The Catholic Tradition and Modern Democracy

1987 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 530-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul E. Sigmund
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Modern Democracy ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Form Of Government ◽  
The Common ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Catholic Tradition

This article argues that there has been a movement in Catholic political thought from a position of doctrinal neutrality concerning forms of government — provided that they promote the common good — to an endorsement of democracy as the morally superior form of government. It traces the various theoretical and practical elements in the Catholic tradition that have favored or opposed liberal democracy, giving particular attention to the ambiguity of medieval theories, the centralizing and authoritarian tendencies in the early modern period, and the intense hostility of the nineteenth-century popes to French and Italian liberalism. After analyzing the emergence of neo-Thomistic theories of democracy in the twentieth century and their influence on Christian Democratic parties in Europe and Latin America, the article concludes that John XXIII's encyclical Pacem in Terris (1963) and the discussion of democracy by the Second Vatican Council in Gaudium et Spes (1965) marked the abandonment of earlier opposition to liberal democracy and a decisive commitment to democracy and human rights.

Az egyház communio jellege és a pasztorális tanács

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-92
Author(s):  
Levente Linczenbold
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Pastoral Care ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Pastoral Work ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Pastoral Council ◽  
The Church

The Second Vatican Council and subsequent documents, in view of the pastoral challenges, strongly recommend the establishment of a pastoral council in the dioceses, in which mainly the laity should be involved. The task of the council is to raise and discuss issues concerning pastoral work and to reach practical conclusions. In the interpretation of the Church as communio, the juridical figure of the pastoral council is an important institution, since based on the theological structure of the communio, its members can assist the bishop in the pastoral care of the diocese with their opinions and remarks by virtue of their universal mission received in baptism. The notion that the mission stemming from the general priesthood would imply such representative character which would signify the exercise of ecclesiastical power is erroneous. The reference to the individual or collective interests of advisory bodies is the real expression of the Church’s communio insofar as it serves the common good of the Church. Otherwise, we are dealing only with a misunderstood conception of “democracy” that interprets communion in the Church merely on a humanistic, anthropological level, and considers the decentralization of power to be its fundamental task. With regard to the pastoral council, the principle of synodality is closely linked to the communio nature of the Church, as issues concerning pastoral care must be thoroughly discussed together, and decision-making mechanisms must be well prepared, which serves as basis for the diocesan bishop to be able to make the desired decision.

scholarly journals ‘Scrupulous and Timid Conformism’: Ireland and the Reception of the Liturgical Changes of Vatican II

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 545
Author(s):  
Gary Carville
Keyword(s):  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Time Span ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
The People ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Short Time Span ◽  
Irish Catholics ◽  
Catholic Tradition ◽  
Short Time ◽  
The Church

The Second Vatican Council and, in particular, its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, changed much in the daily life of the Church. In Ireland, a country steeped in the Catholic tradition but largely peripheral to the theological debates that shaped Vatican II, the changes to liturgy and devotional practice were implemented dutifully over a relatively short time span and without significant upset. But did the hierarchical manner of their reception, like that of the Council itself, mean that Irish Catholics did not receive the changes in a way that deepened their spirituality? And was the popular religious memory of the people lost through a neglect of liturgical piety and its place in the interior life, alongside what the Council sought to achieve? In this essay, Dr Gary Carville will examine the background to the liturgical changes at Vatican II, the contribution to their formulation and implementation by leaders of the Church in Ireland, the experiences of Irish Catholic communities in the reception process, and the ongoing need for a liturgical formation that brings theology, memory, and practice into greater dialogue.

Are there Natural Rights? The Sceptical Critique and the Modern Roman Catholic Tradition

2020 ◽  
pp. 74-92
Author(s):  
Nigel Biggar
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Natural Rights ◽  
Jacques Maritain ◽  
Positive Rights ◽  
Rerum Novarum ◽  
The Common ◽  
John Finnis ◽  
Catholic Tradition

