Roman Catholic Tradition Research Articles

Attitudes toward religious diversity among American exemplars of Christian virtue

An important concern within contemporary Western societies is how religious adherents view and engage religious diversity. This study attempts to further understandings regarding religious diversity in contemporary society through the accounts of American Christian religious exemplars whose religious identification spans the conservative evangelical, liberal Protestant and Roman Catholic traditions. Ninety‐six in‐depth interviews were conducted with individuals recognized by their congregational leadership as exemplifying Christian virtues and thereby Christian commitment. Weak denominational allegiances, accompanied by salient identification with broad Christian religious traditions were found. Mainline/liberal Christians tended to identify conservative/evangelical Christians as ‘others’, while conservative/evangelical Christians identified Mormons as ‘others.’ Also, a shift in attitudes toward Catholics was found among Protestants, and attitudes toward non‐Christian religions were respectfully civil across a range of theological understanding of these religions. The implications of these findings for religious identity in contemporary society are explored with particular attention to religious diversity.

Risking the Church: The Challenges of Catholic Faith. By RICHARD LENNAN.

The author notes that the Roman Catholic tradition stresses that Christian faith is not simply faith lived within the Church; it includes faith in the Church as a component of God's self-revelation. He tells us that his book will focus on the Roman Catholic Church. ‘Even more particularly, the “world” from which this book emerges, and which it seeks to address, is that of the Roman Catholic Church in contemporary Western culture’ (p. 3). He himself is an Australian. Chapter 1, ‘A Church in Peril’, gives a detailed account of the state of theology in the Catholic Church between the Council of Trent and the First Vatican Council and before and after the Second Vatican Council. This is clearly written and well documented. While it is true to say that Vatican II was primarily a pastoral council and did not go in for dogmatic definitions and condemnations of errors, Lumen Gentium's teaching on episcopal collegiality and the sacramentality of the episcopacy is important doctrinal teaching. Lennan thinks that there is an urgent need to consider how the Church of today should respond to ‘the present perilous situation’. ‘In fact, today's primary challenge is the reception of our tradition in the light of the present’ (p. 50). Chapter 2 outlines a theology of the Church that tries to meet this need. He stresses the need to hold together the Church's traditional riches, its present condition, and its hope for the future. He tells us that the two metaphors that are central to his theology of the Church are the contemporary metaphor taken from Juan Luis Segundo, who speaks of the Church as ‘an undreamed of possibility for love’, and another from the third-century theologian Hippolytus, who describes the Church as ‘the place where the Spirit flourishes’. This chapter goes on to explore the notion of ‘symbol’ and applies the theology of the symbol to the story of God's self-revelation in Jesus Christ. Chapter 3 develops in detail the implications of understanding the Church in terms of the Holy Spirit. Chapter 4 then investigates how institution, authority, and tradition relate to the Church's existence as the symbol of God's Spirit in human history. It discusses the difficulties that can arise from the institutional dimension of the Church today.

John Donne and Thomas More: An Elizabethan Catholic Legacy

John Donne was related to Thomas More through his mother Elizabeth Heywood, daughter of Joan Rastell, More’s niece. The persistent Catholicism of Donne’s family, and his connections to the powerful English Catholic nobility, grounded him in the Roman Catholic tradition. However, Donne struggled with this faith, writing anti-Catholic polemics (in 1610 and 1614), and he eventually conformed to the English Church in 1615. This was hastened by his illegal marriage (1601), which caused conflict with Sir Thomas Egerton and his wife’s brother, Sir George More. After his entry into the Anglican church in 1615, Donne’s sermons and poems continued to reflect the conflict with his Catholic heritage.

Ignatian spirituality as transformational social science

The value of spirituality in organizational life and in social research is becoming increasingly recognized by members of organisations and by social science researchers. In this article, the motifs of Ignatian spirituality, the heritage of Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556) – a transformational spirituality in the Roman Catholic tradition in which action is a central motif – are introduced and explored in terms of some of the main tenets of action research. This article shows how Ignatian spirituality contributes a faith-based transformational methodology to the field of action research.

Practicing the Order of Widows: A New Call for an Old Vocation

This essay argues for a renewed institution of an ancient Christian practice, the Order of Widows. Drawing on the Roman Catholic tradition's recent writings on the elderly, particularly the 1998 document from the Pontifical Council for the Laity entitled "The Dignity of Older People and their Mission in the Church and in the World," I argue that we find within the Roman Catholic tradition advocacy for a renewed understanding of the vocation of the elderly within the Church. Building on this, I then trace in the broadest of outlines some elements of what a renewal of the Order of Widows might look like. In doing so, it becomes clear how this new ecclesial practice addresses health issues of older women (devaluation, marginalization, loss of voice, impoverishment, debilitation, loneliness, isolation, and euthanasia). More importantly, such a practice moves beyond principles to demonstrate a concrete alternative. As such it would provide a powerful witness to the very culture the Church seeks to transform.

