Catholic Practice Research Articles

Enforcing uniformity: kirk sessions and Catholics in early modern Scotland, 1560–1650

In the decades following the Scottish Reformation, Scottish parliaments passed a series of penal laws against Catholics and expressions of Catholic religious practice. In an act of 1594 the death penalty was prescribed on the first offence for wilfully hearing Mass; but no Scot was ever executed for hearing Mass. The same law of 1594 encouraged local presbyteries to convert any suspected Catholic under their jurisdiction. As historians of the Scottish Reformation begin to appreciate the crucial role that kirk sessions played in suppressing Scottish Catholicism, this article adds to recent studies which seek to offer a corrective to much previous scholarship on the persecution of Scottish Catholics – which tended to focus almost exclusively on civil enforcement – and explores the impact of parish church courts on Scottish Catholicism, highlighting the effectiveness of public penance, shaming, and psychological pressure as the most useful tools for enforcing uniformity.

CATHOLICISM AND EVERYDAY MORALITY: Filipino women’s narratives on reproductive health

ABSTRACTThis study examines the relationship between state policies, religion, reproductive politics, and competing understandings of embodied sexual and reproductive morality. Using ethnographic and life history interviews, this study looks at the lives of Filipino urban poor women and how they interpret, follow and resist Catholic Church doctrines and practices as these relate to sexuality and reproduction. Taking everyday morality as embedded in social practice, this paper argues that women’s subjective reinterpretations of Catholic teachings regarding contraception and abortion render religion pliant in a way that restores moral equilibrium in women’s lives. It is in this process of adjusting and re-adjusting this moral order that women are able to construct their moral worlds. Further, this article investigates how social class, gender and religion work in tension with one another in women’s everyday decisions and how the constraints and opportunities that poor women encounter in their everyday lives are enabled by the state and its institutions.

Public Conversion, Private Reason, and Institutional Crisis

Following the 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report, which detailed the sexual abuse of clergy members, many have questioned the value of personal institutional commitment to the Catholic Church, preferring instead more individualistic expressions of faith. Alongside the sex abuse crisis, the age of free information makes the Church’s epistemology appear antiquated. This article explores the individualistic versus community-based practice of Catholicism, drawing a distinction between private conversion versus public conversion. The article offers a defense of public conversion, arguing it explains the rationality of conversion and offers a solution to the problem of divine hiddenness. Using details from her own faith journey, Sullivan explores why God graces us with less perspicuous knowledge, causing subluminous conversions, as opposed to the more glaring, which leads to luminous conversions. Sullivan suggests that we obtain knowledge of God by loving one another, which takes place in the framework of the institutional Church. She subsequently uses this Church-making theodicy to offer five ideas about how we might engage the Church institutionally as Catholic philosophers.

Building an Orthodox Marriage: A Practical Commentary on the Eastern Orthodox Marriage Rite by John Abdalah and Nicholas G. Mamey

