Factors Determining the Involvement in Non-Religious Activities in the Parish: A Cross-Sectional Study of the Catholic Laity

Charitable activities of the Catholic Church in Poland are carried out primarily at two levels: national church organizations, diocesan and religious, and at the level of less formalized parish organizations. The data show a relatively low percentage of people who are strongly involved in parish activities and in non-religious (social, charitable) affairs of the parish community. The first purpose of this paper is to indicate the socio-demographic features that characterize people who are socially engaged. The second aim is to search for model regularities indicating determinants of social activity of parishioners. We conducted the research in parishes of Lublin Archdiocese in 2020. The research sample was 1867 people, of whom 70% were women. The average age of the respondents was 54.31 years. We have selected predictors that characterise the participants of the non-religious activities in the parish. Referring to the theoretical model of social participation and the concept of social capital, we have indicated the factors that shape the pro-social attitudes of parish members.

They Are Preserved Forever: Visualising the Memorialisation of Archipelagic Religious and Community Identities

In this article, we respond to the Special Issue theme by addressing the complexities of religious identities in archipelagic communities where the dual role of the sea as conduit and barrier has impacted the parish system, farming estates and community life. The focus is primarily on nineteenth and twentieth century testimonies and material evidence, approached within a broader chronological context going back to the Middle Ages. Using qualitative GIS mapping of the habitations of the people memorialised in two burial grounds in Orkney, we visualise the active role of the islander in constructing identities linking people and place at parish, community and personal levels. The results show that the people with memorial stones were buried within a long-established parochial structure but did not adhere to ecclesiastical norms, with district burial grounds being favoured over a single parish churchyard. We conclude that this approach demonstrates the complexities of identities within an island community and identify its applicability in other contexts combining material culture and historical documentation to investigate religious island identities.

ТРАДИЦИИ СТРАННИЧЕСТВА И ХРАМОПОПЕЧЕНИЕ: НА МАТЕРИАЛАХ ВОЛОГОДСКОЙ ГУБЕРНИИ ВТОРОЙ ПОЛОВИНЫ XIX – НАЧАЛА XX ВЕКА

В статье на архивных и этнографических материалах Вологодской губ. рассказывается о месте и роли странничества в деле храмопопечения. Само храмопопечение в крестьянском сообществе представляло собой заботу об устройстве храма – его внешнем и внутреннем благолепии, а также отношение к нему, бытующее в крестьянской среде во второй половине XIX – начале XX в., и все виды и формы коммуникаций, вызванные этим отношением. Сбор доброхотных подаяний для нужд храма являлся частью индивидуальных форм храмопопечения и органичной частью странничества. В статье прослеживается, как происходила организация сборов на храм внутри приходского сообщества, какую роль в ней исполняли священнослужители, какими качествами обладали сами сборщики и что являлось мотивами для участия в данной практике храмопопечения. Сборщики на храм иногда собирали средства без разрешения епархиального начальства, выпадали из церковной нормативности, но при этом полностью соответствовали пониманию крестьянами истинного благочестия. Несмотря на стремление церкви регулировать данный вид попечения, оно было ярким проявлением крестьянской религиозности. В статье можно увидеть, что странничество в крестьянской среде было бы невозможно без таких явлений крестьянской жизни, как странноприимство, идеи милосердия и представления о храме как о сакральном центре крестьянской общины. The article on the archival and ethnographic materials of the Vologda province tells about the place and the role of wandering in the matter of church care. The care of the church itself in the peasant community was a concern for the structure of the church – its external and internal splendor, as well as the attitude towards it that existed in the peasant environment in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries and all types and forms of communication caused by this attitude. Collecting voluntary alms for the needs of the temple was part of individual forms of church care and an organic part of wandering. The article notes how the church fund-raising had organized within the parish community, what role the clergy played in it, what qualities the collectors themselves possessed, and what were the motives for participating in this practice of temple care. Canvassers sometimes raised funds for the church without the permission of the diocesan authorities, which fell out of church standards, but at the same time fully corresponded to the peasants’ understanding of true piety. Despite the desire of the church to regulate this type of care, it was a vivid manifestation of peasant religiosity. It can be seen in the article that wandering among the peasant environment would have been impossible without such a phenomenon of peasant life as hospitality, the idea of mercy, and the idea of the temple as the sacred center of the peasant community.

Pastoral Conversion According to Franciszek Blachnicki in the Context of the Vatican’s Instruction on Parishes in the Service of Evangelization (29 June 2020)

Endowed with an in-depth and insightful analysis of the Church’s reality and the charism of reading the signs of the times, one of the greatest Polish pastoralists, founder of the Light-Life Movement, Fr. Franciszek Blachnicki (21 March 1921–27 February 1987) insistently postulated making the “Copernican turn” in the Church’s saving ministry. On the hundredth anniversary of his birth, it is worth looking at the guiding principles of the Congregation for Clergy Pastoral conversion of the parish community in the service of the Church’s evangelizing mission (29 June 2020) and analyze to what extent Blachnicki’s concept of pastoral conversion regarding the renewal of the parish is still valid and estimate whether it can still be an inspiration in pastoral discussions on the realization of the Church hic et nunc.

