most significant factors in choosing a church are those which derived from social practices: the personality of a priest, the atmosphere in the church, and the parish community. The geographical location of the church and the quality of the surrounding environment determine differences in the localization of parish communities. By analyzing the variety of non-liturgical services provided by churches, the author reveals a subtle process, unnoticed by most city residents, of redrawing the boundaries between the religious and the secular, and calls for studying churches as indicators of these changes.

विश्व राजनीतिमा वैज्ञानिक समाजवादी चिन्तनको विकास {The Development of Scientific Socialist Thought in World Politics}

This article examines the development of scientific socialist thought in world politics. Key milestones considered include the formation of the Communist League, the publication of the Communist Manifesto, the establishment of the First International, the Paris Commune, the Second International, the October Socialist Revolution, the Third International, and the Cominform. Scientific socialist thought began with the publication of the Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels in 1848 and developed gradually over time. This evolution is marked by a series of significant historical events. The study traces the formation of the Communist League, the creation and dissemination of the Communist Manifesto, the establishment of the First International under Marx's leadership, the Paris Commune revolution by workers and the proletariat, the formation of the Second International under Engels' guidance, Lenin's leadership in the Russian Socialist Revolution and the formation of the Third International, and the establishment of the Cominform under Stalin's leadership. The article uses an inductive method to explore these developments and aims to illuminate the progression of scientific socialist thought in world politics.

Jean-François Dupeyron: In the School of the Paris Commune. The Story of Another School – A Secondary Publication

We know it, we have learned it, and often we teach it: public schools became secular for the first time in 1882. Well, no! As Jean-François Dupeyron said, the first secular public school in France was that of the Commune. Understanding why this fact was – and still is – obscured is the subject of Jean-François Dupeyron’s book, A L’École de la Commune de Paris: L’Histoire d’une Autre École. The author’s thesis is that, during the second half of the 19th century and up to World War I, the workers’ movement developed the project of another school, a school independent of both the Church and the State. It is against this other school, desired by the Commune and then the labor exchanges and the General Confederation of Labor, which was at the time of revolutionary syndicalists, that Jules Ferry’s school was constructed. Why has this “history of another school” been concealed?

The Role of the Ministry of Lector and Acolyte in the Context of the Instruction for Parishes in the Service of Evangelisation (June 29, 2020) and the Letter Spiritus Domini (January 10, 2021)

The principal weight of the Church’s responsibility for evangelization rests on the parish. However, the pastoral practice shows that there is no sufficient principle to organize the missionary life of the parish as a community of communities. This frequently leads to confusion in a multitude of activities, which contributes to the failure of the parish to fulfill its principal evangelizing mission. Firstly, the article shows how the introduction of ministries of lector and acolyte into the life of the parish may help revitalize the basic functions of the parish, which are: martyrdom, liturgy, and diakonia. Men and women who discovered their specific vocation to the ministry of lector and acolyte may become pillars of concrete parish groups and apostolic work realized in the parish. It is closely related to a proper understanding of the ecclesial dimension of each of these ministries. In view of the above, the article presents pastoral inspirations of the Instruction of the Congregation for the Clergy The Pastoral Conversion of the Parish Community in the Service of the Evangelising Mission of the Church, and the indications of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter Spiritus Domini. Secondly, the text presents the liturgical ministries in the light of the hierarchical, charismatic, and spousal dimension of the mystery of the Church. The final part of the article describes the pastoral dimension of these ministries in realizing the evangelizing mission of the Church.

Creating the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’: early socialist literature on the Paris Commune in Britain and the United States

ABSTRACT School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, Faculty of Arts, Australia This article analyses the role of early radical and socialist texts in forming the understanding of the Paris Commune in Britain and the United States. The Commune, while a French event, came to be associated with socialists, radicals, and as a symbol of internationalism. Marx’s The Civil War in France established the interpretation of the Commune that would see it become a radical shibboleth. This article analyses articles by Edward Beesly, Lissagaray’s History of the Commune of 1871, E.B Bax’s Short History of the Commune, and Lenin’s State and Revolution to trace the influences of Marx’s interpretation. This analysis includes examination of the radical publishers in both Britain and the United States to explore how these texts were edited and changed, and how they were circulated to reach the intended working-class audience. The article’s core questions are where did this interpretation come from, how was it constructed, and how did it come to dominate the interpretation of the Commune. This is significant due to the Commune’s pre-eminence within socialist history and how it became an example of the ‘Dictatorship of the Proletariat’ for many future revolutionaries.

