Roman Catholicism

This paper looks at the journey of eleven counsellors in marital counselling centres in French-speaking Belgium, from the creation of the centres in 1953, to the 1970s, when contraception became legal, and abortion became a public issue. At the time of Humanae Vitae, groups of volunteers, working within Catholic organisations where counselling took place, began to structure their activity around Carl Rogers’s ethics of client-centred therapy, placing their religious ideology in a secondary position to focus on the problems experienced by the couples and women they were receiving in the centres. These were often challenges they were experiencing themselves in their own lives. The reiteration of the Catholic orthodox view on contraception through Humanae Vitae marked a gap between the counsellors and the Church. This contribution questions the identity-related tension of Catholics working in conjugal counselling centres and the type of commitments they made to both the conjugal centre...

Until the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s, the Catholic Church had an almost unchallenged monopoly on public education in French Canada. Generations of French Canadian children were taught at the primary and secondary levels by various male and female religious orders according to a curriculum that infused almost every element of education with the fundaments of the Catholic Faith. But there is something of an apparent paradox at work when we consider this curriculum: how can an educational system that is so fundamentally Catholic give such prominence to pre-Christian Greek and Latin authors, and why did ‘pagan’ mythology and religious traditions figure so prominently in studies of all levels? Why did a Catholic system spend so much time teaching non-Catholic literature and religious material? This chapter addresses this question by examining in detail the place of mythology in a variety of primary pedagogical materials used in French Canadian schools from the foundation of the colony until the publication of the Commission Parent’s report in 1964. The evolving place of classical mythology in French Canadian education is tracked from the establishment of the colony in the 17th century through to the vociferous debates among the clergy over the place of pre-Christian authors in Catholic education which erupted in France in the mid-19th century and then spilled into French Canadian in the 1860s. The perceived benefits and threats posed by such a mythological education are analysed through the assertions of a variety of contemporary commentators. By means of conclusion, the prominence of Classical mythology and ancient authors in the curriculum is viewed in relation to the evolving national mythology of French Canada itself, according to which the French Canadian Catholic establishment becomes the direct successor to the Classical past.

Full volume is available open-access at this link:
https://www.wuw.pl/product-pol-14887-Our-Mythical-Education-The-Reception-of-Classical-Myth-Worldwide-in-Formal-Education-1900-2020-PDF.html

I recently published a book about the theological, canonical and practical elements involved in forming a new religious community in the Catholic Church.    This paper provides the way to purchase the book, its description and the table of contents.

History shows that a commitment to solus Christus is based upon Scripture and the earliest Christian documents. Commitment to this doctrine was lost, though, after extra-biblical and traditional elements entered the church and became authoritative. The Reformers, on the other hand, understood that these traditions were simply the traditions of men. A commitment to the authority of Scripture for faith and practice resulted in a commitment to salvation mediated by Christ alone. The result is that God receives all of the glory for salvation since it is sought solely through His Son.

Knjiga "Iskrice sv. Ignacija: Misli sv. Ignacija Lojolskog za svaki dan u godini tumači Gábor Hevenesi". Kuče, Marignacija d. o. o., 2021., 394 str., 2 slike. Preveo Jozo Vela. Uredila i Pogovor napisala Marica Čunčić.
Ova je knjiga dio baze znanja civilizacije kakvu poznamo. To je prvi hrvatski prijevod latinskoga djela Scintillae ignatianae, sive sancti Ignatii de Loyola, Societatis Jesu Fundatoris, apophtegmata sacra, per singulos anni dies distributa et ulteriori considerationi proposita, Viennae, Austriae, Typis Joannis Georgii Schlegel, Universitatis Typographi, 1705.

This paper deals with the relation between God and the secular legal systems of Western liberal democracies. It provides a normative argument for the compatibility of God and secular legal reasoning. In our age, in which believing in God is no longer socially axiomatic and the right to religious freedom protects all kinds of theistic and non-theistic religious beliefs, creeds, and first philosophies, it seems contrary to religious neutrality for secular legal systems to single out God. This paper instead argues that, although God and religion are inextricably intertwined, they affect the legal system in different ways because they are ontologically different. God cannot be reduced to a mere component of theistic religion. This paper argues that a proper understanding of secularization might call for keeping God outside the legal system but not for driving God out of the public sphere of democratic societies. Secular legal systems are not atheist legal systems. Secular legal systems are legal systems 'without religion' but not 'without God.' Secularization implies some degree of minimal recognition of God as a metalegal concept. The specific degree of recognition of God appropriate for any given political community depends on its cultural and communitarian identity and should be subject to the rules of democratic procedures and majorities. This is the metalegal God.

