scholarly journals The ordination of Catholic women as deacons: The state of the question

2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Rakoczy
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Women's Ordination ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ordination Of Women ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Women Deacons ◽  
The Catholic Church

The report of a commission set up by Pope Francis to study the question of women as deacons in the Catholic Church was issued in May 2019. Whilst it is well known that the Catholic Church refuses to ordain women, the form of the diaconate being discussed is that of the ‘permanent diaconate’ for men, which was established after the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). This article first discusses how this issue has arisen, clarifies the types of deacons and reviews the reasons why the Catholic Church refuses to ordain women. It then looks at Scripture and the history of the Church to assess the historical role of women deacons. The issue of women’s ordination emerged after Vatican II (1962–1965). Women’s ministries have grown immensely since then and this is a factor in the question about the ordination of women deacons. There are important theological issues involved in the study around women deacons. Lastly, the article raises questions about the future of this issue under Pope Francis and his successors.Contribution: The issue of the ordination of women deacons in the Roman Catholic Church is a current and contentious issue. This article reviews the historical evidence for women deacons and the views of theologians and Church leaders in order to assess whether there are grounds for hope.

Lamennais

1947 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waldemar Gurian
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Early Church ◽  
The Third ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Papal Infallibility ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

The history of the Catholic Church includes men who, after brilliant services to the Church, died outside her fold. Best known among them is Tertullian, the apologetic writer of the Early Church; less known is Ochino, the third vicar-general of the Capuchins, whose flight to Calvin's Geneva almost destroyed his order. In the nineteenth century there were two famous representatives of this group. Johann von Doellinger refused, when more than seventy years old, to accept the decision of the Vatican Council about papal infallibility. He passed away in 1890 unreconciled, though he had been distinguished for years as the outstanding German Catholic theologian. Félicité de la Mennais was celebrated as the new Pascal and Bossuet of his time before he became the modern Tertullian by breaking with the Church because Pope Gregory XVI rejected his views on the relations between the Church and die world. As he lay deathly ill, his niece, “Madame de Kertanguy asked him: ‘Féli, do you want a priest? Surely, you want a priest?’ Lamennais answered: ‘No.’ The niece repeated: ‘I beg of you.’ But he said with a stronger voice: ‘No, no, no.

Exploring the Possible Contributions of the African Palaver towards a Participatory Synodal Church

Exchange ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 209-237
Author(s):  
Stan Chu Ilo
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Consensus Building ◽  
Traditional Society ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The Church

Abstract This essay argues for a participatory synodal Church and the possible contributions of the African palaver as a model for participatory dialogue in the Roman Catholic Church. The African palaver is the art of conversation, dialogue, and consensus-building in traditional society that can be appropriated in the current search for a more inclusive and expansive participatory dialogue at all levels of the life of the Church. I will develop this essay first by briefly exploring some theological developments on synodality between the Second Vatican Council and Pope Francis and some of the contributions of the reforms of Pope Francis to synodality in the Church. Secondly, I will identify how the African palaver functions through examples taken from two African ethnic groups. I will proceed to show how the African palaver could enter into dialogue with other new approaches to participatory dialogue for a synodal Church.

A Roman Catholic Understanding of Ecumenical Dialogue

Ecclesiology ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-193
Author(s):  
MICHAEL PUTNEY
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Ecumenical Dialogue ◽  
Moral Failure ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
John's Gospel ◽  
The Catholic Church

Abstract<title> ABSTRACT </title>The Decree on Ecumenism and subsequent ecumenical documents indicate a growing commitment to ecumenical dialogue in the Catholic Church. Given the ecclesiology of communion of the Second Vatican Council and foundational ecumenical texts in St John's Gospel, it would be impossible for the Roman Catholic Church to be faithful to Christ if it were not engaged in dialogue with other Christian communions. Such dialogue is necessary for its own self-realization. Only through dialogue will it hear the call to conversion and receive the gifts that only other Christians can offer. for the Catholic Church to cease to be involved in ecumenical dialogue would be not just a moral failure, but an ecclesiological breakdown.