Lay persons in catechesis. Experience and challenges in the case of Slovenia

Unlike in most other countries, religious education did not return to public schools in Slovenia after the fall of communism. The Catholic Church intensively introduced and developed catechesis in parishes. The new Slovenian Catechetical Plan opens the door to consider the various forms of catechesis already taking place in parish communities and to a lifelong model of catechesis that is not confined to the period of childhood and adolescence. The article analyses the development of the field of catechesis in Slovenia and the role of lay catechists. It highlights the main trends and challenges in catechesis and some of the existing solutions that no longer look only at the age of candidates but take into account their maturity and readiness when preparing to receive the sacraments of initiation. The analytical research is further illuminated by the author’s personal experience as a layperson involved in catechesis.

The Pastor as the Father of the Parish

The aim of this article is to present the parson as a father. The necessity of being a father for particular parishioners and for the parish community results from the Church’s teaching. Fatherhood of a priest is based on the theological grounds mainly the patrylogical ones. It results from the inner relations of the Holy Trinity – of the Father with the Son and with the Holy Spirit as well as from the relations of the Father with people. The need for the realization of the parson’s service in the paternal way also results from the current pastoral conditions. These consist in the believers’ expectations that the parson should be in a personal relationship with them in a paternal way and their need to build Christian communities on the direct relationships between their particular members.

‘The Lord defends refugees, protects the orphans and widows’ (Psalm 146:9). Emerging Challenges in Supporting People after Loss and Traumatic Events

This study, rooted in patristics and social sciences, delves into the historical evolution of support for orphans and widows in the Christian and Catholic tradition, underscoring its profound significance in the identity of these faith-based communities. Tracing the modes of assistance from pre-Christian times through the Old and New Testaments and the teachings of the Church Fathers, the paper elucidates various aspects of the caregiving process. Additionally, it explores the evolving sensitivities across different epochs in modernity, encompassing the contemporary, postmodern and recent years, with a specific focus on the periods before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. In light of this analysis, a fundamental question arises: What are the primary pastoral responsibilities of Catholic parishes in Poland regarding support to individuals who have experienced the loss of loved ones, borne multiple losses or endured severe traumas (such as war refugees from Ukraine in local communities)? This work provides guidance to over 10,000 Catholic parishes in Poland, considering the context of an aging society and the lessons derived from the COVID-19 pandemic. It extends an invitation for further research and the initiation of practical endeavours by pastoral theologians and specialists in social and healthcare, to ensure the highest quality of care in parish communities and local societies.

Duszpasterstwo katechetyczne – spór o pojęcie

Aim: The aim of this study was to present the dispute over the concept of "catechetical pastoral ministry" which emerged in theological reflection, especially in the fields of pastoral theology and catechesis. Methods: To comprehensively illustrate the meaning of the discussed term, the method of analyzing contemporary literature on the subject was used. Additionally, through the method of synthesis, a clarification of the meaning and application of this concept in the field of scientific reflection within practical theology was achieved. Results: The analysis revealed that the emergence and use of terms such as "liturgical pastoral ministry" or "catechetical pastoral ministry" in common church language are the result of a certain shorthand, describing the pastoral mission of the Church in the areas of liturgy or catechesis. Therefore, it is justified to use the term "catechetical pastoral ministry" in the context of a broader pastoral perspective on catechetical activities. Analyzing the ongoing "dispute over the concept" in publications, arguments were drawn, including those of Adam Przybecki, who advocates the need to clarify the discussed approach, considering it "illogical" and a form of misuse, especially when this term became widely used in the Catechetical Directory of the Catholic Church in Poland in 2001. Conclusion: In conclusion, based on the conducted analysis defining the meaning of the term "catechetical pastoral ministry," the suggestion is made to focus on practical actions and the positive evangelical outcomes that will permanently contribute to the functioning of parish communities and the conducted pastoral ministry, considering a broader pastoral perspective. Originality: Undoubtedly, in the field of practical theology, the undertaken analysis and attempt to clarify the concept constitute an important and original approach, confirming the need for discussion and even debate regarding the meaning of used terms and concepts. Keywords: parish catechesis, "catechetical pastoral ministry," sacramental catechesis, selected pastoral aspects of catechesis, liturgy, parish, practical theology.