Terri Schiavo and the Roman Catholic Tradition of Forgoing Extraordinary Means of Care

Media coverage and statements by various Catholic spokespersons regarding the case of Terri Schiavo has generated enormous and deeply unfortunate confusion (among Catholics and non-Catholics) regarding Church teaching about the use of life-sustaining treatments. Two weeks ago, for example, I received a letter from the superior of a community of Missionary Sisters of Charity, who operate a hospice here in the United States The Missionary Sisters of Charity are the community founded by Mother Theresa, the 20th Century saint whose primary ministry was to rescue dying Untouch-ables from the streets of Calcutta and bring them into her convent where they were washed, sheltered, fed if they were able to eat, prayed for, and cherished. In other words, the sisters gave these poor souls the gift of a death with dignity. The order Mother Theresa founded has continued this ministry, running hospices in the United States and elsewhere for the homeless, the destitute, those dying of AIDS and poverty and drug addiction, and all those dying alone and otherwise unwanted.

Implications of the Papal Allocution on Feeding Tubes

The recent papal allocution To the International Congress on Life-Sustaining Treatment and Vegetative State. Scientific Advances and Ethical Dilemmas has been the occasion for much discussion concerning the use of artificial feeding tubes for nutrition and hydration. Briefly, the Pope stated in the March address that such tubes were a medical act and that their use represents a natural means of preserving life and is part of normal care. Therefore, their use is to be morally evaluated as ordinary and obligatory. If done knowingly and willingly, the removal of such feeding tubes is euthanasia by omission. The person's medical condition is not relevant in making a determination about the use of feeding tubes because the food and water delivered through such tubes is ordinary care and provides a benefit--nourishment to the patient and alleviation of his suffering. (1) What is interesting about this papal allocution is that it seems to represent a significant departure from the Roman Catholic bioethical tradition with respect to both the method and the basis upon which such decisions are made. The method announced by Pope John Paul II seems to be deontological. The use of feeding tubes to deliver artificial nutrition and hydration is declared ordinary, and such an intervention apparently ought not be forgone or withdrawn. Historically, the method for making a determination about the use of a medical intervention was to consider the proportional benefits and its harms to the individual, family, and community. The method is a teleological balancing of the impact of the intervention. This has been the central teaching of the tradition from the mid-1600s through Pope Plus XII and the 1987 Declaration on Euthanasia by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. (2) The examples of disproportionately harmful impacts in the Roman Catholic tradition range from the use of expensive medications, food beyond the budget of the individual, and interventions that are painful in both the short and long term, to the refusal of a physical examination if that will cause excessive embarrassment to the individual. Included in such a listing and specifically noted in the Declaration on Euthanasia is the financial impact on both the patient and family. Interventions that will provide a significant financial hardship need not be utilized. The question of the use of artificial feeding tubes has been much debated in Roman Catholic bioethics, especially when used for patients in persistent vegetative state. (3) One early statement was from the revered Jesuit moral theologian Gerald Kelly: I see no reason why even the most delicate professional standard should call for their [oxygen and intravenous nutrition and hydration for a patient in a terminal coma] use. In fact, it seems to me that, apart from very special circumstances, the artificial means not only need not but also should not be used, once the coma is reasonably diagnosed as terminal. Their use creates expense and nervous strain without conferring any real benefit. (4) There were further arguments made on both sides of the issue by theologians, bishops, and bishop conferences. Over time a consensus seemed to develop that the forgoing or withdrawal of artificial feeding tubes could be judged morally optional in some circumstances. The reason the papal statement is so startling to many is that it came out of the blue. It seems to depart from the tradition of Roman Catholic bioethics on how to analyze such questions and substitutes a deontological principle for the traditional weighing of benefits to burdens. Thus it raises a number of very practical questions for patients, theologians, medical personnel, and Catholic hospital administrators. One question concerns the authority of the statement. Traditionally, allocutions are given to a variety of groups that meet in Rome, but they have not always been seen as the locus for announcing a major policy shift. …

Religion as a Shelter

The custom of donating pictures is still alive in the Franciscan abbey and church at Mariaradna (Arad County, Romania). This provides the possibility of examining the relation between the people and pictures, between the people and the picture collection. In the examined multiethnic, multilingual and multicultural region of the Banat this Roman Catholic tradition of donating pictures has particular symbolic meanings of a religious, ethnic and cultural nature and is also related to the tolerance shown by the Franciscans towards manifestations of folk religion. The social and mental processes in the past decades in the Romanian Banat at could be characterised briefly as: flight from uncertainty and the search for security. Religion and the institutions of religion have a major role in this process.