PROGRAMMA
8:45 SALUTI INIZIALI
9:00 RELAZIONE INTRODUTTIVA Antonio Castellano, Carlos García Andrade, Luca Bianchi
9:40 CARISMA FRANCESCANO E MISSIONE ACCADEMICA Raffaele Di Muro, Carlos Salto Solà
10:20 PAUSA
10:50 CARISMA SALESIANO E MISSIONE ACCADEMICA Michal Vojtas, Piera Ruffinatto
11:30 CARISMA DELL’UNITÀ (CHIARA LUBICH) E MISSIONE ACCADEMICA Daniela Ropelato, Federico Rovea
12:10 DIBATTITO
13:00 PRANZO
BUONE PRATICHE
14:30 IL PROGETTO ‘UNIVERSITÀ FRANCESCANA E IL ‘LABORATORIO TEOLOGICO FRANCESCANO’ Mary Melone, Donatella Forlani
15:10 L’ESPERIENZA DI FORMAZIONE DIDATTICA PER DOCENTI UNIVERSITARI DI ROMA, Mario Comoglio
15:50 IL PERCORSO DI FORMAZIONE A SOPHIA: COMMUNITY LIFE, INTER E TRANS-DISCIPLINARITÀ, Daniela Ropelato, Aiza Asi
16:30 PAUSA
16:45 DIBATTITO
17:30 CONCLUSIONE Fabio Ciardi

PROLOGUE of this paper is an extreme detail analysis of Chartres Cathedral's the symbolism embedded into the three Rose Windows. The whole purpose of this paper is to illustrate how Ezekiel's Merkabah is symbolized by the North and South Rose Windows. This analysis will demonstrate the pivotal esoteric teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. The history of Chartres will be discussed along with some of its sculpture. This is the second paper in a three part series on the analysis of Ezekiel's Merkabah. Part-One of the series will be on Ezekiel's Merkabah in the first chapter of Genesis and Part Three will be on Ezekiel's Merkabah laid out symbolically in the Sistine Chapel. Part-Two of the series is published first; because, I was well into writing it and; because, I had already written a paper on Ezekiel's Merkabah in the first chapter of Genesis; however, that second version has to be revised to incorporate other interpretations of the texts of the first chapter of Genesis in order for the initiate to envisage the symbolism laid out in Chartres Cathedral and the Sistine Chapel.

This was a research paper for a course entitled Feminist and Multicultural Theologies. I unpack what gender complementarianism is, examine its history, and compare it to how Scripture and earlier Christian Tradition understood gender. This allows me to establish that gender complementarianism is a recent innovation in secular and Christian thinking about gender, and that it can be described as a "trajectory" from Scripture and Tradition on gender, influenced by social, ideological, and intellectual developments in secular societies. I then pursue a critique of gender complementarianism, arguing that it is an "unsatisfactory trajectory" because it has troubling implications for orthodox theology, is not borne out by empirical experience and observation, and has harmful effects on human beings and societies and on ethical development.

Purple Hibiscus is an African postcolonial Gothic tale cautioning and warning against the falsely assumed sense of absolutism of the Roman Catholic Church and its definitive contestation with the concept of tradition. Adichie’s auto-fiction tells a tale of a child transgressing beyond a complicated set of interwoven boundaries in order to find herself and establish herself in the realms of religion and tradition – embodying two assumed contesting concepts. It is only through an extreme disassociation with herself that Kambili finds a sense of physical and emotional piece and forgiveness – she assumes the role of Kambili that was previously denied by her tyrannical father. Kambili’s shared, yet emotionally exclusive experiences with her mother and brother Jaja, provided the opportunity for these characters to emancipate themselves from the absolutist dystopian reality they were led to believe was the only reality.