The Russian Orthodox Church in the system of socio-political interaction during the Great Patriotic War (using the example of the Penza region)

The transformation of the practices of state-confessional interaction during the Great Patriotic War is considered on an analysis of the office documentation of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church under the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR. The research methodology is based on the concept of social constructionism or the theory of constructing social reality, as well as new local history, which allows to study the factors and mechanisms of adaptation of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) to the new geopolitical situation and the tasks of socio-political integration on the scale of a specific region – the Penza region. The content and regional specifics of the activities of the Commissioner for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church are revealed. The key areas of activity are: consideration of petitions of believers to open churches and participation of the priesthood in mobilization activities of the authorities. Despite many years of atheistic policies, persecution and repression of the clergy, the population of the Penza region demonstrated the strength of the religious foundation of regional identity. This was more significant compared with ideological constructs imposed from the outside. During the Great Patriotic War, relations between believers and authorities were built in the direction from the suppression of religious life to the very effective inclusion of parish communities in solving national problems. Appeals from believers to open churches became increasingly widespread and persistent. Under the influence of growing religiosity and divinely sanctioned changes in the legal status of the Russian Orthodox Church, local authorities adopted new rules of the game. Governance practices are also gradually changing, and a constructive dialogue is being built in the triad: the commissioner as a representative of the state – the diocesan administration – the parish communities.

Genetic history of Cambridgeshire before and after the Black Death.

The extent of the devastation of the Black Death pandemic (1346-1353) on European populations is known from documentary sources and its bacterial source illuminated by studies of ancient pathogen DNA. What has remained less understood is the effect of the pandemic on human mobility and genetic diversity at the local scale. Here, we report 275 ancient genomes, including 109 with coverage >0.1×, from later medieval and postmedieval Cambridgeshire of individuals buried before and after the Black Death. Consistent with the function of the institutions, we found a lack of close relatives among the friars and the inmates of the hospital in contrast to their abundance in general urban and rural parish communities. While we detect long-term shifts in local genetic ancestry in Cambridgeshire, we find no evidence of major changes in genetic ancestry nor higher differentiation of immune loci between cohorts living before and after the Black Death.

Sent Out into the World: A Liturgical Theology for a Parish Community and the New Evangelization. A Reading of The Order of the Dedication of a Church by Michael McGourty (review)

Sent Out into the World: A Liturgical Theology for a Parish Community and the New Evangelization. A Reading of The Order of the Dedication of a Church by Michael McGourty (review)

Sprawozdanie z II Kongresu Teologii Praktycznej „Parafia jutra”

The 2nd Congress of Practical Theology entitled "The Parish of Tomorrow", held in Licheń on 19-21 September 2023, aimed to: diagnose the current socioreligious situation in Poland conditioned by the COVID-19 pandemic and the state of pastoral ministry, analyse it in the light of the teaching of the Church's Magisterium and indicate appropriate actions for the most optimal functioning of Polish parishes. The academics, pastoral workers and lay faithful present there discussed the prospects and challenges facing parishes in the near future. Prizes were also awarded to those parish communities that showed a high degree of pastoral activity and creativity.

An utopia made true

The diocese of Vicenza, at the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, in close relation to social and ecclesiastical events, saw the utopia of an enlightened patronage designing together with architects two parish communities understood as a village come true. In biblical and liturgical rootedness, attentive listening and courageous response to the changes in the city, the faithful, guided by the authority of Fr Gianfranco Sacchiero at Villaggio del Sole (Vicenza) and Fr Nilo Rigotto at Villaggio Giardino (Arzignano), opened a fruitful dialogue with the Designers entrusted with the task of constructing not only a building of worship but a renewed, and in many ways unprecedented, experience of Church. The analysis of written documentary sources, architectural sources and testimonies will show the inadequacy of an authorial interpretative paradigm (awarding the merit of the architectural outcome to the architect/master alone) and the need to borrow concepts such as nascent state and charisma from the social sciences and psychology.