scholarly journals Synodality as a return to the origins of Christianity and the way of building the God’s Kingdom

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-130
Author(s):  
Sebastian Zygmunt
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Body Of Christ ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Church Development ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Given ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

Over the centuries, exercising authority in the Catholic Church had been generating many doubts and problems. The extreme understanding the Pope’s role as an absolute monarch who independently decides about all dimensions of the Church has supplanted with time the known from the Apostle’s time communal management of the Mystical body of Christ. Just the Second Vatican Council and the last few popes noticed this particular problem. And one of the given solutions was the necessity of the return to the former way of exercising power by the college of bishops united around the Saint Peter’s Successor. Synods whose provisions would be presented to the Bishop of Rome for possible corrections and acceptance could again become a tool of power. By the analysis of the patrology research results, the history of the Catholic Church and dogmatic theology as well as sources and the subject literature it was possible to answer the question what synodality is in general, where does it draw its foundations and what is its role in building of the Kingdom of God. It was also possible to outline the perspective of the further Church development in an increasingly globalised world. The reflection on the historical formation of a proper understanding of collegiality and primacy proved helpful in understanding the goals behind the ”decentralization” of power in the Church postulated today by Pope Francis.

scholarly journals Catholic church and challenges of modernity in Italy: evolution of approaches and interpretations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronika Yazkova ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Global Challenges ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
The Catholic Church

This paper takes a closer look at global challenges currently facing the Catholic Church and the Catholic community in Italy at the present stage: the 2020–2021 coronavirus pandemic, migration crisis and populism, the breakthrough of new cultural and religious traditions in Europe, an aggressive behavior of the young people as a manifestation of the culture of death, further growth of urbanization and the multi-faceted phenomenon of artificial intelligence and «post-truth». The discussion is focused around evolution of interpretations by hierarchs, and by the Pope himself first and foremost, the head of the Roman Catholic Church on global problems of our time. The starting point of the study was the Second Vatican Council. The paper attempts a comprehensive study of the key provisions of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church in the context of global challenges of modernity in Italy, using the historical-and-hermeneutical method of the Vatican’s official documents analysis and the relevant statements of Catholic hierarchs in their historical context.

scholarly journals THE CONCEPT OF HUMAN DIGNITY AS A BASIS FOR COOPERATION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WITH STATE AND PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS

Skhid ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-72
Author(s):  
Anna Laputko
Keyword(s):  
Human Dignity ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Catholic Church

The article investigates the understanding of the concept of human dignity in the Catholic social doctrine and secular legal declarations aimed at the protection of personality rights. It is shown that notwithstanding the essential basic prerequisites, the concept of human dignity is foundational for the solution of new social problems. Consequently, human dignity is a basis for a fruitful dialog between the Catholic Church and world in order to create the society of peace, respect and well-being. It is proved that the turn to the systematic use of human right language and the strategies of the protection of human dignity occurred during the Second Vatican Council. This process is a part of the anthropological turn of the Christian religion within the global transformations of religious worldview in the age of late modern and postmodernism. Refreshment of the social teaching of Catholicism occurs within the last encyclical “Fratelli tutti” by the Pope Francis. The principle of the absolute value of human dignity becomes primary for the social teaching of the “Fratelli tutti” encyclical by the Pope Francis. This principle is fully substantiated. The Pope recognize that the absoluteness of human dignity is not obvious for the contemporary social discourse, the personality is more and more reduced to the individual who can be manipulated destroying the natural context of life which for the individual have always been communities. The Pope provides arguments about the dignity of the individual, which are revealed through faith, love, reflection and social dialogue.