This article explores a wide range of issues linked to the central theme: the use of the smartphone in the period of early formation of candidates intending to join the Salesians of Don Bosco. It begins with a brief presentation of the growth of the Internet and highlights some of its social consequences. It looks back at the founder's attitude to technological change, and examines the Salesian documentation already available on social communication. A mini opinion poll among members of an international group of young religious and priests accustomed to smartphone-use helps to concretize the dilemma, while the Salesian World Coucillors of Communication and Formation are invited to share their views. The article concludes by providing some guidelines for the formation of candidates to Salesian consecrated life in a globally networked society.

DEATH AND THE INTERMEDIATE STATE: COMPARISON OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC, ORTHODOX, AND PROTESTANT DOCTRINAL VIEWS ABOUT THE CHRISTIAN’S ETERNAL STATE

PAPER TYPE:  Synthesis and Expository

THESIS STATEMENT:  The study will contrast and compare Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant doctrines concerning death and the intermediate state, with the purpose of understanding what happens to the soul upon death, the intermediate state, the resurrection of the body, and how its implications affect the way we live our lives in preparation for our eternal life. 

ABSTRACT:  Death is as much a part of life as life itself.  One day, everyone will die, and until that day, most will encounter the death of a friend or a loved one.  For unbelievers, death is tragic, and yet for Christians, death is the servant who ushers us into God’s presence.  However, erroneous beliefs abound to the point of superstition.  In Kallistos Ware’s article, ‘One body in Christ’: Death and the communion of the saints, he described how little the immanence of death is discussed in Western churches and how we should instead discuss it as a vital part of life, rather than something that hits us when we least expect it. 

When Christians fail to properly understand death, the intermediate state, and the resurrection to come, it minimizes the missional impact of the church on our culture.  In N.T. Wright’s book, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, Wright explains the importance of understanding the resurrection in such a way that it influences the way we live in the body and propels us to a greater emphasis on building the Kingdom. 

Different theological views abound when the intermediate state is compared between the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant faiths.  Roman Catholicism teaches Purgatory as the state where the souls are purged from venial sins. Alan Schreck’s book, Basics of the Faith: A Catholic Catechism describes the purging process, not as a second chance, but as an exercise of God’s infinite mercy.  Richard P. McBrien’s book, Catholicism, explains the doctrine from Scripture and its development from its patristic roots. 

Kallistos Ware’s book, The Orthodox Way, describes “A journey into the infinite” (Ware, 137) and how this concept befuddles our “fallen imagination” (Ibid.).  Constantine N. Tsirpanlis, Introduction to Eastern Patristic Thought and Orthodox Theology, argues against the doctrine of Purgatory outright, claiming that no eastern or western patristic father taught the this doctrine. 

From an Anglican Protestant perspective, Wright described paradise as the Christian’s state of blissful rest, but not sleep, but in a state of conscious presence with Christ, awaiting the final resurrection.  What we believe about the resurrection, ought to shape the way that we view the mission of the church and the manner in which we live in the body until we meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the veil of death.  Death is the servant who ushers us into the very presence of Christ and is nothing to fear.

GRAHAM GREENE’S CATHOLICISM: FIRST, AN INTELLECTUAL BELIEF IN GOD
THE POWER AND THE GLORY II

In this second bulletin, I outline the first two of three forms of Greene’s religion: 1) the Erastian public school Anglicanism undergirding state morality in which Greene was raised, 2) the intellectual Catholicism he adopted on the basis of argument. In the third bulletin, I shall deal with 3) in distinction from that, “conversion.”.
The Power and the Glory explains Greene’s conversion to the Catholicism he saw in Mexican peasants and described in The Lawless Roads (1939), the travelogue which gave the background, places, and many of the characters and situations for The Power and the Glory (1940). In Mexico he lived briefly, but determinatively, with a religion which embraces pain and martyrdom as ways into God, and intuits the indestructibility both of  the human need for the priestly sacrifice, and God’s provision for it. So The Power and the Glory concludes: “‘My name is Father –’ But the boy had already swung the door open and put his lips to the hand before the other could give himself a name.” 
In contrast, after descriptions of the ugliness and violence of Mexico suggesting that he is putting what he found there behind him, The Lawless Roads describes Mass back in Chelsea (London):

Mass in Chelsea seemed curiously fictitious: no peon knelt with his arms out in the attitude of the cross, no woman dragged herself up the aisle on her knees. It would have seemed shocking, like the Agony itself. We do not mortify ourselves. Perhaps we need violence. 

