Pastoral Associations Research Articles

Factorial Analysis of Discontinuation of Grassland Burning by Pastoral Associations in the Aso District, Southwestern Japan

Factorial Analysis of Discontinuation of Grassland Burning by Pastoral Associations in the Aso District, Southwestern Japan

Service Providers' and Catholic Clergy's Responses to Partner Violence

Abstract This cross-national study surveyed social service providers' and Catholic clergy's responses to partner violence. Participants included 15 service providers, 9 priests, and one parish secretary in Luxembourg and 11 service providers, 24 priests and one pastoral associate in the United States. Results support that clergy, particularly in Luxembourgh, are less informed about partner violence, and they are more likely to offer ineffective advice to women seeking help for partner violence, in comparison to service providers. Professional and national differences are discussed. Increased clergy education and collaboration between clergy and service providers are suggested.

THE AFRICAN CHRISTIAN DIASPORA IN BELGIUM WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE INTERNATIONAL CHURCH OF BRUSSELS

Introduction Among immigrants in Europe, there are not only Muslims, Buddhists and the converts to Afro-Asian or Afro-American religions, but also numerous Christians with roots in the work of the Western missions and the Independent Churches of Africa. The importance of culture in the expression of faith by these Christian communities of the diaspora can be observed in the spreading of small prayer groups, religious communities and churches called in Europe, and in Belgium in particular. [1] The interest aroused by this new phenomenon in the history of the church in Europe, and more precisely the history of mission, brought specialists to organize seminars and international conferences of great importance during the past few years. One of them took place at Glay/Doubs in France, 27-30 August 1998. 1. Communities and African churches in Belgium How many African churches are there in Belgium? This question is difficult to answer with accuracy. Even if the booming of churches, communities and groups called is evident in Belgium and other European countries, the problem of presenting accurate statistical data on these new religious groups is difficult. According to our research, we estimate the number of Christian communities of the African diaspora in Belgium to be approximately sixty. This phenomenon has been booming through the mass immigration of Africans in the eighties. We should note that the Belgian case is very illuminating. We find in Belgium a stable pioneer movement among the most structured African churches in French speaking Europe. According to our research, these communities can be subdivided into five principal categories: * ain Afro-Christian churches *intermediary African churches * independent Afro-Christian churches * communities with a specific character * communities and African pastors involved in Belgian circles The main Afro-Christian churches of Belgium These are groups of more than two hundred persons. Most of them are linked with an established Christian European organization. These churches are stable and integrated in Belgium. Under this category we mention La Nouvelle Jerusalem de Bruxelles [2] and L'Eglise internationale de Bruxelles. [3] The intermediary (intermediate) churches These are communities difficult to identify. Some are dissidents of the main African churches. Others are communities seeking to establish their own identity. Here we can mention the Belgium Pastors Revival Time (Bepart). This pastoral association re-groups 15-20 African churches amongst whom we also find English speaking communities (ten Congolese, five Ghanaian and three Nigerian churches). The independent churches By independent churches we mean those not linked to any Christian organization recognized in Belgium. In general, they are autonomous communities. We mention, for example, L'Eglise de Jesus Christ sur la terre par le prophete Simon Kimbangu (Kimbanguist Church), and communaute des Freres Chretiens (Community of Christian Brethren). [4] Afro-Christian churches with a specific character Under these groups we classify all those who differ, from a doctrinal [5] point of view, from the Protestant churches (Reformed and evangelical). Communities and African pastors in Belgian circles These are communities and pastors evolving in the Belgian Protestant Churches (United Protestant Churches of Belgium and the Protestant Evangelic Churches). We mention the Protestant University Chaplaincy, and the Malagasy Community. Remarks We observe in general the following trends: * In the Brussels region, the churches appear and disappear easily. * We observe a tendency to blend elements in the evolution of certain small communities. …

Virgil's Polyphemus

Weare told by an ancient life of Virgil that the poet had a ready reply for those who chided his extensive borrowing from Homer: ‘Cur non illi quoque eadem furta temptarent? verum intellecturos facilius esse Herculi clavam quam Homero versum subripere’ (Vita Donati, 46). To recapture a Homeric figure, however briefly, was indeed a demanding challenge, but Virgil's task was unusually difficult in the case of Polyphemus. If he followed his model too slavishly the outcome would undoubtedly be disappointing. In going beyond Homer, however, he would immediately find himself on treacherous ground. The danger here was that the intervening centuries between theOdysseyand theAeneidhad overlaid the Cyclops completely with comic and pastoral associations. Most scholars have thought of Virgil as going back directly to Homer for his portrait of Polyphemus atAen. iii. 588 ff., and I have no doubt that they are correct. In 1959, however, C. S. Floratos attempted at some length to establish that the Polyphemus of theAeneidhas been greatly influenced by the Hellenistic treatments of this figure. No one has replied to his arguments, and, in fact, K. Quinn recently has inclined toward a similar position. It seems, then, that this question deserves closer attention.

Living in a Global Village

Backed by a substantial grant from the Church's Council of Health and Healing, the Scottish Pastoral Association mounted a Conference this September on ‘Planning and the Person’. It was held in the Pollock Halls, a residence of Edinburgh University, and to it came a wide variety of people concerned with the life of Scotland today. It was chaired by Steven Watson, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews, and the participating speakers included Professor E. L. Trist, O.B.E., Professor of Organizational Theory in the Graduate School of Business Administration, the University of Pennsylvania, Professor B. S. Morris, Professor of Education, University of Bristol, the Rev. Canon D. Jenkins, Director of Humanum Studies, World Council of Churches, Geneva. The Conference had been planned by a small working party of the S.P.A. under the chairmanship of Dr J. D. Sutherland.Behind the organisation of the Conference was a recognition that although there were distinguished speakers present, yet th...