Euthanasia, Physician Assisted Suicide, and Christianity's Positive Relationship to the World

This essay addresses the problem of communication between Christianity and the secular world in an area where the latter tends to oppose the moral norms endorsed by the former. How, in the interest of missionary outreach (and with which understandings of what such outreach involves) can the language barriers be bridged? Whereas the Roman Catholic natural law tradition posits a neutral common ground of (traditional or hermeneutical) rationality between Christianity and the world, an Ebeling- and Barth-modified Lutheranism engages in an argument ad hominem by seizing upon an admitted deficiency within that world, and by recommending Christianity for mending that deficiency. Both positions differ from the Evangelical claim that since that which the world politically values is derived from Christianity, it must remain subject to Christianity's moral legislation. An entirely different approach to the communication- and outreach-problem is taken by Orthodox Christianity: The gulf which separates it from the world is acknowledged, and the possibility of trans-gulf-traffic is referred to God's grace. It is only this latter model, however, which preserves Christianity's theological terms (such as "Scripture", "law", and "holiness") from common-ground-securing, deficiency-mending, or authority-imposing secularizing, and thus from compromising that very theological context into which communicative outreach endeavors were to invite.

Living and Active: Scripture in the Economy of Salvation

For all of the Bible's popularity, confusion reigns about what the Bible is, its relationship to God and to its human authors and readers, and its proper use. Living and Active answers these fundamental questions by looking anew at Scripture from the perspective of Christian doctrine.Rather than treating the Bible as a sourcebook for theology, Telford Work uses systematic theology to build a compelling new doctrine of Scripture that allows us to see the Bible at work accomplishing God's purposes in the world. Throughout the book, Work incorporates insights from the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, Anabaptist, and evangelical traditions. He also interacts with patristic theology, historical-critical methods of interpretation, and postmodern thought. As a result, Living and Active is the most relevant and ecumenical statement of Scripture now available.

Thy Kingdom Come: Patriotism, Prophecy, and the Catholic Hierarchy in Nineteenth-Century Poland

Few sentences have been more troublesome over the centuries than the second line of the Lord's Prayer: "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." 1 Many Christians have taken comfort in the promise that an earthly kingdom of God was approaching, and some have turned this hopeful conviction into a moral imperative, building a variety of political and social projects upon a theological foundation. When faced with a world that bore little resemblance to anyone's idea of a divine realm, they have assumed the responsibility of actively creating the kingdom of God. Christianity has generated such revolutionary utopianism from its earliest moments, but those in positions of clerical authority have almost always tried to repress the idea that faith could serve as the inspiration for radical political change. Within the Roman Catholic tradition in particular, theologians have attempted to domesticate the unsettling implications of the belief that God's kingdom was imminent.

No tradition, no civilization

Having lived in Europe for the last forty years, I have enjoyed the experience of my historical and cultural roots. My residence of the last thirty-five years, for example, was constructed the year that the Church of Scotland was founded, that Madrid became the capital of Spain, and the tobacco plant was imported to Western Europe by Jean Nicot. The buildings in my immediate Roman neighbourhood are much older. The Colonna Palace, half a block away from my front door, was described by the Italian humanist Petrarch (1304-1374). The final discovery-scene of ‘Roman Holiday’ was filmed there.Living in Europe is living in a place where the stones speak; however, if you have not done your homework, you will not understand what they are saying. Returning annually for three months to the United States, I have the experience of what the anti-Western-Civilization lobby would call ‘freedom’ from the obscurantism and oppressive burdens of a democratic Christian—especially Roman Catholic—tradition. I can enjoy the ‘freedom’ of a world without history, tradition and roots, the world of what Vance Packard called ‘fun culture,’ the realm of a superior and untethered virtual reality. In short, I return to a place where both the educational system and mass media assiduously avoid the ‘homework’ without which we cannot hear or understand what the stones of our European heritage have to tell us.An expatriate American author and actor living in Rome expressed his dismay to me, as far back as the early sixties, about the cultural tabula rasa that radically handicapped young Americans for understanding or appreciating their Roman experience in churches where they had no idea of what the religious paintings and sculpture represented because they were culturally un-equipped for any meaningful experience.

Euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, and Christianity's positive relationship to the world.

