scholarly journals Alternative diplomacy and the political role of clerical elites: The Roman Catholic Church as an ideological counterforce in interwar Banat

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 347-358
Author(s):  
Mihai Panu
Author(s):  
Olha Vasylivna Vasilieva

The organizational structure of the religious organizations of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine is investigated in the article. The essence, directions, forms of activity of Catholic religious organizations in modern conditions of the Russian military aggression against Ukraine are analyzed. The peculiarities of the functioning of Ukrainian Catholic religious organizations on the occupied part of Donbas are characterized. The role of religious organizations of the Catholic faith in carrying out socially useful activities in Ukraine in the context of national security is highlighted.


Author(s):  
Stephen J. Hunt

This paper has argued that over some four decades the Catholic charismatics have been pulled in different directions regarding their political views and allegiances and that this is a result of contrasting dynamics and competing loyalties which renders conclusions as to their political orientations difficult to reach. To some degree such dynamics and competing loyalties result from the relationship of the charismatics in the Roman Church and the juxtaposition of the Church within USA politico-religious culture. In the early days of the Charismatic Renewal movement in the Roman Catholic Church the ‘spirit-filled’ Catholics appeared to show an indifference to secular political issues. Concern with spiritually renewing the Church, ecumenism and deep involvement with a variety of ecstatic Christianity drove this apolitical stance. If anything, as the academic works showed, the Catholic charismatics seemed in some respects more liberal than their non-charismatic counterparts in the Church. To some extent this reflected their middle-class and more educated demographic features. More broadly they adopted mainstream cultural changes while remaining largely politically inactive. As they grew closer to their Protestant brethren in the Renewal movement Catholic neo-Pentecostals tended to express more conservative views that were then part of the embryonic New Christian Right - the broad Charismatic movement becoming more overtly politicised in the 1980s. Somewhat later the Catholics were being pulled towards the traditional core Catholicism at a time the Renewal movement found itself well beyond its peak and influence in the mainstream denominations including the Roman Church. The Catholic charismatics were ‘returning to the fold’. During this period too the New Christian Right increased its attempt to marshal a broad coalition of conservative minded Protestants and Catholics. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s this proved to be largely ineffectual. The 2004 American Presidential election saw the initiation of the second office of George Bush. It seems clear that without the support of the New Christian Right - fundamentalist, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, charismatics - the victory would not have been secured. Based on research in South Carolina, however, suggests that the CR continues to be inwardly split and quarrels with other wings of the Republican Stephen J. Hunt: BETWIXT AND BETWEEN: THE POLITICAL ORIENTATIONS OF ROMAN CATHOLIC NEO-PENTECOSTALS • (pp. 27-51) THE CONTEMPORARY ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND POLITICS 49 Party, particularly business interests are evident.59 It is also apparent that into the twenty-first century there has proved to be an uneasy alliance in the New Christian Right, threatening to split along lines already observable in the 1970s and 1980s. For one thing the some of the political and social, if not moral teachings of the Catholic Church are at variant with such organizations as the Christian Coalition. The re-invention of the New Christian Right has not fully incorporated conservative Catholics nor Catholic charismatics. A further dynamic is that lay Catholics, charismatics or otherwise, have increasingly adopted a ‘pick and choose’ Catholicism in which there is a tendency to exercise personal views over a range of political issues irrespective of the formal teachings of the Church. To conclude, we might take a broader sweep in our understanding of the role of Catholicism in USA politics, in which the Catholic charismatics are merely one constituency. Recent scholarly work has pointed to the often under-estimated political influence of Roman Catholics in the USA. Genovese et al.60 show how today, as well as historically, Catholics and the Catholic Church has played a remarkably complex and diverse role in US politics. Dismissing notions of a cohesive ‘Catholic vote,’ Genovese et al. show how Catholics, Catholic institutions, and Catholic ideas permeate nearly every facet of contemporary American politics. Swelling with the influx of Latino, Asian, and African immigrants, and with former waves of European ethnics now fully assimilated in education and wealth, Catholics have never enjoyed such an influence in American political life. However, this Catholic political identity and engagement defy categorization, being evident in both left-wing and right-wing causes. It is fragmented and complex identity, a complexity to which the charismatics within the ranks of the Catholic Church continue to contribute.


1961 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel H. Barnes

Since the English conquest, the Quebec Roman Catholic Church has been the most important single agency for the defense and perpetuation of the French-Canadian heritage in North America. Although its commanding position is unchallenged, the Church has long shared its authority with elites in the political and economical spheres. These other elites, however, have by no means competed with the Church. Indeed, interchange and cooperation among elites have been characteristic of French-Canadian society. Viewed as essential to cultural survival, this close unity among elites has encouraged the retention of an ordered, hierarchical social structure with many pre-industrial features.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Angela Berlis

The contribution explores the question of how people react to situations and experiences of transition and radical change which have a major impact on their own lives. What kind of mindset do they develop in the process, who are their role models and how do they overcome spiritual hardship and marginalisation? The life and work of Charlotte Lady Blennerhassett, née Countess Leyden (1843–1917), serves as a case-study showing how learned liberal Catholics – in this case a lay noblewoman – dealt with their spiritual homelessness in the post-1870 ultramontanised Roman Catholic Church. Blennerhassett’s historical biographies reveal an interest in people in situations of threshold and transition. Through her writings on historical and cultural issues, Blennerhassett addressed topics as freedom, reconciliation of peoples and nations and ethical action. For her, the role of religion in this context was evident. The writings of Charlotte Blennerhassett, “the last European” (as she was described in obituaries), contributed to saving the non-ultramontane heritage from oblivion.


1974 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Bruce Kress

Julio Roca and the Generation of 1880 are best characterized by their liberalism. Indeed Argentine politics ever since the fall of Juan Manuel de Rosas had adopted an increasing liberal tone. These beliefs included the encouragement of constitutionalism, federalism, freedom, and democracy. The last two points were rather vague; and democracy, especially, was interpreted in a more theoretical than practical way by the aristocracy that remained in charge of political, economic, and social affairs. However, efforts to stress the immigration of workers and capital from Europe, a relatively free trade policy, and public education for all were more clear and determined. On most of these points, the leaders of the nation seemed to agree. But on another point, that of the role of the Roman Catholic Church in Argentine life, there was sharp disagreement. At no time was this more evident than during Roca's first administration, 1880-1886.


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