The Reforma Period in Mexico

By revealing the weaknesses of its political system and the fragmentation of its social fabric, Mexico’s devastating loss to the United States in 1848 forced a reexamination of the nation’s very foundation. It also emboldened leaders to redouble efforts to either refashion Mexico into a modern, democratic republic or strengthen colonial-era institutions that had ensured unity and stability despite cultural and regional heterogeneity. Those who hoped to modernize Mexico were the liberals. Their ideas regarding the depth and pace of change varied considerably. But they coalesced around broad principles—democracy, secularism, and capitalism—that, they insisted, would help Mexico overcome the vestiges of colonialism. In pursuit of equality under the law, liberals proposed to dismantle legal privileges for nobles, ecclesiastics, and the military. In order to stimulate the economy, they wanted to force corporate entities, especially the church, to sell their lands to individual owners. Finally, liberals sought to establish the primacy of the state by granting civil leaders authority over the church. Conservatives countered that the liberal program and its exotic ideas constituted an attack on Mexico’s Hispanic Catholic legacy and would only further weaken the nation. It was a chimera, if not demagoguery, to declare the equality of citizens in a society where the masses were illiterate, isolated hamlets who barely spoke Spanish, and residents in the far-flung regions regarded national rule with deep suspicion. Conservatives feared that the liberal program would foster more of the peasant revolts, threats of regional succession, and racial antagonism that had roiled the nation since independence. They wanted to conserve the pillars of order—the military and the Catholic Church—reinstate monarchism, and curtail political participation. Liberals and conservatives vociferously debated these divergent visions in the public forum. But ultimately their differences plunged the country into civil war.

Church and State

The Review of Politics ◽

10.1017/s0034670500047008 ◽

1950 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 321-340

Author(s):

Hans Rommen

Keyword(s):

Catholic Church ◽

Church And State ◽

The United States ◽

Public Order ◽

Social Changes ◽

State Problem ◽

The Public ◽

The People ◽

The Masses ◽

The problem of Church-State relations—if under Church is understood the Church universal in its Catholic form—may be answered without too much difficulty on a high abstract level. But on the contingent level of concrete historical development the problem becomes not only highly involved, but almost inexhaustible. For every growth in the Church's doctrine, (for example, the decrees of the Vatican Council and every deeper-going change in the other partner's constitutional forms or in its philosophical and ethical justification or a change in its aims to greater comprehensive competencies) poses a new problem. No wonder, therefore, that in our era of restlessness, of dynamic social changes, of conflicting ideologies fighting for the baffled minds of the masses, of wavering traditions decomposed by the acid of nihilist skepticism, the Church-State problem arises in a new intensity and urgency. The external signs are there for everyone to see: the fury of a Hitler against the “Black International,” the violent persecution of the Church in die satellite countries of the Russian orbit, and the complete subjugation of the Orthodox Church not to a “Christian” Czar but to die confessedly adieistic Politburo. In minor degree the problem is also bothering the people of the United States. A secularist outlook, indeed, may slur over the reality and intensity of the true problem. For the secularized outlook die Church in her essence—and even more so the churches and the sects—is not different in genere from odier numerous private organizations for die furtherance of more or less rational aims and longings in a constitutionally pluralist society. The secularist will, therefore, recognize only one pragmatic rule: tolerance unless the public order and the competency of the police power is directly concerned. Public order includes all too often for the secularist his reform ideas and his social ideals based on a relativist pragmatism in ethics and thus makes him highly sensitive to die criticism by a Church which bases ethics on revelation and on competencies which die secularist can only consider as unfounded and arrogant. Only if the Church remains in the private sphere of private individuals and stays in this “free” sphere where the secularist will tolerate any mass-idiosyncracies, only dius will he condescendingly tolerate the Church. His attitude may be explained to a degree by the fact of an exceedingly strong religious individualism and a subjective and emotional spiritualism, inimical to form and tradition (indigenous to this country and resulting in the easy dissolution of doctrinal unity into a multiplicity of sects). This spiritualist “formlessness” of religion, here, makes the emphasis on organically grown and established forms and on the objective institutions of religious life, so characteristic of the Catholic Church, a somewhat strange and suspicious thing. Yet there is no avoiding the nature and self-understanding of the Church, if the problem of Church and State should be approached. Otherwise the term “Church” would stand only for utterly private opinions by very private individuals in that sphere of irrational feeling and unscientific imagination which for the secularist agnostic is religion. And it is clear that upon such suppositions it would follow that the political authority has exclusive and plenary competency to judge about the compatibility of such a religion with the policy and the public order of the state. The consequence of such thinking is the abolition of the Church-State problem by the complete elimination of the Church.

