Clericalization of the Laity: A Prescient Warning of Pope Francis for the Catholic Church in Ireland

2019 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-34
Author(s):  
Éamonn Fitzgibbon

Pope Francis has consistently alerted the Catholic Church to the dangers of clericalism. One way in which clericalism finds expression is by clericalizing the laity and Francis’s warning in this has particular relevance for Ireland as we attempt to address the consequences at pastoral level of a collapse in vocations to priesthood and religious life. The temptation is to try to carry on as if nothing has changed and often to ask lay people to fill roles previously carried out by clergy in a way that suggests they are the ones who are truly living out their baptismal calling as opposed to those who live out their Christianity in the course of their ordinary daily lives. This raises important questions around the roles of laity and ordained, the evolution of ministry, and current pastoral practice. This article examines theological responses to these questions during and since Vatican II. I propose we are best served at this time by focusing on the relationship between the priesthood of the faithful and ordained priesthood. I also argue that we need an inductive methodology which enables our theology to be guided by praxis.

Author(s):  
Thomas Brodie

The centrality of co-existence and negotiation to the relationship between the Catholic Church and Nazi regime was already in evidence during the period 1933–9. Although in 1932 the Catholic episcopate had banned the faithful from wearing Nazi uniforms to mass, and had extended this to a general ban on membership of the NSDAP, it swiftly rescinded these restrictive measures following Hitler’s ‘seizure of power’ in January 1933....


Horizons ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-119
Author(s):  
Massimo Faggioli

In the ongoing aggiornamento of the aggiornamento of Vatican II by Pope Francis, it would be easy to forget or dismiss the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Vatican I (1869–1870). The council planned (since at least the Syllabus of Errors of 1864), shaped, and influenced by Pius IX was the most important ecclesial event in the lives of those who made Vatican II: almost a thousand of the council fathers of Vatican II were born between 1871 and 1900. Vatican I was in itself also a kind of ultramontanist “modernization” of the Roman Catholic Church, which paved the way for the aggiornamento of Vatican II and still shapes the post–Vatican II church especially for what concerns the Petrine ministry.


Author(s):  
Karolina Dłuska

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.


Augustinus ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-374
Author(s):  
Vittorino Grossi ◽  

The present article describes four ecclesiological models elaborated by Augustine of Hippo after his conversion to Christianity within the Catholic Church (Church / auctoritas, Church / communio, Church / Ciuitas Dei, Church / Cross). A brief summary of the ecclesiology of Vatican II is given and indications are given of the Augustinian elements still susceptible of development in the contemporary Church.


2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (300) ◽  
pp. 958
Author(s):  
João Décio Passos

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.


Author(s):  
Ruth Reardon

In interchurch families, both partners are practising members of their respective churches but wish also to participate in their spouse’s church as far as possible. Can such families really be ecumenical instruments, when they are so different from the organs of dialogue generally established by the churches? Interchurch couples themselves, united in an international network of groups and associations, believe that they can contribute to the growing unity between their churches. The Roman Catholic Church in particular has developed a more positive attitude towards the ecumenical potential of such families since Vatican II. Interchurch families contribute to Christian unity by their very existence as ‘domestic churches’, embodying and signifying the growing unity of the Church. The chapter concludes by suggesting how, with greater pastoral understanding and a deeper appreciation of the relationship between marital spirituality and spiritual ecumenism, they can become more effective ecumenical instruments by their characteristic ‘double belonging’.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abby Riehl

This paper focuses on the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and the concentrated effort to shift away from the teachings of the Catholic Church and towards a rational science rooted in scholastic thought which did not rely on Divine causes and cures for illness. By looking at the growth of the medical programs in Paris and Salerno, northern versus southern trends and attitudes, and the deep influence of not only Christian rituals, but also pagan popular culture, this essay aims to explore the exact nature of the relationship between religion and medicine, and the mediating role that superstition played between them.


Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 670
Author(s):  
Ethna Regan

Pope Francis (Jorge Bergoglio) is a complex thinker whose political and theological views range from the illiberal to the radical, defying easy categorization within the binaries of contemporary politics. In this article, I examine the influence of theological debates in the post-Vatican II Latin American church on his development, especially la teología del pueblo, which was, ‘to some extent’, an Argentine variant of liberation theology. This article presents a critical analysis of four ‘Bergoglian principles’—which Francis says are derived from the pillars of Catholic social teaching—first developed when he was the leader of the Jesuits in Argentina during the period of the ‘Dirty War’: time is greater than space; unity prevails over conflict; realities are more important than ideas; and the whole is greater than the part. While Francis’ work draws from a variety of theological roots and employs a range of ethical theories and methods of moral reasoning, it is these principles, with their dialectical and constructive approach to political theology, that remain constant in his work and find expression in his papal writings, including Evangelii Gaudium and Laudato Si’. They clarify his operative priorities in political conflict, pluralistic dialogue, pastoral practice, and theological analysis.


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