Greene then lists the institutionalized and unnoticed violence of daily life at the time in London, from the ugliness to the airplanes and motor vehicles. When seeing this ordinary violence in our way of life, Greene anticipated our recent change of consciousness. What we now recognize as world destructive violence, we previously took as the benign advances of rationality.
This kind of reversal of our normal evaluations is typical of Greene. So for example, The Ministry of Fear (1943) centers on the deep evil of pity “Pity is the worst passion of all.”  Just so The Quiet American exposed the murderous destructiveness of innocence. Greene’s transvaluation of values is of Nietzschean dimensions. His novels are a substitute for the metaphysical theology the English mostly lack (Charles Williams, a poetic theologian, is an exception) and his metaphysics, the novels, and his mind operate by the union of extremes. The coincidence of opposites is fundamental to Hellenic and Catholic theology. Thus,  in The Power and the Glory, and many other works (e.g. , The Quiet American,  The Comedians, The Human Factor, The Honorary Consul, Getting to Know the General, Monsignor Quixote), there is an equal concern with Marxist Communism and Catholicism. Like Williams, he regarded dogmatic Catholicism and Communism as the two defining contemporary phenomena.

Espoir utopique d’une période, le thème de la « conversion de l’Angleterre » a structuré de nombreuses initiatives missionnaires du catholicisme anglais entre les années 1830 et 1990. Le présent article s’intéresse plus particulièrement à la campagne pour la « conversion de l’Angleterre » entre les années 1838 et 1914 et aux liens qui unirent autour d’elle catholicismes français et anglais. Nous présenterons les deux grandes archiconfréries de prière qui animèrent cette campagne avant de conclure sur les raisons qui poussèrent à son renouvellement au sortir de la Grande Guerre.

Pourquoi l'illusion qu'on peut séparer le marxisme de l'athéisme se maintient-elle? Comme l‘a remarqué G.M.-M.Cottier O.P., c'est au moment où le mouvement marxiste donne des signes de crise qu'un nombre croissant de chrétiens semblent attirés par lui. L'effondrement du monolithisme doctrinal est sans doute à l'origine de cette idée qu'il est possible d'opérer un tri entre divers aspects du marxisme isolables les uns des autres, comme l’a essayé notamment G.A.Wetter S.J. L’auteur montre que l'athéisme est une part intégrale de la conception de Marx. C’est valable également pour sa „conception matérialiste de l’histoire“, appelée plus tard „le matérialisme historique“. De plus, comme l’ont formulé les évêques français, le problème n'est pas seulement celui qui oppose l'athéisme et la foi, c'est la divergence entre deux conceptions de la nature, de l'homme, de la société et de l'histoire".

The course is a journey through 250 years of Italian history, from the French revolution to the current pontificate of Pope Francis. The aim is to capture fundamental moments and issues in the religious life of the Italian people. While focusing mainly on Italy, the course will also take into account questions and events that relate to the broader history of Western societies. The primary type of documents that will be examined are the papal encyclicals (official letters authored by the popes). The course will study the theological and political content of the encyclicals, as well as their linguistic and stylistic strategies. While focusing primarily on pontificates and their intellectual production, the course will pay attention also to the religious life of the people and the documents that reveal their devotion and beliefs. In this regard, the class will shed light on the historic tensions and conflicts in Catholic history between the religious canon (that is the set of laws and norms produced by the Holy See across the centuries), and the actual practices and beliefs of the people.
The course will be delivered in a seminar mode and host contributions from notable external scholars. Students will be invited to give presentations, comment on the readings, and be actively engaged all the time. Attention will be paid to the original Italian documents or their translation. Students with no knowledge of the Italian language are welcome to join.

The primary purpose of this article is to analyze the government-debt crisis in Greece between 2008 and 2015 from a historical and psychological perspective, utilizing Jungian theory of archetypes. Thus, the proposed archetypes, responsible for the internal and external culture clashes, are the Intellectual, the Merchant, and the Patriarch. The secondary purpose of this article is to draw an analogy between the happenings of the Greek government-debt crisis and the current chaos of coronavirus era and offer several lessons that may help to change the course of the history, or at least individual perception of it.

