Alterations in Religious Rituals Due to COVID-19 Could Be Related to Intragroup Negativity: A Case of Changes in Receiving Holy Communion in the Roman Catholic Community in Poland

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected various domains of everyday life, including important religious rituals. In the Roman Catholic Church in Poland, the reception of Holy Communion was substantially altered. The suggestion of the Polish Episcopal Conference and diocesan bishops was to receive Holy Communion on the hand during the pandemic, while receiving on the tongue had been the default form before the pandemic. The present studies investigated whether alterations in the form of receiving Holy Communion during the pandemic resulted in intragroup negativity. A total of 376 Polish Roman Catholics participated in two online studies. The most ambivalent emotions toward their religious community were experienced by the followers who recognized reception of Holy Communion on the hand only. Intergroup bias occurred within the “hand only” and the “mouth only” groups and consisted in out-group favoritism (within the “hand only”) and out-group derogation (“mouth only”) in their perception of religious orientation. Intergroup empathy bias occurred in the “hand only” and “spiritual reception” groups, which reported less empathy toward those of the out-group (“mouth only”) infected with SARS-CoV-2. The highest legitimacy of the Church authority was agreed upon by the supporters of both forms of receiving Holy Communion.

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To Conscience First, and to the Pope (Long) Afterwards? British Catholics and Their Attitudes Towards Morality and Structural Issues Concerning the Catholic Church

Review of Religious Research ◽

10.1007/s13644-021-00452-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ben Clements ◽

Stephen Bullivant

Keyword(s):

Catholic Church ◽

Religious Commitment ◽

Roman Catholic ◽

Religious Community ◽

Roman Catholic Church ◽

Personal Morality ◽

Sources Of Variation ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

The Church ◽

The Catholic Church

Abstract Background The attitudes of Catholics in Britain have undergone significant liberalisation on social moral issues across recent decades, whilst the reputation of the Catholic Church has suffered due to public opposition to its traditional teachings on such issues. But there has been comparatively little recent investigation into British Catholics’ views on these debates using surveys aimed at this religious community. Purpose This article examines the sources of attitudinal heterogeneity amongst Catholics in Britain on core debates affecting the Catholic Church. The aims are to examine, firstly, which groups within the British Catholic Community are more likely to conform to or to dissent from the Church’s teachings and, secondly, whether the socio-demographic and religious correlates of attitudes vary across different types of issue. Methods This article uses a new, nationally representative survey of Catholic adults in Britain (n = 1823). The survey is used to examine the sources of variation in Catholics’ attitudes towards a range of issues relating to the Roman Catholic Church. These issues relate to the priesthood, personal morality, and sinful behaviours. OLS models are used to assesses the relative impact of socio-demographic, religious socialisation, and religious commitment variables. Results The findings show that women are consistently more liberal in their views than men. Greater religious commitment is always associated with support for the traditional teachings of the Church. Conclusions and Implications Exploring the sources of attitudinal heterogeneity among Catholics, we provide new insights into the internal dynamics of ‘Britain’s largest minority’. We conclude by discussing the potential effects of increasing ‘nonversion’ for interpreting religious statistics—a topic of relevance beyond the denominational and geographical confines of this study’s explicit focus.

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Reviews of the Literature

Human Organization ◽

10.17730/humo.11.1.h22w421173n54067 ◽

1952 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 41-44

Keyword(s):

Catholic Church ◽

Church Attendance ◽

Roman Catholic ◽

Social Institution ◽

Roman Catholic Church ◽

Social Actions ◽

The Social ◽

The Many ◽

The City ◽

Roman Catholics

With the assistance of ten students and six priests over a period of 12 months, the head of the department of sociology at Loyola University of the South conducted a field study of the social actions of parishioners and clergy in a single Roman Catholic Church unit in the city of New Orleans. The methodology and conceptual framework of the analysis of action within the context of the social institution, viewed structurally and functionally, have been magnificently adhered to. Religious actions, conceived as such by the actors and by others who interpret their behavior, are the substance of this study in parochial sociology. Data were collected by patient observation of the many aspects of the detailed religious patterns of action in which Roman Catholics engage. These are, among others, the typical and atypical behavior associated with church attendance, the sacraments, retreats, missions, recruitment for the priesthood, special devotions and feast-days, and the observances relating to baptism, matrimony and death.

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Roman Catholics at Non-Catholic, University-Related Divinity Schools and Theologates

Horizons ◽

10.1017/s0360966900027468 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 311-323

Author(s):

Henry J. Charles

Keyword(s):

Catholic Church ◽

Theological Education ◽

Roman Catholic ◽

Religious Studies ◽

Roman Catholic Church ◽

Degree Programs ◽

Catholic University ◽

Lay Women ◽

Roman Catholics ◽

Catholic Theological

AbstractAn important dimension of the changing character of Roman Catholic theological education is the growing numbers of Catholic lay women and men in all degree programs at non-Catholic, university related divinity schools, theologates, and departments of religious studies. This year-long study focused on Roman Catholic students and graduates of five schools across the country, in a first attempt to analyze the phenomenon and to suggest implications of the trend both for “ecumenical” theological education and for ministry in the Roman Catholic Church.

