scholarly journals The Church in a Pluralistic World: The Public Vision of Ressourcement

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 594
Author(s):  
Gabriel Flynn

The dual concern of this article is to present the vision of the church articulated by the renowned generation of Catholic ressourcement thinkers in the mid-twentieth century, and to demonstrate its continued fecundity in the pluralist, multi-cultural context of contemporary western society. It seeks to contribute primarily to ecclesiology, while also providing historical and social commentary with respectful suggestions for its relevance to present-day ecclesiology. The article provides an interpretative framework for understanding ressourcement with reference to its philosophical foundations and the vision of its founders. Its aims are, first, to articulate the role of ressourcement in the modern context and, secondly, to document the genesis and emergence of that movement’s perception of the church’s mandate in the world, based on an essential return to the sources of Christianity. The paper presents the public vision of ressourcement ecclesiology in two parts, drawing principally, though not exclusively, on the work of the two leading intellectual orders of the Catholic Church at the time of its formulation, namely, the Dominicans and the Jesuits of France.

2005 ◽  
pp. 85-96
Author(s):  
S.R. Kyiak

The problem of becoming a social doctrine of Ukrainian Christianity, in particular Ukrainian Catholicism, has become especially relevant today in theological, philosophical and religious sciences, since objective study contributes to the production of not only a true picture of the Church-theological identity of the Ukrainian Orthodox ), which entrenched the historically and theologically not justified name - Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), but also the place and role of Christianity in modern times. to this Ukrainian public life in general. Ukrainian Catholicism, represented by the Ukrainian Catholic Church, the heir to the Kyiv Church, has accumulated significant experience of collaborating with the public in various spheres of its activity, including in the social sphere, for more than a thousand years.


Politeja ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 14 (1(46)) ◽  
pp. 141-166
Author(s):  
Janusz Mariański

The Catholic Church in Poland in the area of public life: A sociological analysis For the last few years, a slow process of a specific “cooling down” of religious and Church commitment has been taking place in Poland. In this article we assume that religiosity with institutional protection still plays an important role in the Church landscape of Polish society and the sphere of public life. In Poland, a positive attitude vis‑à‑vis the Catholic Church is an important determinant of one’s religiosity. Individuals who do not have confidence in the Church, and who evaluate it negatively as an institution, tend to participate less in religious practices, and their faith seems to be weakening. Religiosity and commitment to the Catholic Church in Poland are very closely related to each other. There are no major discrepancies in the opinion as to the extent of the secularization of society among Polish sociologists, but there are differences in the assessment and understanding in terms of the social role of the Church. Discussions on the position and role of the Catholic Church in society still go on, and we are far from a conclusive diagnosis, especially regarding our understanding and acceptance of a “model Church” that should function in a democratic and pluralistic society. The final answers remain in the realm of hypotheses and assumptions. The majority of Poles are convinced about the Church’s influence in various spheres of public life, including the political sphere. This view is predominant among almost two thirds of adult Poles, but also among the youth (even to a somewhat greater extent). This means that the Church is perceived by part of Polish society as a quasi‑political institution, or at least one that attempts to fulfill political functions. This view, which is quite popular among Poles, has been maintained at a relatively stable level since 1989. Among those who believe that the Church takes up too much space in the public life of Poland are found those people in whom every reference to public matters results in a rejection reaction, as well as among those who take on a moderate attitude, who consider that it would be better if the Church were less involved in matters of public life, particularly political. Most Poles accepts the principle of separation of Church and state, even though close to half of those surveyed have nothing against authorities who follow the Catholic social teaching. The views of many Poles on the place and role of the Church in the public life of the nation are to a certain extent ambivalent, and even inconsistent and incoherent. A major subject of public controversy is the presence of religious symbols in public life space, although most of Polish society speaks about such symbols with approval.


2018 ◽  
pp. 135-146
Author(s):  
Paweł Stachowiak

The paper attempts to present the leading objectives and motives of the ‘Church’s policy of memory’ before and after 1989. The author states that, like many other institutions of public life, the Catholic Church implements its own policy to shape the collective memory of Poles, both in terms of legitimization and content. At the time of the Polish People’s Republic, the first and foremost objective of the ‘Church’s memory policy’ was to counteract the activities of the communist authorities, which were carrying out a project to restrict the Church’s influence to the narrowly understood field of the priesthood and which ultimately aimed at the atheization of Polish society. The emphasis on the historical symbiosis of Polishness and Catholicism served the purpose of defending the traditional form of Polish religiousness and providing the Church with social support in the struggle to maintain the public dimension of its influence. Despite the change in language, the present objective of the Church’s historical narration appears similar: to oppose these aspects of secularization trends that drive the Church away from public space and so intensifying the phenomenon of the privatization of faith. Whether in the past or present, the Church’s vision of the past is to secure its own stability as an institution and retain the role of a significant factor contributing to the national and state conscience of Poles.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 235
Author(s):  
Krisztina Frauhammer