Reviewed by: Building an Orthodox Marriage: A Practical Commentary on the Eastern Orthodox Marriage Rite by John Abdalah and Nicholas G. Mamey Robert F. Slesinski John Abdalah and Nicholas G. Mamey Building an Orthodox Marriage: A Practical Commentary on the Eastern Orthodox Marriage Rite Yonkers, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2017 132 pages. Paperback. $16.00. The present work exemplifies mystagogical catechesis, as its primary source for shedding light on the sacramental mystery of holy matrimony is the marriage rite itself with its various moments and engaging prayers and texts. It is, thus, faithful to the venerable principle, lex orandi, lex credendi. The principal author, Bishop John Abdalah, is the Auxiliary Bishop of Worcester and New England in the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese and his collaborator is Nicholas G. Mamey, a master's graduate of the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. The work itself expands upon the bishop's dissertation of the same title written for his Doctor of Ministry degree from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. It consists of four parts (chapters) and a brief appendix with a list of pertinent question to challenge couples preparing for marriage under the humorous title "Questions for Orthodox Courting or the Newlywed Game" (125-126). The book begins its first part with "A Theological Overview" (11-27) that itself sets its scope at extricating John the Evangelist's [End Page 222] deft definition of God: "God is love" (1 Jn 4:8). Existence and love, the authors stress, are inextricably linked together. Most insightfully, they declare: "There is no love outside of God, for 'God is love'" (1 Jn 4:8). And there is no existence outside of love, because God Is" (11). A fundamental metaphysical truth, thus, comes to the fore, namely, that love is an act of being and that human being thereby comes into its own only through love enabling it to partake not only of God's life, but that of our fellow humans too. A further truth also comes to the fore. The human being is necessarily a communal being, human nature essentially being relational, reflective as it is of the God who is, namely, a Triune God of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Godhead effectively being a Commune of Love. As specifically applied to marriage, the authors again are most insightful, stating "in marriage we subjugate our will to that of God through our spouse" (19). The possible pastoral manifestations of this moral dimension of marriage are manifold, marriage itself not being a static, but a dynamic, ever-changing state. Part II is under the heading "Definitions" (29-64). First elaborated upon is the very kairos of sacramental marriage, the fact that "the marriage liturgy is more than a contract; it is a participation in a saving action of God" (31). After discussing the sacramental aspect of marriage, the authors go on to indicate the significance of various symbolic items linked with marriage like the rings, crowns, common cup, and the "dance of Isaiah." The rings intimate eternity of union, but the authors dwell specifically on their sign of commitment as readily garnered from numerous Old Testament and New Testament passages (37-49). As per the crowns, the authors rightfully state "the act of crowning is arguably the oldest symbol of the marriage service" (49). Indeed, the marriage service itself is also called the "Rite of Crowning." The crowns themselves convey meanings of championship, royalty, and martyrdom (51-58). In regard to the "common cup," standard Orthodox practice varies from that of the Catholic Church, be it Roman or Byzantine. Common Catholic practice calls for a nuptial liturgy, the [End Page 223] marriage ceremony—the Liturgy of the Word—being completed with the Liturgy of Sacrifice. Typically in Orthodox practice the Rite of Crowning is performed on Sunday afternoon, permitting the soon-to-be married to receive the Holy Eucharist before the marriage ceremony. What is the "why" of this? From a Catholic perspective an archaic understanding of sexuality is at stake. Communicants cannot receive Holy Communion after sexual relations; confession must be undergone first. In this light, a Catholic might legitimately opine that the Rite of the Common Cup—the partaking of one cup...

#Adoration: Holy Hour Devotions and Millennial' Twenty-First Century Catholic Identity

This historically-informed ethnographic article describes the surprising popularity of Holy Hour and Eucharistic devotions among a subculture of "devout" millennial-generation Catholics. Adoration-based prayer practices—updated and reinterpreted for a new generation of Catholics—constitute how these millennials articulate and embody their contemporary Catholic identities. These young adults work to interpret Catholicism as relevant and distinctive through the way they pray. While they perform a variety of Catholic practices, central to their Catholic identity is a remixed version of a once-popular Holy Hour devotion. Praying with an emphasis on the real presence of Jesus in this Eucharistic devotion, millennials simultaneously knit themselves into a history of Catholic sacramental life while also relying on those devotions to help them be triumphantly Catholic in the twenty-first century. The Holy Hour connects young adults to Catholic tradition while also providing a language of Catholic exceptionalism that they use to draw boundaries around their Catholic identity in the contemporary U.S.

NOVAS VIVÊNCIAS DO SAGRADO: PADRE REGINALDO MANZOTTI E A RELIGIOSIDADE VIRTUAL NO BRASIL

A partir de um cenário religioso em transformação e diante de uma sociedade midiatizada, a Igreja Católica se vê pressionada a modernizar sua estrutura de comunicação, intensificando a utilização da mídia de massa. Acompanhando a evolução desses meios, a evangelização católica estende-se ao ambiente digital. No Brasil, observa-se que com o advento da Internet alguns padres, configurados como midiáticos, reconstroem práticas católicas tidas como tradicionais e transformam a religiosidade no ciberespaço. Com base em uma perspectiva histórico-cultural, são analisadas neste artigo as relações entre o catolicismo e os meios de comunicação de massa. Esse hibridismo entre catolicismo e mídia é representado nessa pesquisa, a partir das práticas virtualizadas de evangelização do padre Reginaldo Manzotti e da interação dos fiéis com as novas vivências do sagrado.

