Killing Vocations over Wheaties and Milk

Author(s):  
Mary J. Henold

The turn of the 1960s marked a time of extreme demographic challenges for the American Catholic church. While the number of vocations to religious life was rising, the church itself was experiencing massive growth due to the baby boom of the post-war years. There simply were not enough women religious (nuns) to staff the growing number of Catholic schools required to educate the youth of the church. In response, Catholic periodicals signaled what they called a “vocation crisis” starting as early as 1958. An analysis of the articles produced at the height of the crisis in the first half of the 1960s reveals, not only the church’s fears at this unique moment, but also its perception of Catholic laywomen. Laywomen were most frequently blamed for causing the crisis by holding back their daughters from religious life. They were counseled to sacrifice everything for the church in order to achieve sanctity, and criticized for their failure to do so. The literature of the vocation crisis reveals common assumptions about laywomen’s vocation and its importance in the early 1960s.

2009 ◽  
pp. 215-224
Author(s):  
R.Yu. Boyko

One of the components of anti-Soviet opposition in post-war Ukraine is resistance of believers to the policies of Soviet power. Particularly specific is the resistance of Greek Catholics formed under the conditions of prohibition of the activities of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (hereinafter referred to as the UGCC). Despite the government's harassment, the church continued to operate underground. Of interest to researchers is the period of the second half of the 1960s - the first half of the 1980s - the time of the growing systemic crisis of the Soviet system.


2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 545-561 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Martin

This article surveys the Catholic Church's exploitation of sport in Liberal (1861–1922), Fascist (1922–1943), and post-war Italy. It examines how and why the Church overcame its initial reticence to embrace sport and turn it into a fundamental pillar of an alternative culture that challenged the monopoly of national sporting federations. Following the rise of Fascism, sport became one of the principal means by which the Church resisted a complete takeover by the regime. Analysis of the devout Catholic cyclist Gino Bartali reveals how the Church maintained its identity and tradition of sporting independence despite the inevitable suppression of Catholic sporting organisations. Culminating in an examination of the ‘immortalisation’ of Bartali after his win in the 1948 Tour De France – a victory popularly credited with saving Italy from civil war – the article illuminates the processes by which sport became a central feature of Catholicism in national life. It highlights the Church's contribution to the development of Italian sport, assesses the wider impact of sport's role in forming alternative cultures, and argues that sport perfectly positioned the Church to respond to the demands of Reconstruction Italy and provided opportunities to secure a post-war Christian Democratic society.


Horizons ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 328-342
Author(s):  
Mary Jo Weaver

AbstractContemporary issues in the American Catholic Church can sound like a modern-day confusion of tongues making communication impossible. Furthermore, the traditional marks of the Church have supported the notion that dissent and controversy are to be discouraged. This article examines catholicity and shows that its definitions and uses in history have tied it to uniformity when its essential characteristic may well be the celebration of pluralism. Catholicity is placed in the context of modern mission theory in such a way that current challenges can be interpreted as so many new languages which require patient understanding.


1981 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-129
Author(s):  
Patrick W. Carey

The American republican form of government and the effects of the Enlightenment upon the European Catholic church provided fertile ground for theological reflection and ecclesiastical adaptation in early nineteenth-century American Catholicism. A number of immigrant Catholic laymen were influenced by their previous European Catholic experiences and by the American enthusiasm for republicanism to reform their understanding of the laity's role in the American Catholic church and to adapt ecclesiastical structures to American political institutions. In light of these experiences, some of these laymen began to reflect upon the Christian Scriptures and tradition, and to formulate a democratic conception of the layman's role within the church.


Author(s):  
Dianne Kirby

Despite Hoover's efforts to develop an alliance with the American Catholic Church, other Christian communities came under suspicion during the Cold War. This chapter by Dianne Kirby examines the surveillance of communities during the Cold War period that had transatlantic links and supported the continuation of the alliance with the Soviet Union or developed other contacts beyond the Iron Curtain. Her case studies include surveillance of the Russian Orthodox Church in America, which in the course of the war sought to transfer allegiance to the Moscow Patriarchate, a move that was stymied in the post-war period by deteriorating US-Soviet relations and Roman Catholic opposition.


2009 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfonso Pérez-Agote

The process of the secularization of consciences in Spain evolved in three stages. The first of these began in the 19th century and lasted until the Civil War (1936—1939). This stage was characterized by the growth of a series of movements that opposed the Catholic Church's presumptive monopoly on truth. The second wave corresponded to the spread of consumerism and lasted from the 1960s to the end of the 1980s. In this second stage, we see a loss of interest in the Catholic Church and religion. Spain, traditionally a Catholic country, steadily became a country of Catholic culture; this translated into a progressive decline in the ability of the Church to control social behaviour. A third wave began in the 1990s, since when the majority of the younger generation has been losing all contact with the Catholic Church and religion.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 133-156
Author(s):  
Benjamin Ziemann

The article is discussing the practical work of pastoral sociologists in the West German Catholic Church from 1945 to 1970. In this context the distinction between “consultant,” “practitioner,” and “researcher in a practical setting,” can be used to highlight different sets of values, forms of engagement, and conceptual approaches to sociological work in the church. Using one specific example for each of the three types, this article argues that pastoral sociology during the 1960s was increasingly self-reflexive, and that different notions of “sociological enlightenment” were an important part of pastoral sociology, in the wake of the contestation of “1968”.