This essay addresses the problem of communication between Christianity and the secular world in an area where the latter tends to oppose the moral norms endorsed by the former. How, in the interest of missionary outreach (and with which understandings of what such outreach involves) can the language barriers be bridged? Whereas the Roman Catholic natural law tradition posits a neutral common ground of (traditional or hermeneutical) rationality between Christianity and the world, an Ebeling- and Barth-modified Lutheranism engages in an argument ad hominem by seizing upon an admitted deficiency within that world, and by recommending Christianity for mending that deficiency. Both positions differ from the Evangelical claim that since that which the world politically values is derived from Christianity, it must remain subject to Christianity's moral legislation. An entirely different approach to the communication- and outreach-problem is taken by Orthodox Christianity: The gulf which separates it from the world is acknowledged, and the possibility of trans-gulf-traffic is referred to God's grace. It is only this latter model, however, which preserves Christianity's theological terms (such as "Scripture", "law", and "holiness") from common-ground-securing, deficiency-mending, or authority-imposing secularizing, and thus from compromising that very theological context into which communicative outreach endeavors were to invite.

Spiritual Direction in the Roman Catholic Tradition

This article presents the practice of spiritual direction in the Roman Catholic tradition. Specific attention is given to: definition and description of spiritual direction, scriptural roots, Roman Catholic specificity, practice in the early Church and association with the beginning of Monasticism, and the impact of Vatican II. The development of different forms of spiritual direction is presented within the context of the variety of theological, philosophical, cultural, and historical biases evident throughout church history. The process of authentic spiritual transformation and the role of the spiritual director plays are described–-both as it was understood historically and in terms of the present practice. Contrasts between spiritual direction and traditional psychotherapy are proposed.

Met 'n lied in die hart

Psalms are songs that have principal importance in Jewish and Christian traditions; in the Eastern Orthodox and Western churches; in the Roman Catholic tradition and numerous Reformed divisions. Contemplation on this rich heritage considers the Psalm's contribution to the enrichment and magnification of the liturgy. The richness that the Psalms offer as song book, should be rediscovered and utilised. In this article, selected new Psalms, recently versified in Afrikaans by T T Cloete, are analysed. These Psalms are to be taken into official use on 28 October 2001. The place and function of hymnals is also considered. The church songs are analysed using three criteria: theological, literary, and musicological aspects.

Nature in Roman Catholic Tradition

It is often suggested in contemporary anthropology that Western views of nature are fundamentally different from those in "societies of nature," supposed to conceptualise the environment in non-dualistic terms. The author questions this view by discussing in some detail three different views on nature in Roman Catholic tradition. Firmly rooted in a dualistic worldview, although not as rigid as sometimes assumed, this tradition conceptually separates nature, humankind, and the divine. However, many features assumed to characterise non-Western views of nature, such as animistic beliefs and images of communion with nature, form an integral part of scholarly Roman Catholic thought as well as of popular religious practices. Roman Catholic tradition emerges as a dynamic tradition of ideas which allows the relationships between nature and other domains to be construed in diverse ways. [nature, religion, cosmology, Europe, Christianity]

Veni Cinderella Spiritus!

AbstractThrough a brief survey of developments in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit over recent years an obvious theological convergence is being witnessed between the Roman Catholic and Pentecostal traditions. Both traditions offer a form of sacramental pneumatology, both tie the Spirit to the Church and both traditions have been impacted by the charismatic renewal. This present article seeks to survey some of these similarities and offer some critical reflection on them, arguing that ultimately there is little to keep these two traditions apart.

The Primacy of Conscience in the Roman Catholic Tradition

Everybody is aware of having a conscience, but ideas of what conscience is and how it operates differ. This is not surprising, as conscience is a complex reality, susceptible to a variety of interpretations. The question of the primacy of conscience has also in recent times been the subject of debate. This article aims to shed light on the issue by reviewing the theological development of the meaning and function of conscience in the Roman Catholic tradition through some of the key witnesses of that tradition in the moral field. Most importantly, it stresses the often forgotten dimension of the role of the virtue of prudence in the formation and judgment of conscience. This helps to illuminate how the primacy of conscience is to be understood.

Towards a Christian Ethics of Animals

Ecotheologians and systematic theologians within the various Christian traditions have explored environmental problems. However, there has been little work by Christian ethicists from within the Roman Catholic tradition to develop an ethic of animals. This article remedies this defect Taking up and developing a line of ethical reflection upon animals which Aquinas derived from the Roman jurist Ulpian, it proposes an alternative to Peter Singer's animal ethic, which it finds unsatisfactory on several accounts.

Fides et Ratio: Approaches to a Roman Catholic Political Philosophy

The relationship between philosophy, revelation, and politics is a basic intellectual theme, either at the forefront or in the background, of all political philosophy. The 1998 publication of John Paul II's encyclicalFides et Ratiooccasioned much reflection on the relation of reason and revelation. Though not directly concerned with political philosophy, this encyclical provides a welcome opportunity to address many theologicalpolitical issues that have arisen in classic and contemporary political philosophy. The argument here states in straightforward terms how philosophy and theology, as understood in the Roman Catholic tradition, can be coherently related to fundamental questions that have legitimately recurred in the works of the political philosophers.