Fr Mažvydas, Žemaitija and the Gniezno Consistory Court of Appeal, 1525–1539

By the late fifteenth century, more notably after 1477, appeal cases from Catholics in the Grand Duchyof Lithuania began to appear before the Consistory Court in Gniezno in increasing numbers. Thesecases involved quite a wide social group, and dealt with a broad range of issues (not just matrimonialdisputes or the hiring out of parish churches between priests). Appellants came before the judgesfrom across the Grand Duchy. This article covers cases from 1524 to 1539. Even when court materialgives few details of cases, it can help solve issues of parish church and chantry foundations andpatronage. The most striking feature of the records between 1524 and 1538 is the predominance ofcases from Žemaitija, a diocese which previously featured only in disputes involving the bishop. Thisconfirms the deepening of Catholic practice across the diocese of Medininkai (Žemaitija) as reflectedin particular in the increasingly predominant use of Christian forenames from the last quarterof the fifteenth century. Most interesting perhaps for those studying the rise of Protestantism inLithuania will be the occurrence of one Fr Andriejus Mažvydas, parish priest of Alsėdžiai, among theappellant litigants of 1536. This information about a very probable kinsman (uncle, cousin, brother?)of Martynas Mažvydas offers new insights into the Lutheran’s family background and geography. KEY WORDS : Catholic Church, consistory court, appeal, Gniezno, Lithuania, Žemaitija, Andriejus Mažvydas.

Lighting the way: Lithuanian Vėlinės visuality as participation, resistance, rupture, and repair

During the days of Visų Šventųjų diena (All Saints’ Day) and Vėlinių dieną (All Souls’ Day), Lithuanians traverse the country bearing candles and flowers to lay on the graves of their beloved dead. Although these are Roman Catholic practices, many of the Lithuanians who venture to cemeteries are not Catholic or Catholic identifying. As a church historian described in conversation, ‘ Vėlinės has overflowed the banks of the church’, it carries a distinctive and powerful importance in Lithuania. The pervasiveness of death, suffering, loss, exile and dislocation is a prominent aspect of the Lithuanian experience in the modern era. Exploration of the visual aspects of these bodily practices reveals complex dimensions of memory, identity and hope entwined within these religious practices.

New Evangelization Practices? Devotional Prayer, Meetings, and Christian Service

Conscious of the disciplinary turn away from examining predominantly cognitive, belief, and rational factors to examining emotional, bodily, and ritual factors this research focused on what people were 'doing' in relation to the New Evangelization (NE) and less on what they were saying. Consequently, three general categories of doings/activities are described that are associated with the NE. Although associated with the NE, can these doings actually be called NE practices per se? Or, is the NE retrospectively theologically legitimizing Catholic practices already in place? Focusing on 'practices', therefore, Rawls [1] raised not only the question, are there NE practices, but also the Durkheimian epistemological question of the relationship between enacted practices and beliefs/ideas. Although this is not the place to address the Durkheimian epistemological question, it was found that the NE was retrospectively legitimizing Catholic practices already in place rather than creating new practices. Moreover, this research has revealed over time that the NE in its initial stages (2005-2012) infused a more individualistic and emotional emphasis to the Catholic practices of devotional prayer and NE parish meetings to emphasize a more communal/ecclesial dimension in Christian service practices. Although further research is needed, it appears that Christian service/communal practices already in place are receiving the same fueling of emotional vigor that the more individualistically oriented practices of devotions and meetings received from the theology of the NE.

Putting the Protest Back into Protestant

When Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church on 31 October 1517, he did so in protest at abuses in Catholic theology and practice. Contemporary times, too, call for protest. The first “protest” concerns the revitalization of education and an increased commitment to intellectual excellence. The second “protest” concerns a recovery of Luther as a figure of protest. While scholars have tamed Luther's dangerous doctrines, the popular imagination still perceives him as an urban legend who spoke truth to power. An expansive notion of scholarship on Luther is required in order to approach a Luther who continues to inspire people around the world. The third “protest” is a critical protest of Luther's religious intolerance, specifically his anti-Judaism. Christian theologians must acknowledge Luther's anti-Judaism as central to his theology and radically revise this legacy to promote justice in inter-religious relations.