This chapter examines the modern Roman Catholic appropriation of rights-talk, in order to see whether or not Catholic tradition has proven better than other ‘modern’ traditions at meeting the sceptics’ objections to natural rights. It focuses particularly on Rerum Novarum, Jacques Maritain, ‘Pacem in Terris’, and John Finnis and, in passing, it criticises Samuel Moyn’s construal of twentieth-century Catholic thought on rights. It concludes that, through its affirmation of a larger moral order (‘natural law’), Catholic thinking about rights has shown itself more ready to talk in terms of moral categories other than ‘rights’. It is also unusual in the prominence it gives to the concept of the common good, although typically without offering any exact explanation of how this relates to individual rights—except in the case of John Finnis. Finnis also identifies a common problem with much other ‘modern’ rights-talk: that, since the very concept of a right has an absolute, ‘conclusory’ force, rights-talk has the logical tendency to shut down wider deliberation about justice. Instead, he argues, rights should emerge at the end of deliberation about a range of factors—moral, social, and political—rather than be invoked at the beginning. This appears to affirm socially contingent positive rights rather than absolute natural ones. But that is not the whole story, because the Catholic rights tradition consistently asserts some absolute natural rights. These, however, are either tautologous or practically unilluminating.

Religious Freedom, Modern Democracy, and the Common Good: Conference Papers

1995 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 565-566
Author(s):  
Philip E. Devenish
Keyword(s):  
John Rawls ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Modern Democracy ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
Political Principle ◽  
The Common ◽  
Conference Papers

The papers that follow were presented on April 27, 1996, at a conference entitled “Religious Freedom, Modern Democracy, and the Common Good” and devoted to Franklin I. Gamwell's The Meaning of Religious Freedom: Modern Politics and the Democratic Resolution (Albany: SUNY, 1995). The conference was sponsored by the Lilly Endowment and held at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis.Gamwell's constructive proposal is significant not as a further nuance on settled ways of understanding the relation of religion and politics in the United States, but rather as an explicit attempt to unsettle the current consensus in approaching this issue itself. As Gamwell shows, the contemporary discussion is dominated by so-called separationist and religionist understandings that alike assume, rather than argue, that religion is “nonrational.” He engages positions representing the entire spectrum of such understandings, including the “privatist” view of John Rawls, the “partisan” view of John Courtney Murray, and the “pluralist” view of Kent Greenawalt, in order to demonstrate that such a nonrational approach makes it impossible democratically not only to assert, but also to give coherent meaning to the political principle of religious freedom.

scholarly journals State security as exemplified by the fight against terrorism: a choice between the well-being of the individual and the well-being of the community

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 404-420
Author(s):  
Remigiusz Rosicki
Keyword(s):  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Thought Experiment ◽  
Terrorist Attack ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Individual

The objective scope of the analysis encompasses special measures used in the fight against terrorism in the context of ethical and constitutional principles attributed to a democratic state ruled by law and a liberal democracy. A practical example of a special measure used in the fight against terrorism, and presented in the text, is furnished by the content of one of the articles in the Polish Aviation Law, which was found unconstitutional in 2008. The content of this article made it possible for an administrative authority to make a decision with regard to consenting to the destruction of a civil aircraft, if it was used as a means of terrorist attack. The main purpose of the paper is to consider the acceptable scope of radical measures in the fight against terrorism, while taking into account the reinterpretation of priorities in the hierarchy of legal principles. In order to elaborate the objective scope of the analysis, the following research question is phrased: To what extent is it possible to sacrifice the well-being of the individual (dignity, rights and freedoms) for the sake of the common good (security)? The adopted analysis methodology is based on a thought experiment consisting in the reinterpretation of ethical principles and the values of the constitutional norms in a democratic state ruled by law and a liberal democracy. With the benefit of essentialist reduction, it is posited that the two competing constitutional principles are the principle of dignity and the principle of the common good; they can be reduced to, for instance, protection of the life of an individual or of members of the community as a whole. Abstrakt Zakres przedmiotowy analizy obejmuje zagadnienie szczególnych środków walki z terroryzmem w kontekście zasad etycznych i konstytucyjnych przypisanych demokratycznemu państwu prawa i demokracji liberalnej. Przykładem praktycznym szczególnego środka walki z terroryzmem zaprezentowanym w tekście jest treść jednego z artykułów polskiego Prawa lotniczego, który został uznany za niekonstytucyjny w 2008 roku. Treść artykułu dawała możliwość podjęcia decyzji przez organ administracji publicznej w zakresie wyrażenia zgody zniszczenia cywilnego statku powietrznego w sytuacji, gdy ten użyty jest jako środek ataku terrorystycznego. Głównym celem pracy jest rozważanie zakresu dopuszczalności stosowania radykalnych środków walki z terroryzmem przy uwzględnieniu reinterpretacji priorytetów w hierarchii zasad prawnych. W celu uszczegółowienia zakresu przedmiotowego analizy zaprezentowano następujące pytanie badawcze: W jakim zakresie możliwe jest poświęcenie dobra jednostki (godności, praw i wolności) na rzecz dobra wspólnego (bezpieczeństwa)? Metoda analizy opiera się na eksperymencie myślowym polegającym na reinterpretacji zasad etycznych i wartości norm konstytucyjnych w demokratycznym państwie prawa i demokracji liberalnej. Przyjęto za pomocą redukcji esencjonalnej, że dwie rywalizujące ze sobą zasady konstytucyjne, to zasada godności i zasada dobra wspólnego, które mogą być sprowadzone np. do ochrony życia jednostki lub członków wspólnoty jako całości.