A Catholic Inclusive Approach to Homosexuality in Nigeria

Theology Today ◽

10.1177/0040573617731710 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 74 (4) ◽

pp. 396-408

Author(s):

Daniel Ude Asue

Keyword(s):

Catholic Church ◽

Social Teaching ◽

Same Sex ◽

Same Sex Marriage ◽

The Public ◽

Public Debates ◽

Inclusive Approach ◽

Inclusive Society ◽

The Church ◽

This essay discusses Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Bill in Nigeria, with a focus on the contribution of the Nigerian Catholic Church to the law. Though the Catholic Church in Nigeria did not actively contribute towards the public debates about homosexuality that resulted into the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Bill it nevertheless welcomed the bill. However, the official teachings of the Catholic Church and elucidations from the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria could potentially contribute to creating an inclusive society. In what way can we potentially utilize the principles of Catholic Social Teaching to make room for an inclusion of homosexual persons in the life of the church and in society?

Związek publicznej obecności Kościoła w Polsce z preferencjami wyborczymi elektoratu w 2011 roku

Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis. Studia Politologica ◽

10.24917/10.24917/20813333.23.6 ◽

1970 ◽

Vol 23 (301) ◽

pp. 72-92

Author(s):

Karolina Dłuska

Keyword(s):

Public Space ◽

Catholic Church ◽

Public Television ◽

The Public ◽

The Subject ◽

The Individual ◽

The Military ◽

Religious Nature ◽

The Relationship ◽

The author of the article tries to indicate the relationship between the perceived presence of the Catholic Church in public life and the election preferences of Poles. The subject of the research here is the parliamentary elections in Poland in 2011 in the context of the perception by the electorate of the individual parties of the public presence of the Catholic Church in the selected aspects. Among them, the author points to: the issue of crosses and other religious symbols in public space, including the issue of a cross in the Sejm meeting room. She also recalls such matters as: religion lessons in schools, the religious nature of the military oath, priests appearing on public television, the Church taking a stand on laws passed by the Sejm and priests telling people how to vote in elections. The presented analysis is based on the results of the Polish General Election Study 2011.

Wywiad wojskowy czy polityczny? Zainteresowanie Zarządu II Sztabu Generalnego Wojska Polskiego „kierunkiem watykańskim”

Przegląd Historyczno-Wojskowy ◽

10.32089/wbh.phw.2019.2(268).0004 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 87-119

Author(s):

Bartosz Kapuściak

Keyword(s):

Catholic Church ◽

The State ◽

Primary Task ◽

Military Intelligence ◽

General Staff ◽

Martial Law ◽

Political Activities ◽

The Military ◽

The Church ◽

The primary task of the military intelligence in the People’s Republic of Poland was to acquire materials on the armament and stationing of NATO troops. However, due to the demand of the communist authorities, it also conducted political activities aimed at, among others, the Catholic Church. The interest of the state authorities increased especially during the pontificate of John Paul II. According to the assessment of military intelligence, the election of Karol Wojtyła as Bishop of Rome stimulated the Catholic Church both in Poland and in the Vatican. In this way, the activities of the Second Directorate of the General Staff of the Polish Army were within the scope of civil intelligence interests. The article aims to show the role played by intelligence officers and informers operating in Rome undercover as military attachés or in civilian institutions. Their actions resulted in the establishment of contacts with the church environment and acquisition of voluntary and involuntary informants. In this way, the Second Directorate of the General Staff of the Polish Army provided the party and political apparatus with interesting news and materials. Following the introduction of martial law in Poland, the church from the Rome area started sending parcels of food, clothes and medicines to Poland. This aid for the country was used to establish contact with the Polish clergy thanks to the initiative of Colonel Franciszek Mazurek.