A Wholesome Cure for the Wounded Soul: Confession, Emotions, and Self in Eighteenth‐ and Nineteenth‐Century Catholicism

This article explores how Catholic practices of auricular confession related to emotions and self in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, focusing on the situation in Belgium as a revealing case study. Relying on both prescriptive sources and depositions in criminal case records, it is argued that the sacrament of penance occupied a central place in everyday life, influencing modes of self‐reflection. Penitents were to examine their conscience, practise contrition, and overcome shame, so that they could be absolved of their sins and experience relief. An analysis of these practices reveals that, starting in the late eighteenth century, confession made a “turn inwards,” by putting a greater stress on depth, interiority, and relief.

The Anglican Contribution to Spanish Liturgical Life: Spanish Translations of the Book of Common Prayer and the liturgy of the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church

Spanish translations of the Book of Common Prayer in the 17th and 18th century and their use by various groups of Spanish Protestant exiles are a testimony to early interactions between the Anglican Church and Spain. Given this history, the creation in the late 19th century of the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church, the small Spanish branch of the Anglican Communion, is not as odd as may first appear. In its prayer book, the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church has fused the liturgical tradition represented by the Book of Common Prayer with the Mozarabic rite, the ancient liturgy of Spanish Christians. It thereby seeks to provide a door to Spain’s own indigenous liturgical heritage, which has virtually been forgotten in Spanish Roman Catholic practice. The Spanish, national identity of Anglicans in Spain is thus affirmed and celebrated.

Negotiating religious change and conflict: Female religious communities in early modern Ireland, c.1530–c.1641

This article explores how communities of female religious within the English sphere of influence in Ireland negotiated their survival, firstly in the aftermath of the Henrician dissolution campaigns of the late 1530s and 1540s and thereafter down to the early 1640s. It begins by examining the strategies devised by women religious in order to circumvent the state’s proscription of vocational living in the aftermath of the Henrician suppression campaigns. These ranged from clandestine continuation of conventual life to the maintenance of informal religious vows within domestic settings. It then moves on to consider the modes of migration and destinations of Irish women who, from the late sixteenth century onwards, travelled to the Continent in pursuit of religious vocations, an experience they shared with their English counterparts. Finally, it considers how the return to Ireland from Europe of Irish Poor Clare nuns in 1629 signalled the revival of monastic life for women religious on the island. The article traces the importance of familial and clerical patronage networks to the ongoing survival of Irish female religious communities and highlights their role in sustaining Catholic devotional practices, which were to prove vital to the success of the Counter-Reformation mission in seventeenth-century Ireland.

Martin Delrio: Demonology and Scholarship in the Counter-Reformation

Martin Delrio: Demonology and Scholarship in the Counter-Reformation

Making Martyrs East & West: Canonization in the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches by Cathy Caridi

Reviewed by: Making Martyrs East & West: Canonization in the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches by Cathy Caridi Per-Arne Bodin Making Martyrs East & West: Canonization in the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches. By Cathy Caridi. (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press. 2016. Pp. x, 200. $59.00. ISBN 978-0-87680-495-8.) Cathy Caridi's study consists of four chapters on martyr-making in the East and the West. The first deals with the united church, the second with the Russian church from the Christianization in 988 up to our time, the third with the Catholic Church from the great schism, and the last chapter with a comparison of canonization processes in East and West. Canonization of martyrs would at first glance seem to be a strictly historical theme, but it is quite the opposite; for example, the canonization of 2000 new martyrs in Russia in the beginning of this century shows the topicality of this phenomenon. The study is asymmetric in construction; the Catholic Church is discussed and compared to the Russian Orthodox tradition and not to the Orthodox Church in general. The impression therefore gets somewhat one-sided, and some of the findings would certainly be different if the symmetry had been observed. The study follows the procedure of canonization through history and notes that the Catholic practice is more formal and more centralized than the Russian one, the former resting on the authority of the pope. Caridi maintains, however, that many of the early martyrs have never been officially canonized. Scrutiny of different sorts of lists of saints (diptychs, saints' calendars) plays an important part in the study. There are many categories of saints defined in the book, but the difference between saints in general and martyrs is sometimes blurred. Caridi rightly notes that miracles are more important for canonization in Russia than in the [European?] Catholic Church, but is somewhat overstating the difference between the traditions. Also studied is the view of the incorruptibility of saints' dead bodies, which is very salient in the Russian context as a sign of holiness. Yet other themes dwelt on include the role of relics and the translation of them in the canonization process. The most interesting finding in this study is the result of the scrupulous comparison of the criteria (or lack of criteria) for canonization in different times and different traditions, since there are so many different procedures through the ages. Sometimes it seems to be impossible to know if a martyr has existed at all. The subject is huge and has been much studied. What is missing in Making Martyrs is a firm relation to earlier research, which is, however, known to the author, as can be seen by the extensive bibliography. Caridi uses primary sources [End Page 323] instead, which gives impressing results; but still more could have been obtained by bringing earlier research to the fore. Especially the chapter on the Russian church would have gained much if more recent studies had been considered. One issue that would have been interesting to include is that of decanonizations in the Russian Church, a topic of recent debate and investigation which is only touched on in Making Martyrs. In the last pages Caridi lists the formidable problems it would raise to merge the lists of names in the Catholic and Russian Orthodox calendars. It is a sad reading but ought to be an ecumenical challenge. The author calls herself "a legalistic Westerner," a characterization that is borne out in the book. Caridi is preoccupied with the need for a correct procedure of canonization and resolving which martyrs are the authentic ones. And a final remark: All these lives and deaths more or less outlined in the vitae bear witness to so much of human suffering and so much of Christian faith in East or West, in distant times or just a while ago. Per-Arne Bodin Stockholm University Copyright © 2017 The Catholic University of America Press

