scholarly journals The Manager of Providence? Contemporary Catholic Thought Regarding Environmental Problems in the Light of Encyclical Laudato Si’

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 161-180
Author(s):  
Bartosz Jastrzębski
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
Property Law ◽  
Philosophical Foundations ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Legal Restrictions ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Church

Opposing ecology to Catholicism, or vice versa, has no dogmatic, theological or philosophical foundations – it is a purely rhetorical and political maneuver. Catholicism is, and must be, deeply ecological – although this necessity has not always been properly displayed (but it should also be admitted that circumstances did not require this). This is clearly evidenced by both biblical testimonies confirming the value of every being and the reflection of Tradition within the theology of creation. Similarly, in this context, there are no grounds for invoking the “holy property right” (as some conservative liberals and “libertarians” are willing to do) to justify the robbery and destruction of nature. Within the Catholic doctrine, property law is by no means holy, only conditional, and does not absolve us from treating property as a common good at the same time. Of course, this does not mean that Catholic teaching promotes in any way formal and legal restrictions on the right to property – such ideas have been repeatedly and decisively rejected by the Church. The limitation of the right of ownership is moral here – it is a postulate of justice and responsibility. At the same time, it is an expression of anthropological realism: we, all individual people, die, all families and nations expire and the earth, air and water remain. We are obliged to respect it. Opposing the good of the environment to the welfare of human communities makes no sense. Only extremely shallow and superficial reflection can build and invoke such oppositions. In general, this is not a reflection at all, but only an attempt to create ad hoc justifications for obtaining an easy income at the expense of the environment. With the current population of our planet, no one can perceive themselves or their immovable property as absolutely autonomous. We will be able to meet most of the most serious challenges related to environmental changes only when we understand our own responsibility for all living creatures along with their and our entire environment.

Theology as Work: The Mandatum and the Rights of Labor

Horizons ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-134
Author(s):  
Patrick T. McCormick
Keyword(s):  
Academic Freedom ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Catholic Social Teaching ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Church ◽  
Safe Working

ABSTRACTMany oppose the mandatum as a threat to the academic freedom of Catholic scholars and the autonomy and credibility of Catholic universities. But the imposition of this juridical bond on working theologians is also in tension with Catholic Social Teaching on the rights and dignity of labor. Work is the labor necessary to earn our daily bread. But it is also the vocation by which we realize ourselves as persons and the profession through which we contribute to the common good. Thus, along with the right to a just wage and safe working conditions, Catholic Social Teaching defends workers' rights to a full partnership in the enterprise, and calls upon the church to be a model of participation and cooperation. The imposition of the mandatum fails to live up to this standard and threatens the jobs and vocations of theologians while undermining this profession's contribution to the church.

“To Omit the Precise Rule and Strayt Observacion”: The 1572 “Bill Concerning Rites and Ceremonies” and the Campaign for Liturgical Diversity in the Elizabethan Church

2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-100
Author(s):  
Catherine Lila Chou
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
Book Of Common Prayer ◽  
Royal Supremacy ◽  
The Right ◽  
Regulatory Powers ◽  
Common Prayer ◽  
Politically Active ◽  
The Church

AbstractThe focus on the rise and stall of English Presbyterianism has obscured other attempts by politically active puritans to address the problems that bedeviled the Elizabethan church—in particular, how to reconcile a promiscuously international reform movement with the reality of a national church, and the desire for parish-level autonomy with royal supremacy and statutorily mandated uniformity of practice. This article takes as its subject one such attempt, the remarkable “Bill Concerning Rites and Ceremonies” introduced in the 1572 Parliament, which leveraged the episcopal structure of the church to the advantage of the godly, empowering bishops to grant individual priests the right to diverge from the Book of Common Prayer liturgy and to adopt elements of the rituals used by the French and Dutch “stranger churches” then worshipping in London. The bill's emergence at a very specific juncture, after the statutory confirmation of the Thirty-Nine Articles in 1571, illustrates how godly Protestants sought to use newly ratified regulatory powers to their advantage and to establish that only theological, not liturgical, uniformity mattered for a functional and true national church. Moreover, the bill was legally innovative, proposing to use episcopal power in disaggregated ways, thus institutionalizing the exceptions in worship that individual bishops had informally granted to the ministers under their supervision. It offered a remarkable vision of a national church that contained within it ad hoc and multinational liturgies and that was defined not by its adherence to one form of worship but by the supervision of an enlightened bishopric.