RELIGION AND POLITICS IN THE CONTEMPORARY TURKISH-SPEAKING WORLD - POLITICS AND RELIGION JOURNAL ◽

PRAISE OF THE CONVERT: BELIEVE AND BELONG FROM THE CATHOLICITY OF LATIN AMERICA

10.54561/prj1202327a ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 327-339

Author(s):

Felipe Gaytán Alcalá

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

Public Space ◽

Latin American ◽

Catholic Church ◽

Political Life ◽

Religious Groups ◽

The Public ◽

The Social ◽

The World ◽

Latin America was considered for many years the main bastion of Catholicism in the world by the number of parishioners and the influence of the church in the social and political life of the región, but in recent times there has been a decrease in the catholicity index. This paper explores three variables that have modified the identity of Catholicism in Latin American countries. The first one refers to the conversion processes that have expanded the presence of Christian denominations, by analyzing the reasons that revolve around the sense of belonging that these communities offer and that prop up their expansion and growth. The second variable accounts for those Catholics who still belong to the Catholic Church but who in their practices and beliefs have incorporated other magical or esoteric scheme in the form of religious syncretisms, modifying their sense of being Catholics in the world. The third factor has a political reference and has to do with the concept of laicism, a concept that sets its objective, not only in the separation of the State from the Church, but for historical reasons in catholicity restraint in the public space which has led to the confinement of the Catholic to the private, leaving other religious groups to occupy that space.

Church, State and Secularism in Asia: The Public Nature of the Church in Timor-Leste

International Journal of Practical Theology ◽

10.1515/ijpt-2012-0020 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. 323-348

Author(s):

Joel Hodge

Keyword(s):

Catholic Church ◽

Political Identity ◽

Roman Catholic Church ◽

Nation State ◽

The Public ◽

Christian Churches ◽

Practical Examination ◽

Timor Leste ◽

The Government ◽

Abstract The Western discourse and norms around secularism, particularly Church-state relations, are foreign in many ways to the majority world, especially Asia. However, as the modern nation-state has taken root in Asia, different models of secularism have developed with interesting relationships to the particular cultural and religious context of each country. In the difficult course of forming a secular nation-state, Asian nations have had to address the dominant religious traditions and institutions of each nation, including Christian churches. This process has occasionally provoked conflict and has presented a particular dilemma to Christian churches in how to respond and relate to the developing nation-state. In order for theology to adequately address this situation (particular the context of modern secular discourses) and conceptualise the public shape and role of the church, a practical examination of the church’s relationship to and formation of culture and politics is required. To explore this process, this essay examines the case of Timor-Leste (or East Timor) and its relationship with the Roman Catholic Church, particularly in regards to the state-building process that has occurred after independence. The Church’s influence, which grew rapidly during the Indonesian occupation (1975–1999), has been contested since independence by some in the political sphere, such as in the 2005 dispute with the Government. By examining the 2005 dispute, the essay analyses the nature of the Catholic Church’s influence on Timorese cultural and political identity and her relationship with the new Timorese nation-state. The essay identifies the different models of secularism operative in Timor as they have relevance to the Asian context more generally.

A Christian in the Office of Constitutional Judge [1999]

Religion, Law, and Democracy ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198818632.003.0015 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 280-287

Author(s):

Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde ◽

Mirjam Künkler ◽

Tine Stein

Keyword(s):

Catholic Church ◽

Central Committee ◽

The State ◽

West Germany ◽

Constitutional Court ◽

The Public ◽

Public Servant ◽

The World ◽

Federal Constitutional ◽

In this personal reflection, Böckenförde portrays the dilemma he faced during his tenure as a judge on Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court: trying to bridge his Christian Catholic spirituality with his work as a high-ranking public servant in a secular state. He describes his struggle with the Catholic teachings prior to Second Vaticanum, which at that time still defined the state as ideally Catholic and demanded every believer in public office to act as a vanguard for Christian natural law. But by committing himself to the public good, Böckenförde sidestepped the requirement of the Catholic Church and fully embraced the democratic, religiously neutral political order. Böckenförde justified his position (deviant in the eyes of the Church) by insisting on the strict neutrality demanded from a judge. He pointed to the so-called Church Compromise of the Weimar Republic (Weimarer Kirchenkompromiss), which established the neutrality of the state with regard to religion, and which was re-adopted in West Germany after 1949. He also relinquished his consultative role in the Central Committee of Catholics once he was nominated to the Constitutional Court. Even in cases affecting abortion, he only dealt with the issues at hand as a judge, not as a Catholic. In his view, Christian spirituality can manifest itself in faithfulness to one's office and an integrity that is open to the world.

