scholarly journals The Catholic Religious Presence in Civil Society: A Waning Influence

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 248
Author(s):  
Jo Renee Formicola
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Meaningful Change ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Social Agenda ◽  
Primary Obstacle ◽  
Global Church ◽  
State Relations ◽  
The Church

The Catholic Church is becoming a waning influence in global civil society. This is due, in part, to demographic changes that show an increasing loss of adherents within the Church’s traditional strongholds. Coupled with the growth of liberal social policies and continuing revelations about the crimes of sexual abuse by its clergy, the Church is being forced to reconsider how to continue as a moral advocate in civil society. It has sought to do this is by recalibrating its position in global church-state relations, moving toward a non-ideological or “third way” of politics, and seeking non-partisan solutions to social justice needs. However, even this shift has not been sufficient to address the erosion of the Church’s positive, political influence globally. For the Church to be successful in this goal, it will be necessary to totally re-set its social agenda as well as its religious priorities. Such tasks, however, will be difficult at best and almost impossible to accomplish where the primary obstacle for successful political efficacy and internally meaningful change is the Church’s own mismanagement of its two-millennia-old ecclesiastical structure.

Poland ten years after: the church

2000 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Korbonski
Keyword(s):  
Religious Education ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Holy See ◽  
Church Finances ◽  
Abortion Legislation ◽  
The One ◽  
State Relations ◽  
The Church

Ten years after the collapse of communist rule, church-state relations in Poland present a mixed picture. On the one hand, the Roman Catholic church continues to enjoy a privileged position in the country and has achieved most of its cherished goals. On the other hand, its very success carried with it seeds of its future decline. This was particularly true in several areas where the church's aggressive and arrogant behavior has proved counter productive: religious education, anti-abortion legislation, Christian values in mass media, antisemitism, murky church finances, the concordat with the Holy See, and the debate on the new constitution. As a result, there has been a steady decline in popular support for the church which itself has developed some serious rifts in its supposedly united posture. It may be hypothesized that the power and influence of the church actually peaked in the early 1990s and that, having absorbed some of the lessons from its decline, its future policies may well be less triumphalist and controversial, and more accommodating.

Communist Authorities and Missionary Activities in Poland, 1945-1990s

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-310
Author(s):  
Jaroslaw Rozanski
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Causal Explanation ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Missionary Movement ◽  
State Relations ◽  
Second World ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

AbstractMissionary activities were very strong in Poland before the Second World War. The establishment of a Communist regime after 1945 led to a break in the number of missionaries sent worldwide and, soon after, to a liquidation of all missionary institutions in the country. Because the Catholic Church was very strong, the state did not dare to launch an immediate and frontal attack on the church until 1947. From 1948 however, a full-blown campaign against the church began with nationalization, imprisonments and prohibitions, notably of mission activities. After 15 years, however, some forms of compromise between church and state began to appear. This allowed the Church to rebuild its missionary movement – as of 1965. The year 1980 saw the emergence of the Solidarity movement and the begining of the unmaking of Communism. It led to a revitalization of missionary activities and a normalization of church and state relations, particularly after 1989. The present article describes these developments, establishes a chronology and tries a first causal explanation of the decline and subsequent return of missions in Poland. It also looks at the inheritance of the Communist period for the Catholic Church in Poland.

scholarly journals Von der Trennung zur Communio

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-99
Author(s):  
Piotr Kubasiak
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
Political Sciences ◽  
Just Society ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Public Church ◽  
The Church

In view of current political and social challenges, the border between church and state, which was defined in the 19th century, should be reflected in a critical way. As a proposal, one could attempt to re–define this relationship by using the concept of civil society. The political sciences see the church as a part of civil society. The magisterium of the Catholic church and big parts of theology, however, never use this term. In order to better serve its mission, the church with its material and immaterial resources should begin to understand itself as a part of civil society. This requires the church to be transformed into a «public church” and theology into «public theology”, a transformation which will not only help to build a more just society, but will also help the church to fulfil its own mission.

scholarly journals The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Peruvian Catholic Church:

Lumen et Vita ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Juan Miguel Espinoza Portocarrero
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
Church Reform ◽  
State And Society ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Contribution ◽  
The Times ◽  
The Church

This paper examines the Peruvian Catholic Church's responses to the challenges of COVID-19, and how this context might constitute a new stage of the Peruvian Church’s reception of Vatican II. First, it values that the Catholic Church has performed a significant social contribution by distributing humanitarian aid, providing spiritual accompaniment, and articulating the civil society to face the needs raised by COVID-19. This paper argues that such response relates to the process of reception of Vatican II in Peru. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Peruvian Church developed pastoral structures and ecclesial networks that specialized in engaging with and serving the world. Nowadays, the Church offers those strengths to the State and society.  Second, this paper examines how the pandemic presents opportunities for a new discernment of the "signs of the times" by highlighting some pastoral challenges the Peruvian Church needs to address in light of Peru’s new social reality and Pope Francis’ call for Church reform.

scholarly journals Stanislav Orikhovsky's Views on Church-State Relations

2006 ◽  
pp. 116-128
Author(s):  
R. Mnozhynska
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
The State ◽  
Church State Relations ◽  
State Relations ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

