Ideas and Leaders in Contentious Politics: One Parish Priest in El Salvador's Popular Movement

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (01) ◽  
pp. 76-101
Author(s):  
PETER M. SANCHEZ
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
Parish Priest ◽  
Historical Moment ◽  
Resource Mobilisation ◽  
The Church

AbstractThis paper examines the actions of one Salvadorean priest – Padre David Rodríguez – in one parish – Tecoluca – to underscore the importance of religious leadership in the rise of El Salvador's contentious political movement that began in the early 1970s, when the guerrilla organisations were only just beginning to develop. Catholic leaders became engaged in promoting contentious politics, however, only after the Church had experienced an ideological conversion, commonly referred to as liberation theology. A focus on one priest, in one parish, allows for generalisation, since scores of priests, nuns and lay workers in El Salvador followed the same injustice frame and tactics that generated extensive political mobilisation throughout the country. While structural conditions, collective action and resource mobilisation are undoubtedly necessary, the case of religious leaders in El Salvador suggests that ideas and leadership are of vital importance for the rise of contentious politics at a particular historical moment.

Ideas and Leaders in Contentious Politics: One Parish Priest in El Salvador's Popular Movement

2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 637-662 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER M. SANCHEZ
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
Parish Priest ◽  
Historical Moment ◽  
Resource Mobilisation ◽  
The Church

AbstractThis paper examines the actions of one Salvadorean priest – Padre David Rodríguez – in one parish – Tecoluca – to underscore the importance of religious leadership in the rise of El Salvador's contentious political movement that began in the early 1970s, when the guerrilla organisations were only just beginning to develop. Catholic leaders became engaged in promoting contentious politics, however, only after the Church had experienced an ideological conversion, commonly referred to as liberation theology. A focus on one priest, in one parish, allows for generalisation, since scores of priests, nuns and lay workers in El Salvador followed the same injustice frame and tactics that generated extensive political mobilisation throughout the country. While structural conditions, collective action and resource mobilisation are undoubtedly necessary, the case of religious leaders in El Salvador suggests that ideas and leadership are of vital importance for the rise of contentious politics at a particular historical moment.

“The Door of History”

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt Eisenbrandt
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Death Squad ◽  
The Poor ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

Using trial testimony about Romero’s last Sunday homily in 1980, this chapter gives a history of the Catholic Church in El Salvador and Romero’s life culminating in his three years as archbishop. The Church underwent an overhaul during the 1960s, leading many priests and bishops in Latin America to follow Liberation Theology, the belief that rather than providing charity to the poor, they should focus on the systemic causes of inequality. Romero was viewed by many Salvadoran clergy as conservative when he became archbishop in 1977 but the death squad murder of his friend Rutilio Grande, a Jesuit follower of Liberation Theology, pushed Romero to more openly denounce those responsible for the inequality and repression. The day before his murder, Romero, in his Sunday homily, called on soldiers to “stop the repression” by disobeying the orders of their commanders.

An Extraordinary Confession

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. DeJonge
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Church Members ◽  
Nazi Regime ◽  
Jewish Ancestry ◽  
The Church

If the church decides to seize the wheel, to speak the directly political word, Bonhoeffer writes, then the church will find itself in statu confessionis. This chapter examines the phrase status confessionis to shed further light on Bonhoeffer’s idea of the church’s directly political word (the concern of Chapter 7). The phrase originates in a sixteenth-century episode where the emperor, with help from accommodating religious leaders, forced changes in order and rites on the Lutheran churches. The phrase status confessionis came to be seen as the battle cry of those who resisted these changes, the gnesio-Lutherans. In adopting this language, Bonhoeffer identifies a parallel between the sixteenth century and 1933, when Hitler and the Nazi regime threatened to force changes in church order (especially concerning church members of Jewish ancestry) on the church with accommodation from church leaders.