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Who Criticizes the Clergy in Contemporary Lithuania? A Sociohistorical Analysis of Anticlericalism

Religions ◽

10.3390/rel13010004 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 4

Author(s):

Milda Alisauskiene ◽

Apolonijus Zilys

Keyword(s):

Data Analysis ◽

Catholic Church ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Secondary Data ◽

Roman Catholic ◽

Small Towns ◽

Roman Catholic Church ◽

Statistical Data Analysis ◽

Large Cities ◽

Roman Catholics

This paper analyzes the phenomenon of anticlericalism in contemporary Lithuania, applying a sociohistorical approach. It starts with a discussion on the problem of criticism of religion and anticlericalism in contemporary societies, and particularly Lithuania. The empirical part of the paper provides a statistical data analysis of two surveys, conducted in 2012 and 2018. The secondary data analysis showed that age and place of residence of Roman Catholics in Lithuania were statistically meaningful factors for the formation of anticlerical stances. Younger respondents expressed more critical stances towards the clergy, while respondents living in large cities of the country had more relaxed stances towards clergy than those living in small towns and rural areas. Living in a proximity to a Roman Catholic church in rural areas determined the prevalent anticlerical attitudes among the Lithuanian population.

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Religion, Nationalism, and Transnational Actors

10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.417 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Jeffrey Haynes

Keyword(s):

International Relations ◽

Catholic Church ◽

Well Being ◽

Roman Catholic ◽

International Order ◽

Religious Community ◽

Roman Catholic Church ◽

Religious Influence ◽

Transnational Actors ◽

Religious Actors

A proper understanding of the development of nationalism should incorporate the direct and indirect influences of religion. To focus on the current international order is to note that various aspects of international conflict have significantly changed in recent years, with frequent involvement of religious, ethnic, and cultural non-state actors. The type of religious nationalism affects what type of nation state develops. The stronger the religious influence on the national movement, the greater the likelihood that discrimination and human rights violations will occur. In addition, there are scholars who argue that the activities of transnational religious actors—such as the Roman Catholic Church, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), and al Qaeda—can undermine state sovereignty. The premise here is that globalization facilitates the growth of transnational networks of religious actors. Feeding off each other’s ideas and perhaps aiding each other with funds, these actors and institutions are bodies whose main priority is the well-being and advance of their transnational religious community. But opinions about the current involvement of religion in international relations and its impact on international order tend to be polarized. On the one hand, the re-emergence of religion in international relations is often seen to present increased challenges to international order, especially from extremist Islamist organizations. On the other hand, some religious actors may help advance international order—for example the Roman Catholic Church and its widespread encouragement to authoritarian regimes to democratize—by significantly affecting international governments.

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Church Growth in Times of Secularization: A Case Study of People Joining Evangelical Congregations in the Netherlands

Review of Religious Research ◽

10.1007/s13644-020-00434-x ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Paul Vermeer ◽

Peer Scheepers

Keyword(s):

The Netherlands ◽

Church Growth ◽

Catholic Church ◽

Religious Orientation ◽

Religious Affiliation ◽

Roman Catholic ◽

Roman Catholic Church ◽

Protestant Churches ◽

The People ◽

The One

AbstractBackground: Today the Dutch religious landscape is characterized by two opposite trends. On the one hand, there is a massive and dominant trend of religious disaffiliation which mostly affects the Roman Catholic Church and the mainline Protestant churches, while on the other hand the Netherlands also witnesses the emergence of several independent, evangelical congregations of near megachurch size. Purpose: Against the background of these opposite trends, this paper focuses on the second trend and tries to explain why some people join an evangelical congregation. Methods: For this purpose, quantitative data gathered among the audiences of six thriving evangelical congregations are analyzed in view of the following research questions: (1) What was the previous religious affiliation of the people who switched or converted to one of the six participating evangelical congregations? and (2) Which factors induced the switch or conversion to these congregations? Results: Results of bivariate and multivariate analyses show that these congregations attract both mainline and orthodox Protestant switchers as well as a significant number of secular converts, whose decision to join these evangelical congregations is induced by early socialization experiences, their intrinsic religious orientation and the switching of their partner. Closer scrutiny into the background of the apparent secular converts reveals, however, that several of these converts are probably re-affiliates. Although these secular converts indicated to be a religious none in their early teens, their conversion to evangelicalism is in part still induced by certain, early religious socialization experiences. Conclusions and Implications: This insight puts the alleged success of these evangelical congregations in more perspective. It shows that their success is more a matter of circulating, religious believers and not so much a matter of successfully reaching out to the unchurched. In all likelihood, then, thriving evangelical congregations will remain an exception in secular societies like the Netherlands and evangelical church growth in no way marks a break with the ongoing trend of religious disaffiliation.