This article presents the Hungarian manifestations of a written devotional practice that emerged in the second half of the 20th century worldwide: the rite of writing prayers in guestbooks or visitors’ books and spontaneously leaving prayer slips in shrines. Guestbooks or visitors’ books, a practice well known in museums and exhibitions, have appeared in Hungarian shrines for pilgrims to record requests, prayers, and declarations of gratitude. This is an unusual use of guestbooks, as, unlike regular guestbook entries, they contain personal prayers, which are surprisingly honest and self-reflective. Another curiosity of the books and slips is that anybody can see and read them, because they are on display in the shrines, mostly close to the statue of Virgin Mary. They allow the researcher to observe a special communication situation, the written representation of an informal, non-formalised, personal prayer. Of course, this is not unknown in the practice of prayer; what is new here is that it takes place in the public realm of a shrine, in written form. This paper seeks answers to the question of what genre antecedents, what patterns of behaviour, and which religious practices have led to the development of this recent practice of devotion in the examined period in Hungarian Catholic shrines. In connection with this issue, this paper would like to draw attention to the combined effect of the following three factors: the continuity of traditions, the emergence of innovative elements and the role of the church as an institution. Their parallel interactions help us to understand the guestbooks of the shrines.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 190-212
Author(s):  
Margaret Schabas

AbstractDavid Hume wrote prolifically and influentially on economics and was an enthusiast for the modern commercial era of manufacturing and global trade. As a vocal critic of the Church, and possibly a nonbeliever, Hume positioned commerce at the vanguard of secularism. I here argue that Hume broached ideas that gesture toward those offered by Max Weber in his famous Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904-5). Hume discerned a strong correlation between economic flourishing and Protestantism, and he pointed to a “spirit of the age” that was built on modern commerce and fueled by religious tolerance. The Roman Catholic Church, by contrast, came under considerable attack by Hume, for fostering intolerance and draining and diverting funds. Hume recognized several of the dispositions that later appealed to Weber: an increased work ethic and tendency to frugality, enterprise, and investment in Protestant regions. A neo-Weberian literature now points to additional factors, the spread of literacy and the fostering of a network of trust among strangers, both of which Hume noted. Insofar as modern commerce both feeds upon and fosters more liberties and representative government, Hume also linked these with the advent and spread of Protestantism. My aim is not to suggest that these arguments have merit—there is good reason to question each and every assertion under the historical microscope—but rather to highlight the broader religious and cultural context in which Hume’s economics was broached.


1989 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-381
Author(s):  
Arthur R. Liebscher

To the dismay of today's social progressives, the Argentine Catholic church addresses the moral situation of its people but also shies away from specific political positions or other hint of secular involvement. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the church set out to secure its place in national leadership by strengthening religious institutions and withdrawing clergy from politics. The church struggled to overcome a heritage of organizational weakness in order to promote evangelization, that is, to extend its spiritual influence within Argentina. The bishop of the central city of Córdoba, Franciscan Friar Zenón Bustos y Ferreyra (1905-1925), reinforced pastoral care, catechesis, and education. After 1912, as politics became more heated, Bustos insisted that priests abstain from partisan activities and dedicate themselves to ministry. The church casts itself in the role of national guardian, not of the government, but of the faith and morals of the people.


2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 396-408
Author(s):  
Daniel Ude Asue

This essay discusses Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Bill in Nigeria, with a focus on the contribution of the Nigerian Catholic Church to the law. Though the Catholic Church in Nigeria did not actively contribute towards the public debates about homosexuality that resulted into the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Bill it nevertheless welcomed the bill. However, the official teachings of the Catholic Church and elucidations from the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria could potentially contribute to creating an inclusive society. In what way can we potentially utilize the principles of Catholic Social Teaching to make room for an inclusion of homosexual persons in the life of the church and in society?


Exchange ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 383-397
Author(s):  
Jan Joris Rietveld

AbstractThe Cariri region is the most isolated and poor part of the rural zone of the diocese of Campina Grande in the Paraiba state of Brazil. The Catholic Church has been present here for a relatively short time: 335 years. Moreover the region has an isolated context and this favors conservatism so that only fundamental changes have an impact. These facts make the Cariri an interesting region for a case study about how Catholicism develops. I distinguish five periods, which are described with religious key words and situated in the socio-cultural context. This classification is a schematization: different types of Catholicism often exist together. It is obvious that the dominant features of Catholicism change with time, but in the mainstream of the fifth period we see a small revolution. Now there are not only influences in the socio cultural context and factors in the Church itself that cause changes, but there are also influences of powerful newcomers, the evangelical churches. Their main impact is that many people have left the Catholic Church and are going to live their old faith in a new form. The Catholic Church is searching for adequate ways to respond to this phenomenon.


Author(s):  
Felipe Gaytán Alcalá

Latin America was considered for many years the main bastion of Catholicism in the world by the number of parishioners and the influence of the church in the social and political life of the región, but in recent times there has been a decrease in the catholicity index. This paper explores three variables that have modified the identity of Catholicism in Latin American countries. The first one refers to the conversion processes that have expanded the presence of Christian denominations, by analyzing the reasons that revolve around the sense of belonging that these communities offer and that prop up their expansion and growth. The second variable accounts for those Catholics who still belong to the Catholic Church but who in their practices and beliefs have incorporated other magical or esoteric scheme in the form of religious syncretisms, modifying their sense of being Catholics in the world. The third factor has a political reference and has to do with the concept of laicism, a concept that sets its objective, not only in the separation of the State from the Church, but for historical reasons in catholicity restraint in the public space which has led to the confinement of the Catholic to the private, leaving other religious groups to occupy that space.


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