Chinese Buddhism in Catholic Philippines: Syncretism as Identity by Aristotle C. Dy, Sj

Reviewed by: Chinese Buddhism in Catholic Philippines: Syncretism as Identity by Aristotle C. Dy, Sj Clark L. Alejandrino ARISTOTLE C. DY, SJ Chinese Buddhism in Catholic Philippines: Syncretism as Identity Mandaluyong City: Anvil, 2015. 266 pages. The Jesuit priest Aristotle Dy, inspired by his exposure to a mixture of Buddhist and Catholic practices while growing up Chinese in the Philippines, decided to specialize on the study of religions at the School [End Page 107] of Oriental and African Studies in London, where he completed the PhD dissertation that produced the book under review. Conducting fieldwork in the thirty-seven temples that dot the small Buddhist landscape of the Philippine archipelago, Dy interviewed ritual masters (monks and nuns) and lay leaders and practitioners, collected and read liturgical texts and spells, and observed elite and popular levels of participation in various temple activities. Armed with rich ethnographic data, he has written an important book detailing Buddhism’s entry into and adaptations to a predominantly Catholic Philippines. These adaptations, open-ended mixtures of two or more religions in a dynamic process called syncretism, are sufficient to tell the story of Buddhism’s small-scale but continued success in penetrating and remaining relevant in the Philippine religious arena. This story is the book’s most important contribution to Philippine studies, where no major studies of local Chinese religious practices exist in English. Dy then could have chosen to reorganize his book to focus solely on this narrative. In what follows I outline the order by which I believe the book should be read to highlight the virtues of Dy’s contribution. Beginning with the short introduction, one should proceed to the first half (103–15) of chapter 3, “Buddhism as a Chinese Religion,” where there awaits a deft summary of a vast literature on Buddhist adaptation in China from the fourth to the thirteenth century that demonstrates how “unique Buddhist teachings evolved in China independently of India, and provided a direction for its later development among overseas Chinese” (106). The success of syncretism as a strategy of seeking acceptance serves as a valuable point of comparison when Buddhism later enters the Philippine Catholic setting. In China the Buddhist incorporation of Confucian filial piety into its teachings, for example, is mirrored in the Buddhist offering of prayer services in the Philippines on 2 November (All Souls’ Day) as a complement to traditional Chinese days for venerating the dead that usually falls on an April by lunar calendar reckoning (142). Dy’s thoughtful discussion (115–23) of monastic reforms during the Republican Period (1912–1949) in China and corresponding developments in Japanese- and later Guomindang-controlled Taiwan lays the context for the first half (21–39) of chapter 2, “Chinese Buddhism in the Philippines.” Dy first shows that Buddhist temple communities could only be established in the archipelago during the late nineteenth century when “there was declining interest in converting the Chinese” to Catholicism (22). He then goes on to map out the fascinating [End Page 108] twentieth-century transnational networks that brought monastics, nuns, and lay sisters called caigu from mother temples in Fujian and Taiwan to the Philippines and shows why they readily went beyond ritual to charitable work. Interestingly, in Dy’s dissertation the book’s chapter 3 is chapter 2 and vice versa, a more logical and chronological progression that leaves one puzzled with the decision to switch the chapters when the manuscript went to press. Chapter 4, “Scriptures and Devotions,” identifies the key texts, sutras, and spells that inform the liturgies and reveal the ritual concerns of both monastics and lay followers. As in China, predominant in the Philippines are funerary texts and prayers for the dead, which mark great concern for the afterlife, while those for the living lie mostly in the realm of averting disasters (xiaozai). Special attention is given to the popularity of the devotion to the bodhisattva Guanyin. Dy again is good at highlighting the transnational links between southern Fujian, the nearby island of Putuo (which Guanyin traditionally inhabited), and the Philippines. Due to their striking resemblance in appearance and character, Chinese and even Filipinos conflate Guanyin and the Virgin Mary, thereby providing a vivid example of...