scholarly journals Institutional Religious Freedom in Full: What the Liberty of Religious Organizations Really Is and Why It an “Essential Service” to the Common Good

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 414
Author(s):  
Timothy Samuel Shah
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Organizations ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Negative Liberty ◽  
Essential Services ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Church

Should the freedom of churches and other religious institutions come down to little more than a grudging recognition that “what happens in the church, stays in the church”? In this article, I provide a more robust definition of what I call institutional religious freedom than a crabbed and merely negative understanding. In addition, I also go beyond a libertarian-style defense of institutional religious freedom as the ecclesiastical equivalent of the “right to be left alone” by suggesting a multitude of reasons why institutional religious freedom in a robust form deserves robust protection. Especially amidst exigent challenges such as the global COVID-19 pandemic, an anemic appeal to an ecclesiastical version of negative liberty on merely jurisdictional grounds will not be enough to defend religious organizations from an increasingly strong temptation and tendency on the part of political authorities—often acting on the basis of understandable intentions—to subject such organizations to sweeping interference even in the most internal matters. In contrast, the article offers an articulation of why both the internal and external freedoms of religious institutions require maximum deference if they are to offer their indispensable contributions—indeed, their “essential services”—to the shared public good in the United States and other countries throughout the world. Underscoring the external and public dimensions of institutional religious freedom, the article follows the work of law and religion scholar W. Cole Durham in that it analytically disaggregates the freedom of religious institutions into three indispensable components: “substantive”, or the right of self-definition; “vertical”, or the right of self-governance; and “horizontal”, or the right of self-directed outward expression and action.

Natural Rights or Political Prudence? Francis Hutcheson on Toleration

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Knud Haakonssen
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Natural Rights ◽  
Moral Life ◽  
Political Control ◽  
Francis Hutcheson ◽  
The Common ◽  
Moral Faculty ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Church

Francis Hutcheson is commonly seen as a theorist of natural rights, including the right to a free conscience. However, his notion of conscience is of a moral faculty that is subject to education and, under certain circumstances, to political control. By distinguishing between the possession and the exercise of a right, Hutcheson is able to argue that the right to toleration of the individual's conscience is dependent upon social and political circumstances and is, in fact, a matter of prudence, not of transcendent status. This argument coheres with Hutcheson>'s emphasis on the fundamental role of the common good in the moral life, with his aesthetic and providentialist idea of morality, and with his Erastian view of the church in general and of the Scottish Kirk in particular. This chapter shows that these ideas made Hutcheson the centre of contemporary controversy.

Limoges enamel censer top from Barnham, Sussex

1930 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 242-243
Author(s):  
Ralph Griffin
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Surface ◽  
Running Water ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Spectator ◽  
East End ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Church

The top of a censer in champlevé enamel recently dug up at Barnham, Sussex, was exhibited by the kindness of Mr. F. C. Eeles at the ordinary meeting of the Society on 30 January 1930. It was found in the earth at the east end of the chancel of the church. It is possible that further excavation may bring to light some further fragments of what must originally have been a very attractive object. As will be seen from the representation it is pyramidal with four tiers. The lowest was adorned with four raised foliated ornaments, somewhat like leopards’ faces, fixed on by pins to the smooth surface, which is ornamented with a running water-leaf pattern which shows clearly in the illustration. One of these applied ornaments has come off, but the pin shows the place where it has been. To the rim below were attached four loops for the chains to run in. One of these is lost, but the holes for its attachment can be seen on the right of the spectator. They are fixed at points exactly half-way between the applied bosses, though lower down. The tier above the lowest is pierced with 12 keyhole-shaped holes in groups of three, divided by a semicircular ornament in the space vertically above the bosses on the lowest tier. The tier above this again is pierced with 11 holes, similar though not quite so long vertically. These are divided by small vertical dotted lines in pairs, and below are 16 triangular insets for enamel or composition. These are divided into pairs by eight holes for pins. Two only of the pins remain. Their use is not apparent. The top tier has ornament all over it, forming four triangles patterned, divided by broad bands to the top and slightly tapered downwards. These bands are ornamented with double lines of dots as are the divisions between the holes in the tiers below.