Marriage and Sexuality

2015 ◽  
pp. 309-328
Author(s):  
David Cloutier
Keyword(s):  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Romantic Love ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The Family ◽  
Catholic Tradition ◽  
The Church

This chapter considers Catholic teaching on marriage and sexuality. It begins by considering tensions concerning marriage in Catholic theology since the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II). Attempts to move beyond primarily juridical accounts of marriage have been fruitful and have led to an overvaluation of modern notions of romantic love and the person. Against this tendency the chapter discusses how theologies of marriage attentive to the teaching of Vatican II—and of prior Catholic tradition—place the notion of marriage squarely within the sacramental life of the Church. Marriage is conceived as revealing and furthering the divine plan for humanity. Within this context the chapter explores recent magisterial pronouncements and work by theologians on the place of the family or the household within the Church. This exploration leads back to a reimagining of the spousal bond.

Mission and Evangelization

2016 ◽  
pp. 328-345
Author(s):  
Daniel A. Keating
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Roman Culture ◽  
Theology Of Mission ◽  
Catholic Tradition

This chapter examines the theology of mission and evangelization in the Catholic Church. It begins with a brief overview of how mission developed in the Catholic tradition up to the twentieth century, with particular emphasis on the biblical grounding for a universal mission and the crucial transitions the early Church made from being a Jewish movement to a Gentile-inclusive movement that engaged with and accommodated itself to Greco-Roman culture. It then considers developments in the period leading up to and including the Second Vatican Council, along with the ‘missionary crisis’ and other challenges following Vatican II. Finally, it discusses important continuities and changes in the Catholic theology of mission and evangelization and describes the characteristics of this theology today.

Continental Patterns and the Reformation in England and Scotland

1969 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Yule
Keyword(s):  
Southern Baptists ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Priesthood Of All Believers ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Justification By Faith ◽  
The Common ◽  
The One

The Reformed churches have frequently regarded the Reformation in ways that are contradictory but without seeing the contradictions. On the one hand the Reformation is assumed to be the common and binding heritage of Fundamentalists, the various Presbyterian churches throughout the world, the Southern Baptists, the Taizé Community, even the avant garde of the Second Vatican Council and BonhoefFer's ‘Protestants without a Reformation’. ‘Justification by faith’, ‘the priesthood of all believers’, ‘the Bible alone’ and often ‘no Bishops’ are catchwords, said to be common to all, and somehow entailing each other.

scholarly journals Kościół rzymskokatolicki w poszukiwaniu interkomunii z Kościołami odmiennych tradycji liturgicznych

2007 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 97
Author(s):  
Przemysław Nowakowski
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
The Other ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Protestant Churches ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The Common ◽  
Apostolic Succession

After the Second Vatican Council the Roman Catholic Church recapitulated all his teaching on the Holy Eucharist, coming back to its biblical and patristic roots. At the same time Church was looking for the best way to common Eucharistic Table with different Christian communities – eastern and western. The intercommunion exists just between Catholics and Orthodox in the very special situations. The intercelebration is not possible yet in the absence of ecclesiological and doctrinal communion. The lack of apostolic succession and the other interpretation of the sacraments causes more difficulties on the way to intercommunion with Protestants. A lot of popular initiatives are taken recently in order to make the common Eucharist closer. Protestant Churches regards the practice of intercommunion as one of the means to the complete union among Christians. The Roman Catholic Church emphasizes that intercommunion is just to be an ultimate aim of the Churches union.

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