1979 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-44
Author(s):  
Renato Poblete

Ten years ago the Latin American Catholic Bishops held their Second General Conference in Medellín, Colombia. The conference had a great influence not only within the Catholic Church, but also on the formation of socioeconomic and political issues in Latin American countries. At the time of this writing, we are in the midst of preparations for the Third General Conference taking place in Puebla, Mexico, in October 1978. Therefore, this seems a good opportunity to reflect on the general processes of change in the Church leading to Puebla and their implications for the future.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 71-92
Author(s):  
Denis Bećirović ◽  

The illumination of the state policy of separating „positive“ from „negative“ priests of the Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the most important issues in the scientific understanding of the position of this religious community during the first decades of existence of AVNOJ Yugoslavia. The post-war government in Bosnia and Herzegovina treated a large number of priests of the Catholic Church as real or potential enemies of the state. In addition to ideological reasons, which were more or less similar in all communist parties, the negative attitude of the CPY towards the Catholic Church was influenced by the fact that some priests supported the Ustasha movement during World War II. The justification for the negative attitude of party structures towards priests was argued most often in the documents of the Commission for Religious Affairs with the following reasons: that most priests supported the occupier and domestic traitors during the war; that they spread hostile propaganda against the national liberation movement; that they actively participated in the fight against the new social order; that they had committed war crimes and persecuted members of other faiths, and that they had been linked to criminal Ustasha emigration abroad. In addition to „negative“ priests, there were „positive“ priests that also acted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as they were reported in the documents of the Commission for Religious Affairs. They did not agree to the policy of confrontation with the state and demanded the establishment of dialogue and co-operation between the Church and the state. Some of the most prominent representatives of this group of priests were: Fr Bono Ostojić, Ph.D. Karlo Karin, Fr Mile Leko, Fr Josip Markušić, Fr Serafin Dodig, Fr Kruno Misilo and others. Holders of „positive tendencies“ among the clergy, according to the Commission for Religious Affairs, understood the importance of establishing communication and contacts with state authorities and the harmfulness of the negative attitude of the Catholic Church towards the state. Their goal was to change the methods of solving problems between the Church and the state, and to build a path that would suit the interests of the priests of the Catholic Church and the interests of the state community, without interfering with the church's dogmatic canonical principles. The „differentiation“ of priests was treated as a positive result of the work of the new government, because, according to their assessments, in the first post-war years, representatives of religious communities had a hostile attitude towards the newly created socialist Yugoslav state. Therefore, the Commission for Religious Affairs (federal and republican) has continuously pointed out the importance of implementing a policy of „stratification and differentiation“ within religious communities. According to the observations of the Federal Commission for Religious Affairs, the post-war „differentiation“ among the priests happened primarily due to their attitudes regarding the relationship between the state and the Catholic Church. Some considered it desirable and useful to establish communication with the newly created authorities, while others maintained a negative attitude. In addition to these two groups, there was a third group that was undecided. When considering the biographical data of the priests of the Catholic Church proposed for state decorations, it can be stated that the authorities carefully took into account which priests would be on the list of candidates recommended for awards. A positive attitude towards the new socialist social order, active participation in the establishment of the Association of Catholic Priests in Bosnia and Herzegovina, loyalty, patriotism towards socialist Yugoslavia, and contribution to the development of the Association of Catholic Priests in Bosnia and Herzegovina, are some of the most important reasons for choosing candidates for awards. In the article, based on unpublished archival sources, the author contextualises the political circumstances and the circumstances in which the state policy of differentiation of „positive“ from „reactionary“ priests of the Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina took place, points out the reasons for and bearers of such policy, and analyses its expression and results. Also, the author presents the policy of awarding state recognitions and decorations to individual priests in Bosnia and Herzegovina.


2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (278) ◽  
pp. 423
Author(s):  
Antônio Moser

Uma onda de denúncias de pedofilia no clero, mormente no contexto anglo-saxônico colocou a Igreja numa situação muito difícil. Diante disto, convém agir com discernimento, aceitando os fatos, mas também tentando redimensioná-los. A pedofilia não é, evidentemente, um problema existente só dentro da Igreja, nem é um problema isolado: ele se articula com uma sociedade sexual e socialmente desarticulada. O acirramento da genitalidade parece estar na raiz deste e de outros desvios sexuais. Diante deste mundo de sombras, impõe-se uma revisão das estruturas formativas do clero e da vida religiosa, mas sobretudo, se impõe um investimento grande em termos de educação para o amor.Abstract: A wave of denouncements of pedophilia in the clergy, chiefly in the Anglo-Saxon context, put the Catholic Church in a very difficult situation. Facing this, it be best to act with discernment, accepting the facts, but also trying to reproportion them. Pedophilia is not, evidently, a problem which only exists within the Church, nor is it an isolated problem: it is linked to a society which is sexually and socially disjointed. The incitement of the genitality seems to be at the root of this and other sexual deviations. Standing before this world of shadows, a revision in the formative structures of the clergy and the religious life is urgent, but above all, a large investment in terms of education for love.


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