Roman Catholic Contacts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jurjen A. Zeilstra
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
World Council Of Churches ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The World ◽  
World Council ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The 1960S

Chapter 8 deals with Visser ’t Hooft’s lengthy campaign to have the Roman Catholic Church join the World Council of Churches. It traces developments from the beginning when Protestant ecumenicity was firmly rejected, to the later history from the 1960s onwards. It explores Visser ’t Hooft’s contacts with the Dutch Roman Catholics Jo Willibrands and Frans Thijssen and early attempts at rapprochement, including the creation of the Joint Working Group. The chapter discusses the difference in agendas, and developments during and arising from the Second Vatican Council. It then relates the history of ecumenical relations with the Roman Catholic Church in connection with the Roman Catholic movement under successive popes away from membership of the World Council.

scholarly journals “Nada será como antes”. A controvérsia eclesiástica sobre o Sínodo dos Bispos da Amazônia (2017-2019)

2020 ◽  
Vol 80 (316) ◽  
pp. 282
Author(s):  
Carlos Eduardo Sell
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
The Self ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Political ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Ecological Concern ◽  
Political Disputes ◽  
The Catholic Church

O artigo analisa as controvérsias entre elites eclesiásticas católicas ao longo do processo de preparação do Sínodo Pan-Amazônico entre 2017 e 2019. Na primeira parte são identificados os atores e posicionamentos que emergiram nas disputas políticas em torno do Sínodo, buscando-se mostrar como elas estão implicadas em lutas pela auto-compreensão da Igreja católica enquanto organismo político, além de colocar em discussão estratégias distintas de inserção do catolicismo no mundo moderno. Na segunda parte, a partir da análise do documento que foi o epicentro da disputa (Instrumentum Laboris), argumenta-se que, na sua dimensão intra-eclesial, ele colocou em debate o processo de aprofundamento das reformas democratizantes iniciado com o Concílio Vaticano II e intensificado sob o governo do papa Francisco. Já na sua dimensão extra-eclesial (Igreja/mundo), o texto indica deslocamentos na compreensão e na estratégia de posicionamento da Igreja católica frente ao plano global e sinaliza para um processo que, mediado pela problemática ecológica, incorpora elementos da agenda pós-colonial. Abstract: The article analyzes the controversies among Catholic ecclesiastical elites during the process of preparation of the Pan-Amazon Synod between 2017 and 2019. In the first part we identify the actors and positions that emerged in the political disputes about the Synod, seeking to show how they are implicated in struggles for the self-understanding of the catholic church as a political organism, besides discussing different strategies of insertion of catholicism in the modern world. In the second part, from the analysis of the document that was the epicenter of the dispute (Instrumentum Laboris), it is argued that, in its intra-ecclesial dimension, it put into debate the process of deepening democratizing reforms that began with the Second Vatican Council. and intensified under the rule of Pope Francis. Already in its extra--ecclesial dimension, the text indicates shifts in the understanding and strategy of positioning of the Catholic church in relation to the global plan and points to a process that, mediated by ecological concern, incorporates elements of the postcolonial agenda.Keywords: Catholic church; Pope Francis; Synod; Amazon; Ecology.

scholarly journals The ‘enemy within’ the post-Vatican II Roman Catholic Church

2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham A. Duncan
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Church History ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Church Hierarchy ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
History Of

The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) is regarded as one of the most significant processes in the ecumenical church history of the 20th century. At that time, a younger generation of Roman Catholic theologians began to make their mark in the church and within the ecumenical theological scene. Their work provided an ecumenical bridge between the Reforming and the Roman Catholic ecclesiastical traditions, notwithstanding the subsequent negative response of the Roman church hierarchy. Despite important advances, recent pontificates significantly altered the theological landscape and undermined much of the enthusiasm and commitment to unity. Roman Catholic theological dissent provided common ground for theological reflection. Those regarded as the ‘enemy within’ have become respected colleagues in the search for truth in global ecclesiastical perspective. This article will use the distinction between the history and the narratives of Vatican II.

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