Before talking about the vision of Orikhov's essence of the relationship between the church and the state, one must first determine what the church is about - Catholic or Orthodox. After all, the thinker lived in Poland when there were still strong, even parity positions of both denominations. He himself was brought up in a family where his father was Catholic and his mother was Orthodox. This was reflected in his mentality: he repeatedly publicly stated the benefits of certain tenets of the Orthodox faith. But most of all he settled on the problem of relations between the Catholic Church and the state.

scholarly journals La Iglesia Católica cubana y el Estado en 1959 según la circular Vida Nueva

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 27-37
Author(s):  
Emőke Horváth
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Cuban Revolution ◽  
Fidel Castro ◽  
Pastoral Letter ◽  
Cuban Government ◽  
State Relations ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

The paper analyzes the relationship between the Cuban government and the Catholic Church after the victory of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. The struggle of Fidel Castro and his fellow rebels against the Batista dictatorship was supported by a significant number of priests and catholic faithfuls. Three days after the victory of the Ejercito Rebelde, a pastoral letter with the title of Vida Nueva (New Life) was issued by Mons. Enrique Pérez Serantes, the primate of Cuba. This letter is a main source for the interpretation of the Church and State relations at the beginning of the political changes. The analysis of the letter helps to understand the attitude of the Catholic Church toward the new political system and it’s leader, Fidel Castro. After the victory of the revolution, despite the earlier promises, the new Cuban State vigorously opposed the Catholic Church. The new goverment began to weaken its institutional system, and aspired to the elimination of these institutions in some fields.

Clerical Education in Nineteenth-Century Mexico: The Conciliar Seminaries of Mexico City and Guadalajara, 1821-1910

1980 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 465-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
James H. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Mexico City ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
The Political ◽  
Traditional Role ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Church

The nineteenth century represented an era of declining influence for the Catholic church in Mexico, and no aspect of that trend created broader repercussions than the eclipse of the clergy's traditional role in higher education. Before the midcentury civil wars the conciliar seminaries graduated nearly as many laymen as did the public colegios, the majority of which in any case employed priests on their faculties. The seminaries, consequently, forged a vital link between the church and civil society, a link which potentially enhanced the political and social influence of the episcopate.

scholarly journals Witchcraft and the Modern Roman Catholic Church

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Young
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Developing World ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Global Church ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
Developed World ◽  
The Church

Witchcraft is rarely mentioned in official documents of the contemporary Roman Catholic church, but ideas about the dangers of witchcraft and other forms of occultism underpin the recent revival of interest in exorcism in the church. This Element examines hierarchical and clerical understandings of witchcraft within the contemporary Roman Catholic church. The Element considers the difficulties faced by clergy in parts of the developing world, where belief in witchcraft is so dominant it has the potential to undermine the church's doctrine and authority. The Element also considers the revival of interest in witchcraft and cursing among Catholic demonologists and exorcists in the developed world. The Element explores whether it is possible for a global church to adopt any kind of coherent approach to a phenomenon appraised so differently across different cultures that the church's responses to witchcraft in one context are likely to seem irrelevant in another.

scholarly journals Yosyp Slipyi in remembrance of him

2017 ◽  
pp. 124-126
Author(s):  
Mychailo Cherenkov
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Soviet Regime ◽  
Iron Curtain ◽  
History Of Religion ◽  
Valuable Source ◽  
Spiritual Culture ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
State Relations ◽  
The Church

"Memorial" of Metropolitan Joseph Slipyj is an important document of the confessional history of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. It is also a valuable source for anyone interested in the history of religion, the spiritual culture of Ukraine, the course of Orthodox-Catholic and church-state relations in the Soviet era. The author himself calls himself "a silent witness of the Silent Church" (p. 427). In this confession, there is an indescribable tragedy of the personal destiny of the Metropolitan, as well as the fate of his Church. When I wanted to scream the world over the crimes of the Soviet regime against the Church, I had to remain silent, only to pray. The persecuted Church could not tell the world what was happening, her voice did not break through the "Iron Curtain". But she survived and lived - in catacombs and prisons, in the hearts of simple believers and confession museums.

scholarly journals Collisions of Local and Spiritual in State and Public Activities of Metropolitan Ilarion (Ivan Ohienko)

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-130
Author(s):  
Serhii Bondar
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Nonlinear Evolution ◽  
Deep Level ◽  
National Character ◽  
Public Office ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
The People ◽  
Significant Figures ◽  
State Relations ◽  
The Church

The article clarifies the views of one of the brightest and most significant figures of the Ukrainian church — Metropolitan Ilarion (Ivan) Ohienko on the spiritual and secular service to Ukraine and his practical activities, which naturally effectively combined these two aspects. This article notes that an important element that united the two ministries and substantiated them was the deep level of their interpenetration, where Orthodoxy acquired a national character based on traditions. The article concludes that during this ministry his views on the church did not undergo nonlinear evolution, but only acquired depth and system. Even when Ivan Ohienko was in public office or abroad, he attached great importance to moral, ethical and ecclesiastical issues. Despite the ideological closeness with the views of another prominent Ukrainian church figure Andrei Sheptytsky on church-state relations, education and revival of the Ukrainian nation, language and culture as factors of Ukrainian identity, Ivan Ohienko was still skeptical of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, seeing in it is an instrument of Catholicization of the Ukrainian people. Ohienko believed that in reality only an autocephalous church could be Ukrainian, which relied exclusively on the traditions and needs of the people. This was the criterion of the truth of Orthodoxy for him.

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