Regional Book Distribution and Political Participation in the English Civil War

ABSTRACT Regional book distribution was central to political mobilization in the localities during the English Civil Wars. A contextual approach, building up a picture from print and manuscript sources such as journals, reveals the multiple ways in which books circulated, through a case study of Devon and the south west. In contrast to recent emphasis on activist publishers, these sources highlight the significance of book distribution by puritan clergy. Book distribution in Devon was dominated by the unmatched south-western network of the London publisher Francis Eglesfield (publisher of Robert Herrick’s Hesperides). However, the political agency of book distribution lies beyond the conventional book trade with the activities of local ministers, exemplified by John Bond of Exeter, Thomas Larkham of Tavistock, and John Syms of Sheepstor and Plymouth. Their distribution efforts provided multiple routes by which books reached their political audiences and created opportunities for political participation in parish communities.

Transform regular pastoral care into missionary work

In this article, the author offers a critical reflection on pastoral care within the parish community. In the first chapter, the authoranalyses the ambivalence of modern culture through a theological and pastoral perspective and its consequences for the Church’s pastoral dimension. The second chapter emphasises recognising the signs of the times and the importance of building a personal relationship with God as well as cooperating with others in the common mission of building the Kingdom of God. The conclusion presents some proposals and guidelines for transforming the Church in the synodal spirit. In the process of continually bringing the Christian message up to date (aggiornamento), the author highlights the importance of authenticity, fidelity to Christian truth, closeness, existential conversion and ongoing rivalry with modern man in his joys and sorrows, successes and mistakes.

Pilgrimages as one of the elements of the restoration of a vacation spot in the village of Krylos 1989-2018

This article is aimed at the research of the re-establishment of a sacred place in the Krylos village, Ivano-Frankivsk region in 1989-2018. There are still living witnesses of how people traveled from all over Galychyna to Krylos Mountaine in carts, on foot, and on horses. Hundreds of carts were beset the territory of the current village stadium and access roads. People wanted to pray to the miraculous icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to drink miraculous water from the so-called "Franciskan springs". There are many confirmed facts about their miraculous qualities. The development of the sacred place began on December 12, 1989, according to the letter of Fr. Ivan Maslyak dated March 8, 1990, in which he noted the following: "...on December 12, 1989, the parish community of the village of Krylos, Galych district, Ivano-Frankivsk region, unanimously returned to the bosom of the ancestral Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, which is confirmed by the voting protocol of parishioners in the presence representative of the Galych district government". From this historical moment, the re-establishment of the abandoned, destroyed and completely ruined sacred place as well as the church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the village of Krylos, Ivano-Frankivsk region, begins. One of the important elements of the re-establishment of a sacred place is crowded pilgrimages. Based on the very meaning of the word, “pilgrimage” means the possibility of receiving forgiveness from God for our sins. This is why, for thousands of years, pilgrims from different countries have been making difficult and sometimes dangerous pilgrimages to holy places, asking Almighty God for forgiveness of sins. These are different places, such as: Rome, Turin, Jerusalem, Lourdes, Fatima, Medjugorje, Zarvanytsia, Goshiv, Pogonya, Krylos. In this research, I would like to analyze exclusively the verses to the “Galych Miraculous Icon”, which is kept in the village of Krylos, Ivano-Frankivsk district, Ivano-Frankivsk region. In this research, I would like to analyze three types of sacred places that influenced the development of a sacred place in the Krylos village (1989-2018), namely: 1. Youth parishes of the Ivano-Frankivsk Diocese; 2. International pilgrimage of the rosaries; 3.Patriarchal Pilgrimages to the Galych Miraculous Icon.

Early Socialism and the Impact of the Paris Commune on the Ottoman Political Imagination in the Nineteenth Century

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to re-examine the thinking, motivation and causes for the development of early socialism and its transformation in the Ottoman Empire during the nineteenth century. The first part of the paper will engage with the socialistic aspirations and political language of the radical branch of the Young Ottomans, in the writings of Mehmed, Reşad and Nuri Beys. The second part will reconstruct the debate between the detractors and defenders of the Paris Commune of 1871 regarding the meanings, effects, and possible threats or benefits of socialism, to rediscover what the Ottomans meant by socialism and what the Commune and socialism meant to them. The article will demonstrate that socialism did not meet with a delayed response in Turkey, contrary to what conventional historiography claims. In fact, the Ottomans were aware of these developments. Just as elsewhere, 1848 and, more importantly, 1871 were important turning points in the Leftist discourse within the Ottoman Empire. This early development of Ottoman socialist perspectives means that Ottoman Empire is more accurately considered as an active participant in the global intellectual trends of the nineteenth century, rather than as a passive observer.