A „Katolikus Akció” néven társult szervezkedés Marosvásárhelyen és Ágotha Endre papi életútja

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-176
Author(s):  
Mária Csatlós
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
The State ◽  
Peace Movement ◽  
Catholic Action ◽  
Holy See ◽  
Parish Priest ◽  
Political Actions ◽  
The Church ◽  
Life Work ◽  
The Catholic Church

With the available archival resources and through exploring the life, work and political actions of Endre Ágotha, the dean and parish priest of Nyárádselye I trace the unfolding and failing of the schismatic catholic peace movement legitimated in Marosvásárhely in the period 1950-1956. The state backed “Catholic Action” did not succeed in severing the Catholic Church in Romania from Rome by settling the “pending cases” between the church and the state and only a small portion of the clergy joined the movement, yet it has made significant moral damages by dividing the believers and the clergy. The Holy See condemned the movement and it’s key figure Endre Ágotha has brought upon himself the harshest punishment of the Catholic Church: excommunicates vitandus. He received absolution only on his deathbed.

scholarly journals Making the Invisible Visible: Inviting Persons with Disabilities into the Life of the Church

Horizons ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-73
Author(s):  
Mary Carlson
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Communion Of Saints ◽  
Christian Anthropology ◽  
Psychological Disabilities ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Invisible

Christianity espouses the dignity of all humanity and professes welcome for all to the communion of saints. Yet people with disabilities, especially those with more severe or profound physical or psychological disabilities, are largely invisible inside our houses of worship. This article examines the meaning of dignity and inclusion through the lenses of Christian anthropology, disabilities liberation theology, and the lived experience of persons with disabilities. It concludes with some suggestions on how to begin inclusion.

scholarly journals Liturgical renovation of modern churches in Rome (Italy)

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
Daniela Concas
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Direct Reading ◽  
Liturgical Movement ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Architectural Language ◽  
Historical Moment ◽  
The Church

At the beginning of the first half of the twentieth century the bond between ars-venustas and cultus-pietas has produced many churches of Roman Catholic cult.It’s between the 20s and 60s of the twentieth century that the experiments of the Liturgical Movement in Germany lead to the evolution of the liturgical space, which, even today, we see engraving in modern churches in Rome (Italy).The Council of Trent (1545-1563) constitutes the precedent historical moment, in which the Church recognised the need for major liturgical renovation of its churches. In comparison with this, the Second Vatican Council (1959-65) introduced some radical changes within the church architectural spaces.The observations come from the direct reading of the present architectural space and the interventions already realised in modern churches in Rome. The most significant churches from an historical-artistic point of view were selected (1924-1965). Significantly, although every single architecture is unique for dimensions, architectural language and used materials, a comparison, in order to gather the discovered characteristics and to compare the restrictions regarding the different operations, would extremely effective, as demonstrated below.Since the matter is considerably vast, in this work, only some brief notes regarding the liturgical renovation of the Presbytery area will be outlined.

scholarly journals O Papa Francisco e a Cúria Romana. Contradições entre os poderes e impactos carismáticos sobre uma burocracia tradicional

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (300) ◽  
pp. 958
Author(s):  
João Décio Passos
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Bureaucratic Power ◽  
Historical Moment ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

Síntese: As análises desenvolvidas nesse artigo têm como objeto as relações entre o Papa Francisco e a Cúria romana. A distância crítica visível do atual Pontífice em relação à dinâmica curial levanta a problemática do exercício de poder no governo central da Igreja católica. Assumindo como principal referência teórica as tipologias de poder weberianas, distingue o poder carismático, exercido por Francisco, e o poder burocrático, exercido pela Cúria. A reflexão indica que se trata de uma duplicidade de autoridade inerente ao poder central da Igreja que se torna, no momento histórico, explícita nas posturas e discursos do Papa. Afirma também que a Cúria, com suas doenças expostas por Francisco, constitui uma burocracia com características próprias e que as reformas prometidas deverão colocá-la na posição de autêntica burocracia, cuja função é estar a serviço de um governo colegiado exercido pelo Pontífice, conforme indicou o Concílio Vaticano II.Palavras-chave: Autoridade. Cúria romana. Igreja. Papado. Reforma.Abstract: The analyses developed in this article have as object the relations between Pope Francis and the Roman Curia. The critically visible distance between the current Pontiff and the curial dynamic raises the issue of the exercise of power in the central government of the Catholic Church. Taking as main theoretical reference the Weberian power typologies the article distinguishes the charismatic power exercised by Francis, and the bureaucratic power, exercised by the Curia. The reflection suggests that we are dealing with a duplicity of authority that is inherent to the central power of the Church and that, in this historical moment, becomes explicit in the Pope’s postures and speeches. It also states that the Curia, with its diseases exposed by Francis, is a bureaucracy with its own characteristics; and that the promised reforms should put it in a position of an authentic bureaucracy whose function is to be of service to a collegiate government exercised by the Pontiff, as indicated by the Second Vatican Council.Keywords: Authority. Roman curia. Church. Papacy. Roform.