Calderón’s Theater of the New World: Historical Mimesis in La aurora en Copacabana

Lope de Vega, in the dedicatoria to La campana de Aragon , included in the Parte XV de las Comedias , famously pondered historical drama as an effective means to “renovar la fama desde los teatros a las memorias de las gentes” (qtd. in Case 203–04). Due to its eminent ability to make history come alive before the eyes of the audience, the emerging historical drama was certainly the most popular instance of what may be termed the contemporary obsession with history, and thus the most important aesthetic vehicle for the formation of collective memory and cultural identity during this crucial period of nascent European nation states. Examining the case of Pedro Calderon de la Barca’s juxtaposition of orthodox Catholic religious practice and parallel Amerindian rites in La aurora en Copacabana , the present essay proposes a novel approach to his often misunderstood play about the military and religious conquest of Inca Peru, introducing the concept of “historical mimesis” to describe the universal or philosophical, plausible but not veristic, creative and performative staging of history.

The Ethics and Aesthetics of Architecture: The Anglican Reception of Roman Baroque Churches

For Anglican travellers in Italy, Rome had an ambiguous status. It was the seat both of high culture and of ‘superstitious’ Roman Catholic practices, including art and architecture. These extremes culminated in church buildings. This article studies the perception and reaction of English travellers in Rome towards architecture of the Roman Catholic Church and its influence on English church architecture. It will reveal the church building as an aesthetic object, in addition to possessing religious qualities, through the analysis of printed travelogues and engravings that circulated amongst the English Grand Tour travellers. By analyzing the travelogue discourse — with particular attention to descriptions of specific church buildings and any intentional omissions in these descriptions — and examining the relationship between these discourses and contemporary English aesthetic theories, I will demonstrate how a certain appreciation for Roman Baroque church architecture was made acceptable and could even inspire the design of English church architecture. As will become clear, the process of travel included the separation of moral and artistic values in aesthetic appreciation. This separation made the cultural transfer between Italy and England possible in the 17th and early 18th centuries.

Sofía Casanova y la narración de la Revolución Soviética en ABC

El objetivo de este artículo es el de mostrar como el desigual empoderamiento político de las mujeres durante la Primera Guerra Mundial, se mostró de una manera particular en Sofía Casanova debido a sus condicionantes biográficos y su contexto familiar. Su ideología conservadora y lo que Gisela Bock denominó como maternalismo social relacionada con la práctica católica, delimitaron en gran medida sus discursos en torno a la potencialidad política de sus actos, tanto en su labor como periodista como en su vida cotidiana en la época revolucionaria.

Seal of the Spirit: The Sacrament of Confirmation and Pentecostal Spirit Baptism

This paper offers a comparison of the Roman Catholic practice of confirmation and the classical Pentecostal understanding of Spirit baptism. It begins by examining the biblical texts which provide the basis of each ritual, and then moves on to develop each practice historically in reference to their ecclesial and personal significances. Despite obvious differences, a comparison of the practices illustrates that they serve both to empower believers for future service and to enter into a fuller ecclesial communion. The paper concludes with a reflection on the theological significance these practices, namely that they are ritual expressions of the transjective experience of the Spirit.