Engaging with the State for the Common Good: Some Reflections on the Role of the Church

2009 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-180
Author(s):  
Peter Smith
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
The State ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
European Convention ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Church

The Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church establishes the right of the Church to proclaim the Gospel and expound it, and to proclaim moral principles especially when this is required by fundamental rights or ‘for the salvation of souls’ (Canon 747). While this was taken for granted for centuries, society and culture have undergone rapid and extensive changes, especially over the last forty years. From what was once a Christian society and culture, we have moved to a multicultural and secular society, and have seen the rise of ‘ideological secularism’. The place of religion and religious values in the public forum is being questioned, and an aggressive secularism seeks to reduce religion and its practice to the private sphere. However, a healthy secularity should recognise both the autonomy of the state from control by the Church and also the right of the Church to proclaim its teaching and comment on social issues for the common good of humanity. This right is recognised in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1950 European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. From the Church's point of view, this right was recognised for all religions in the Second Vatican Council's ‘Declaration on Religious Liberty’. We must defend that right because the Church exists not for its own sake but for the sake of humanity.

Confucian Perfectionism

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Chan
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Moral Rights ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Political Equality ◽  
Philosophical Foundations ◽  
Liberal Conception ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Conception Of The Good ◽  
The Right

Since the very beginning, Confucianism has been troubled by a serious gap between its political ideals and the reality of societal circumstances. Contemporary Confucians must develop a viable method of governance that can retain the spirit of the Confucian ideal while tackling problems arising from nonideal modern situations. The best way to meet this challenge, this book argues, is to adopt liberal democratic institutions that are shaped by the Confucian conception of the good rather than the liberal conception of the right. The book examines and reconstructs both Confucian political thought and liberal democratic institutions, blending them to form a new Confucian political philosophy. The book decouples liberal democratic institutions from their popular liberal philosophical foundations in fundamental moral rights, such as popular sovereignty, political equality, and individual sovereignty. Instead, it grounds them on Confucian principles and redefines their roles and functions, thus mixing Confucianism with liberal democratic institutions in a way that strengthens both. The book then explores the implications of this new yet traditional political philosophy for fundamental issues in modern politics, including authority, democracy, human rights, civil liberties, and social justice. The book critically reconfigures the Confucian political philosophy of the classical period for the contemporary era.

The Church on the World's Turf

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Bramadat
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Sexual Ethics ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Conservative Protestant ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Christian Fellowship ◽  
The University ◽  
The Church

Is it possible for conservative Protestant groups to survive in secular institutional settings? Here, Bramadat offers an ethnographic study of the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) at McMaster University, a group that espouses fundamentalist interpretations of the Bible, women's roles, the age of the earth, alcohol consumption, and sexual ethics. In examining this group, Bramadat demonstrates how this tiny minority thrives within the overwhelmingly secular context of the University.

Clergy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Hill QC
Keyword(s):  
Employment Status ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Church ◽  
And Training

This chapter focuses on the clergy of the Church of England. It first explains the process of selection and training for deacons and priests, along with their ordination, functions, and duties. It then considers the status and responsibilities of incumbents, patronage, and presentation of a cleric to a benefice, and suspension of presentation. It also examines the institution, collation, and induction of a presentee as well as unbeneficed clergy such as assistant curates and priests-in-charge of parishes, the authority of priests to officiate under the Extra-Parochial Ministry Measure, the right of priests to hold office under Common Tenure, and the role of visitations in maintaining the discipline of the Church. The chapter concludes with a discussion of clergy retirement and removal, employment status of clergy, vacation of benefices, group and team ministries, and other church appointments including rural or area deans, archdeacons, diocesan bishops, suffragan bishops, and archbishops.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allan Hepburn
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Roman Catholicism ◽  
Freedom Of Conscience ◽  
Oxford Movement ◽  
The Right To Privacy ◽  
The Right ◽  
Race And Religion ◽  
The Church

In the 1940s and 1950s, Britain was relatively uniform in terms of race and religion. The majority of Britons adhered to the Church of England, although Anglo-Catholic leanings—the last gasp of the Oxford Movement—prompted some people to convert to Roman Catholicism. Although the secularization thesis has had a tenacious grip on twentieth-century literary studies, it does not account for the flare-up of interest in religion in mid-century Britain. The ecumenical movement, which began in the 1930s in Europe, went into suspension during the war, and returned with vigour after 1945, advocated international collaboration among Christian denominations and consequently overlapped with the promotion of human rights, especially the defence of freedom of worship, the right to privacy, freedom of conscience, and freedom of expression.

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