scholarly journals IDENTIDAD DE LA TEOLOGÍA LATINOAMERICA Y LA TEOLOGÍA DE LA LIBERACIÓN

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Jorge Costadoat Carrasco
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Theological Method ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Age Of Maturity ◽  
The Status ◽  
Original Speech ◽  
America Latina ◽  
The Church

RESUMEN: El objetivo de esta investigación es suministrar argumentos para identificar la Teología latinoamericana con la Teología de la liberación, y viceversa. Entre estos argumentos se debe considerar la conciencia de alcanzar la “mayoría de edad” de la Iglesia en América Latina en el postconcilio; la convicción de los teólogos de la liberación de estar elaborando una “nueva manera” de hacer teo­logía; una toma de distancia del carácter ilustrado de la teología; y la posibilidad de reconocer en los acontecimientos regionales, particularmente en los pobres, un habla original de Dios. Este artículo pretende hacer una contribución al status quaestionis del método teológico.ABSTRACT: The objective of this paper is to provide arguments to identify Latin American Theology with Liberation Theology, and vice versa. Among these arguments, one should consider the awareness of the Church in Latin America reaching its “age of maturity” in the post-conciliar period. Other arguments are the conviction of liberation theologians to be elaborating a “new way” of doing theology; a distance from the illustrated characteristic of theology; and, the possibility of recognizing in regional events, particularly in the poor, God’s original speech. This article aims to contribute to the status quaestionis of the theological method.

Patronage Politics and Contentious Collective Action: A Recursive Relationship

2009 ◽  
Vol 51 (03) ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Auyero ◽  
Pablo Lapegna ◽  
Fernanda Page Poma
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Dynamic Processes ◽  
Patronage Politics

AbstractBased on ethnographic reanalysis and on current qualitative research on poor people's politics, this article argues that routine patronage politics and nonroutine collective action should be examined not as opposite and conflicting political phenomena but as dynamic processes that often establish recursive relationships. Through a series of case studies conducted in contemporary Argentina, this article examines four instances in which patronage and collective action intersect and interact: network breakdown, patron's certification, clandestine support, and reaction to threat. These four scenarios demonstrate that more than two opposing spheres of action or two different forms of sociability, patronage, and contentious politics can be mutually imbricated. Either when it malfunctions or when it thrives, clientelism may lie at the root of collective action.

Clerics and Friendship

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jón Viðar Sigurðsson
Keyword(s):  
Eleventh Century ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Church Hierarchy ◽  
The Church

This chapter looks at relations of friendship among clerics. Friendship was as important for religious leaders as it was for their secular counterparts. They needed faithful supporters to enact their plans. Yet, in contrast to what have been seen in secular circles, friendship continued to play an important role among the clergy for the whole of the period from the middle of the eleventh century until the end of the thirteenth. The bishops, as the key element in the church hierarchy, were very powerful political players, not least attributable to their position within the Church hierarchy, their network of friends and connections, the wealth they controlled, and the position they held in society. Therefore, it was important for the secular leaders to control the election of bishops so that their friends and kinsmen were chosen.

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