Nowadays the Roman Catholic Church is one of the leading in the confes- sional structure and missionary activity of Christianity, not only in Europe, but also in a number of countries in Asia, Africa and South America. In many re- gions the programs for the Evangelization of the local population are develop and implement. Doing the missionary work among the various peoples, the Catholic Church meets with a variety of cultures and is involved in the so-called process of inculturation. Inculturation is one of the basic principles of modern missionary activity of the Roman Catholic Church.

Chapter 3 in Mark Bosco, SJ, and Brent Little, eds. _Revelation and Convergence: Flannery O'Connor and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition_.  Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2017. 78-98.  Discusses Flannery O'Connor's narrative approach to the possibility of a fictional knowledge of another person's heart by positioning her narrative ideas and practices within a debate (of which O'Connor was aware) carried out between François Mauriac and Jacques Maritain, and recently developed further by Jean-Louis Chrétien in his two volume _Conscience et roman_.

In this article, I am not interested in providing an elaborate analysis of mutual dependency between politics and religion - even if I agree that such a relationship exists and that it has very important social arrangements and consequences. My aim is not to examine current Church-State relations in Poland. Basically, I am interested here in two areas. These cover: (1) Some aspects of the cultural situation of the Roman Catholic Church in the country from the point of view of defying Church as a cultural group; (2) An analysis of the declining number of positive evaluation of the Roman Catholic Church 's influence upon public life carried out by prominent representatives of the Church.

---------------
Domination, Subordination and the Roman Catholic Church in Contemporary Poland, /w:/, Irena Borowik (red.), Church - State Relations in Central and Eastern Europe, 'NOMOS' Publishing House, Kraków 1999, ss. 346-363.

To Avoid misunderstanding, I should note at once that my point of view is here not that of the mere logic of ideas and doctrines, but that of the concrete logic of the events of history.
From the first point of view, that of the mere logic of ideas and doctrines, it is evident that there are many possible positions other than the “pure” positions which I shall examine. One might ask theoretically and in the abstract, what value these various positions have. That is not what I plan to do. In a word, my point of view is that of the philosophy of culture, and not that of metaphysics.

In their annual festival in an eastern village of the Yucatan state, participants verbalized, discussed, and disputed two main understandings of Catholic commitment after a Catholic priest asked his parishioners to reconsider the effects of their ritual offerings. His teachings about compromiso signaled other ritualized practices, which compose the concept: promises and sacrifices. In direct contrast to the priest's teachings, local ritualists understand that solemn promises and sacrificial exchange work, however, as encompassments of the notion of commitment. On the other hand, the priest's notion of engagement with the sacred takes its main force from the representation of the work of dying of sacrificial victims. Overcoming an apparently insurmountable pair of opposites, ritual and sacrificial, he defines commitment as vicarious sacrifice, inaugurating for his audience a new representational dimension.

Death be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so. " Penned by John Donne, this sonnet verse proclaims man's attempt to face the inevitability of death without fear. It is a cultural tool used to undercut death, a way to symbolically defend against the biological certainty contained in our mortal nature. This theme of battling and rectifying fear of death is perhaps as old as man. We are mortal, we are aware that we are mortal and in the face of this, we look for meaning, guidance and answers to fundamental questions that permeate our mortal existence. One such question asks, what, if anything happens to us after we die? Throughout history, man has tried many ways to answer this question. It is true to say that avoidance has been and still remains a chief weapon. Death for many is marginalised to the corner of one's mind. Others talk of death only in those times when you simply cannot avoid it, with the passing of a loved one, family friend or even beloved family pet. Then we are reminded of an inalienable truth, we have only a limited time on this earth, we have at best a few decades on life's stage and one way or another, whatever way we do speak of death, it is death that will have the last word. Facing the void: culture and religion So with this in mind, how have people, both now and in the past coped with this knowledge of their inevitable demise? Where did and do they source meaning in the face of death and loss? In many ways here, culture becomes key and within that religious or spiritual belief offer answers. Religion has historically, and for many, still continues to offer the greatest hope. We often find solace in the transcendent. A large variety of religious beliefs accomplish this by declaring to followers that they will survive death, they can in fact live on, although in another form, following biological demise. More than that, various forms of religious theology tell followers that they will be with God in the next life, and perhaps more importantly for some, they will also be reunited with those whom they love, those that have gone before us. Christianity is one such religion. Often referred to as a 'salvationary religion', that is to say a religious tradition that offers belief in life after death, Christians, particularly Catholics, are told that if they live their lives in accordance with the teachings of their faith, Heaven awaits. This comes with a cautionary clause however. If they wander from the path of Church's ethical teaching and do not repent before death, then Hell awaits. For Catholics however, there is a middle ground: you may not have lived a perfect life, but Heaven can still be yours.