Публичное и частное в философии религии Ричарда Рорти

The article covers the religious conception in the work of the famous American philosopher Richard Rorty. The author emphasises the secular and finalist views of R. Rorty on the nature of religion, and on the philosopher’s gradual perception of the need for their creative reinterpretation due to the actualisation of the role of religion in intellectual and political spheres. The article uncovers two fundamental constituents of Richard Rorty’s religious philosophy. The first of them is associated with R. Rorty’s perception of the ‘weak thinking’ concept in the writings of Italian philosopher Gianni Vattimo. R. Rorty holds ‘weak thinking’ and ‘kenosis’ to be the key to understanding the possibility of religion in the postmodern era. The second aspect concerns the existence of religion in the public space. Here the distinction between ‘strong’ narratives and ‘weak’ thinking correlates with the politically significant distinction between ‘strong’ religious institutions and private (parish, community) religious practice. Rorty believes that the activity of ‘strong’ religious structures threatens liberal ‘social hope’ on the gradual democratisation of mankind. The article concludes that Richard Rorty’s philosophy of religion presents an original conception of religion in the context of modern temporal humanism; the concept positively evaluates religious experience to the extent that it does not become a basis for theoretical and political manipulations on the part of ‘strong’ religious institutes.

The social appearance of the urban Orthodox parish at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries. according to the metric books of the Epiphany Cathedral in Yekaterinburg

The article presents the results of the analysis of the parish community according to the database of the Epiphany Cathedral of the parish books of the late 19th – early 20th centuries. The data on the social status, class, occupation and place of registration / residence of parents, whose children were baptized in this temple in Yekaterinburg, were used. The Epiphany parish united the urbanized business and administrative elite of a large regional city, as well as rural migrants looking for work and a better life.

Recovery of a vandalized canvas painting our Lady of the Rosary from Vrlika (Croatia)

This study is related to the major recovery project of an 18th century oil painting on canvas depicting Our Lady of the Rosary, the patron saint of the parish community of Vrlika and its surroundings. During the Croatian War of Independence in 1992 it was taken off the main altar and vandalized by the paramilitary units. This resulted in termination of a century long tradition of annual feasts in Vrlika in which the painting was publicly displayed and carried by the townsmen. Based on the available visual materials: a high resolution old black and white photograph and the low resolution coloured one, respectfully, using the computer colorization algorithm, and also relying on detailed visual analysis of the original paint layer, a major reconstruction was carried out in 2017. This research has demonstrated that the recovery of the artworks with dramatic losses is an extremely complex social phenomenon difficult to characterize by any general factor or based on any general approach.

“Her Duty and Obligation”

This chapter examines the duties and obligations of the seroras. Seroras expressed piety through practice and action, which were both utilitarian and highly performative. Their practical role, coupled with the formality that went into their selection and installation, places seroras in a category unlike any other iteration of lay devout female service. There were many factors that led women to the semireligious life and seroría. At the most basic level, however, the vocation remained viable and popular for so long because it responded equally to practical needs of the parish community and the parish fabric, or material infrastructure. Even if it was not always fully condoned by diocesan officials, it was mostly considered a benign outlet for female piety. Different localities had slightly different methods for selecting seroras, and responsibilities and rituals of installation varied according to geographic circumstances or patterns of local power and influence. On the whole, however, the institution was remarkably consistent across the Basque lands. Regardless of where they served, most seroras could expect to perform a fairly standard set of duties and to be remunerated in similar ways by the communities they served.

Mening och samhörighet

Meaning and Belonging: Young Adults in Today’s Pentecostal Congregations in Sweden The focus of this article is to explore where and how young adults in the contemporary Swedish Pentecostal movement experience meaning and belonging in their congregation and what impact meaning and belonging have for them. This article builds on a study from 2019, in which young adults in today’s Swedish Pentecostal congregations described their beliefs and their congregational life; Gemenskap, individualism och andlighet. Tro och församlingsliv bland unga vuxna i den samtida svenska pingströrelsen (Sand, 2019). The data was collected through interviews and a survey, in which both young-adult members and leaders were questioned. The results from the 2019-study will in this article be analysed and discussed based on Meredith B. McGuire’s theory on meaning and belonging in Religion: The Social Context (2008). In addition, the results will also be compared with related research. The results show the young adults mostly experience meaning and belonging in the smaller gatherings the congregations offer. The smaller groups offer the opportunity to form close bonds to other members and the possibility to strengthen their faith. The groups also work as a “safe haven” where the members can share their everyday life and personal challenges. Although the large parish community in the congregations can provide both meaning and belonging, such as volunteering in the church activities, worship and prayer during the Sunday services; they do not produce that to the same extent as the smaller gatherings. This article shows that the experience of meaning and belonging is important both for the development of the young adults’ faith and their belonging in the congregations.