The Church in a Pluralistic World: The Public Vision of Ressourcement

Religions ◽

10.3390/rel10110594 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. 594

Author(s):

Gabriel Flynn

Keyword(s):

Catholic Church ◽

Cultural Context ◽

Western Society ◽

Social Commentary ◽

The Public ◽

Philosophical Foundations ◽

The Church ◽

Contemporary Western Society ◽

Interpretative Framework

The dual concern of this article is to present the vision of the church articulated by the renowned generation of Catholic ressourcement thinkers in the mid-twentieth century, and to demonstrate its continued fecundity in the pluralist, multi-cultural context of contemporary western society. It seeks to contribute primarily to ecclesiology, while also providing historical and social commentary with respectful suggestions for its relevance to present-day ecclesiology. The article provides an interpretative framework for understanding ressourcement with reference to its philosophical foundations and the vision of its founders. Its aims are, first, to articulate the role of ressourcement in the modern context and, secondly, to document the genesis and emergence of that movement’s perception of the church’s mandate in the world, based on an essential return to the sources of Christianity. The paper presents the public vision of ressourcement ecclesiology in two parts, drawing principally, though not exclusively, on the work of the two leading intellectual orders of the Catholic Church at the time of its formulation, namely, the Dominicans and the Jesuits of France.

The Politics of Sex Abuse in Sacred Hierarchies: A Comparative Study of the Catholic Church and the Military in the United States

Religions ◽

10.3390/rel10040281 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 281

Author(s):

Carolyn M. Warner

Keyword(s):

Catholic Church ◽

The United States ◽

Sex Abuse ◽

Us Military ◽

The Us ◽

Privileged Status ◽

Child Sex Abuse ◽

The Military ◽

Patterns Of Abuse ◽

The paper explores similarities in patterns of abuse and in patterns of how the known abuse cases are handled by the Catholic church and the U.S. military and develops preliminary explanations of why. The paper considers how the two organizations deal with external efforts by civil authorities at oversight and prosecution, and the extent to which they invoke their sacred status authority to evade responsibility and civilian oversight. The paper finds that the handling of sex abuse in each organization has been affected partly by the institutions seeing themselves as sacred, as something apart from the secular state, beholden to alternative authorities. The paper highlights the fact that child sex abuse by religious officials and sexual assault of soldiers by fellow soldiers and officers constitute profound challenges for democracy in the US and elsewhere, as the institutions claim and may be accorded separate and privileged status, beyond the reach of democratic laws and procedures. It is a warning about the costs of public deference to other institutions. The study utilizes documentation of Catholic church clergy child sex abuse cases in the US, and documentation of sex abuse cases in the US military.

Puget Sound's Security Codependencyand Western Cold War Histories, 1950–1984

Pacific Historical Review ◽

10.1525/phr.2011.80.2.268 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 80 (2) ◽

pp. 268-293

Author(s):

Brian G. Casserly

Keyword(s):

Cold War ◽

Foreign Relations ◽

Puget Sound ◽

The United States ◽

Nuclear Movement ◽

The Public ◽

War Experience ◽

Armed Services ◽

The Military

Puget Sound provides a case study of significant changes in the West's Cold War experience and illustrates that this era can be understood in terms of two distinct phases, with a turning point in the late 1960s/early 1970s. This transition saw shifts in relationships between Puget Sound residents and the military, from a traditional, almost unanimous support for the military's presence in the region, to the development of a much more hostile attitude among some segments of the public. This change reflected growing concerns about the environment and skepticism about military-related economic growth. It was also shaped by concerns about nuclear weapons and the role of the armed services in U.S. foreign relations, the result of the rebirth of the anti-nuclear movement across the United States in the 1970s.