The Bamiléké of Cameroon have long believed that after the corpses of their ancestors have rotted they can be exhumed and the skulls used to communicate with the spirits of the dead, as well as their godhead, to receive spiritual guidance. The religious rite, which has necromancy at its fulcrum, is of ancient origin and the Bamiléké have practiced it for thousands of years. Urbanisation has impinged upon the Skull Cult as it is forbidden to move ancestral skulls, which must at all times remain in the natal village of the deceased. Nevertheless, city-dwellers who are beset by misfortune may travel to the birth places of their ancestors to honour them and perform rites to propitiate them. However, although urbanisation has adversely affected the practice, it is the Catholic Church that has most infringed upon the Skull Cult. Due to pressure from the officiants of the local Catholic Church, which has labelled the skull cult 'barbaric' and even Satanic.

In "Was the Reformation a Mistake?" Matthew Levering examines the Protestant Reformation from an epistemological perspective, that is, whether the reformers correctly challenged the truth claims of the Roman Catholic Church. The subtitle summarizes the thesis of the book: Why Catholic Doctrine is not Unbiblical. The Bible tells Christians to seek truth together with the church as a whole, which Levering suggests will lead to an openness to the teachings of the Catholic Church. In the afterward, “A Mere Protestant Response,” Kevin Vanhoozer, Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, provides a lively and incisive rebuttal from an evangelical perspective.

La crise de l'Église catholique de France est devenue un lieu commun sociologique : 56 % des Français se disent encore catholiques mais seulement 4,5 % assistent à la messe chaque semaine. En Europe, la France est aujourd'hui l'un des pays de culture catholique où l'observance religieuse est la plus faible : déclin des baptêmes, des ordinations, du nombre de pratiquants… Bien des interprétations de ce déclin ont déjà été faites, mais quel est le point de vue des catholiques sur ce qui leur arrive ? Comment se représentent-ils et pensent-ils les évolutions de leur Église ? Pour le savoir, une enquête de grande ampleur a été réalisée à l'initiative de Confrontations. Le catholicisme français apparaît ainsi sous un jour nouveau : la « crise » de l'Église dépend moins des évolutions que les statistiques donnent à voir, que des diagnostics qui sont établis à partir d'elles. Elle se traduit donc avant tout par un conflit d'interprétation sur la qualification de ce qui est en crise et sur les remèdes à adopter. Cet ouvrage présente un panorama de la manière dont les catholiques vivent et analysent ce contexte de crise et les propositions qu'ils formulent pour en sortir. In fine, c'est à une véritable exploration des multiples sensibilités de l'archipel catholique que le lecteur est invité.

During the years in which France succumbed to nazi ideology and was occupied by German forces, Henri de Lubac, a French cardinal and one of the great contemporary thinkers the Catholic Church can boast of, played a decisive role in the French resistance to anti-Semitism. Active as a priest, de Lubac collaborated in the composition of ''official'' proclamations such as the famous 1941 ''Chaine Declaration" and also arranged conferences, wrote books, and participated in various resistance activities. One of de Lubac’s most intimate friends, Yves de Montcheuil α student companion among others, was shot to death in July 1944 by the Gestapo. De Lubac made clear his commitment to oppose what he termed Europe's "collective apostasy" under Nazism in α confidential letter to his religious superiors in April 1941. The commitment is amply demonstrated in a 260-page book of de Lubac's memoirs published in France, entitled Résistance Chrétienne et l'Antisémitisme: Souvenirs 1940-1944.