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An Assessment of Long-Term and Contemporary Attitudes towards ‘Sanctity of Life’ Issues amongst Roman Catholics in Britain

Journal of Religion in Europe ◽

10.1163/18748929-00704005 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 7 (3-4) ◽

pp. 269-300 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ben Clements

Keyword(s):

General Population ◽

Catholic Church ◽

Assisted Suicide ◽

Roman Catholic ◽

Roman Catholic Church ◽

Sanctity Of Life ◽

Life Issues ◽

Socio Demographic Factors ◽

Roman Catholics

The Roman Catholic Church has long-standing and steadfast positions on ‘sanctity of life’ issues. This article examines the views of Catholics in Britain on two of these issues: assisted suicide and abortion. It looks at whether Catholics still retain distinctive views on these issues compared to wider society and then examines which socio-demographic and religious factors underpin their attitudes. Catholics tend to be more likely than the general population to oppose assisted suicide and abortion in particular circumstances and to view them as less morally justifiable. Amongst Catholics, socially-conservative views on these issues are associated with various socio-demographic factors and both believing and behaving aspects of religiosity.

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A Question of Interpretation: The Roman Rota and the Theology of Marriage

Ecclesiastical Law Journal ◽

10.1017/s0956618x00006712 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 8 (39) ◽

pp. 425-437

Author(s):

Aidan McGrath Ofm

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

Catholic Church ◽

Canon Law ◽

Roman Catholic ◽

Roman Catholic Church ◽

Code Of Canon Law ◽

Complete Reversal ◽

The Law ◽

Roman Catholics ◽

The Way

Judges need guidance if they are to apply the law in particular circumstances with an even hand. For Roman Catholics, Canon 19 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law provides this guidance by reference to the practice of the Roman Curia and by the constant opinion of learned authors. Useful as these supplementary sources are, they mean that judges have to trust that those responsible for making decisions in the Roman Curia and the learned authors have drawn their conclusions on a sound basis. This study considers what happened when a specific document was misunderstood in the Roman Catholic Church for almost four hundred years. The document, a letter from Pope Sixtus V to his Nuncio in Spain in 1587, responded to a specific query concerning the capacity for marriage of men who had been castrated. The interpretation of the letter defined the Roman Catholic Church's concept of marriage in general and its understanding of the impediment of impotence for four centuries. In the twentieth century, several Roman Catholic judges and canonists refused to take at face value the conclusions offered by other judges and learned authors, and decided to carry out their own analysis of the document in question. This resulted in a complete reversal of the way in which marriage cases were considered by the Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota, and contributed to the emergence of a much richer and more integrated theology of marriage.

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Prospero’s Exile and the Tempest of the English Reformation

Religion and the Arts ◽

10.1163/156852910x494420 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. 252-266 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Todd Edmondson

Keyword(s):

Catholic Church ◽

Roman Catholic ◽

Roman Catholic Church ◽

New Order ◽

English Reformation ◽

Religious Context ◽

The Tempest ◽

The Relationship ◽

Roman Catholics

AbstractAs one of Shakespeare’s most compelling and dynamic creations, Prospero, the protagonist of The Tempest, has long been a source of scholarly interest. This essay attempts to situate the image of Prospero in the specific religious context of Shakespeare’s world. Prospero’s exile and his return can be understood more fully by looking at it through the lens of the English Reformation, in particular the situation in which Roman Catholics and their clergy found themselves under the reigns of Elizabeth and James. As with Prospero, a complex web of factors led to the persecution of the Roman Catholic Church in England; and, like Prospero, the clergy of that Church faced difficult questions about the relationship between supernatural and temporal power, questions that would ultimately decide their place in a new order.

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Roman Catholics and Baptists in Dialogue

Ecclesiology ◽

10.1163/17455316-01101006 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 84-92

Author(s):

David M. Chapman

Keyword(s):

Catholic Church ◽

Roman Catholic ◽

Roman Catholic Church ◽

Word Of God ◽

Christian Initiation ◽

Roman Catholics ◽

The Church

This article provides an overview of the latest report of formal conversations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Baptist World Alliance, The Word of God in the Life of the Church (2010), drawing attention to points of ecclesiological interest. It begins by sketching the report’s historical and theological context in Baptist-Roman Catholic relations and dialogue before considering the aims, scope and methodology of the conversations. The article comments on the report’s treatment of its main themes: Scripture and tradition; Christian initiation; Mary as a model of discipleship; and the ministry of oversight. The article concludes that the report is a substantial theological convergence statement of broad ecumenical interest and significance.

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