COMMENTARY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND FAITH IN CHURCH TEACHING

The text analyzes the relationship between Science and Faith in the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. The analysis is based on the position of the Vatican Councils I and II about the importance of Faith and Reason for man, in his search for truth; simultaneously, the orientations of popes Leo XIII and John Paul II were taken into account, in their Encyclicals Aeterni Patris and Fides et Ratio, respectively; some speeches by Popes Paul VI, Benedict XVI and Francis before the Pontifical Academy of Sciences were also analyzed. The Church has sought from the First Vatican Council to the present to bring, harmonize and complement the relationship between Faith and Reason; its interest is not limited to promoting scientific research; it also aspires that knowledge be ordered to the welfare of the human being, and the horizon of faith is recognized in the search for truth.

Konfirmasi Teologis Peran Roh Kudus Dalam Pelayanan Gerejawi

The importance of understanding the role of the Holy Spirit becomes a basic need to examine the understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit, especially in ecclesiastical ministry. This paper specifically wants to confirm that the role of the Holy Spirit in ecclesiastical ministry is real. By using a topical method with a qualitative approach to the texts, a theological confirmation as follows regarding the role of the Holy Spirit in ecclesiastical ministry: first, the Holy Spirit teaches. Second, the Holy Spirit testifies. Third, the Holy Spirit guides. Fourth, the Holy Spirit. Fifth, regenerate the Holy Spirit.Keywords: Holy Spirit, church, teaching, witness, guiding, encouraging, being born again. AbstrakPentingnya memahami peran Roh Kudus menjadi kebutuhan dasar untuk meneliti pemahaman tentang peran Roh Kudus khususnya dalam pelayanan gerejawi. Tulisan ini secara khusus hendak memberikan sebuah konfirmasi bahwa peran Roh Kudus dalam pelayanan gerejawi adalah nyata. Dengan menggunakan metode topikal dengan pendekatan kualitatif pada teks-teks Alkitab, maka didapatkan sebuah konfirmasi teologis seperti berikut mengenai peran Roh Kudus dalam pelayanan gerejawi: Pertama, Roh Kudus mengajar. Kedua, Roh Kudus bersaksi. Ketiga, Roh Kudus membimbing. Keempat, Roh Kudus meyakinkan. Kelima, Roh Kudus melahirbarukan.Kata kunci: Roh Kudus, gereja, mengajar, saksi, membimbing, meyakinkan, lahir baru.

‘Come, Follow Me’, The Sacralising of the Home, and The Guardian of the Family: How Do European Women Negotiate the Domestic Space in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints?

In October 2018, the Prophet Russell M. Nelson informed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that the Church teaching curriculum would shift focus away from lessons taught on Sunday. Instead, members were now asked to engage with ‘home-centred, church-supported’ religious instruction using the Church materials ‘Come, Follow Me’. In a religion where Church leaders still defend the idealised family structure of a stay-at-home mother and a father as the provider, the renewed emphasis on the domestic sphere as the site for Church teaching could also reinforce traditional Mormon gender roles. This article draws upon the lived religion of Latter-day Saint women in Sweden, Greece and England to understand how they negotiate gender in their homes. Looking at the implementation of ‘Come, Follow Me’ of sacralising of the home as a gendered practice, there appears to be reinforcing the primacy of the domestic space in the reproduction of religious practices and doctrinal instruction. Simultaneously, in conceptualising a gender role, the guardian of the family, I show the ways that European Latter-day Saint women are providing, protecting and nurturing their families. The domestic space then becomes instrumental in providing space for more nuanced, complex gender constructs that accommodate Mormon beliefs, cultural context and secular notions of gender without destabilising the institutional structure.

Catholics and capital punishment: Do Pope Francis’s teachings matter in policy preferences?

In the United States, Catholics make up more than 50 million members of the adult population, or about one in five Americans. It is unclear whether their religious affiliation shapes Catholics’ views on public policy issues, ranging from the legality of abortion to criminal justice practices. Capital punishment is especially salient, given that Pope Francis announced in 2018—as official Catholic Church teaching—that the death penalty is “inadmissible” under all circumstances. Based on two national surveys, the current project explores Catholics’ support for state executions before (2017) and after (2019) the Pope’s momentous change in the church’s Catechism. At present, little evidence exists that Pope Francis’s doctrinal reform has impacted Catholics, a majority of whom—like Americans generally—continue to favor the death penalty for murderers. Data from our additional 2020 MTurk survey show that only 17.0% of Catholic respondents could correctly identify the Church’s position on capital punishment. Despite these results, Pope Francis’s teachings provide Catholic leaders and activists with a compelling rationale for opposing the death penalty and holding Catholic public officials accountable for espousing offenders’ execution. Further, for the next generation of Catholics, instruction in the inadmissibility of capital punishment, as part of the Church’s consistent ethic of life, will be integral to their religious training.

Template Policy for Catholic Health Care and Gender Identity

Gender ideology and medical interventions for so-called transitioning pose profound challenges for Catholic health care. Unfortunately, many institutions do not offer clear, specific policy guidance addressing these issues. This template policy is offered to Catholic health care institutions and systems to assist them in drafting such guidance. The template defines the mission of Catholic health care, summarizes Church teaching with regard to gender ideology, and identifies both licit and illicit clinical interventions for gender dysphoria. The template also offers guidance on practical issues, including name and pronoun use, sex-specific facilities, employee training programs, and health benefits. An appendix offers model language that institutions can incorporate into employment documents to maintain Catholic identity and mission.

Evolution of Catholic Marriage Morality in the Twentieth Century from a Baby-Making Contract to a Love-Making Covenant: Part II–Era of John Paul II

For nearly a century Catholic Church teaching on Sexuality evolved greatly. Changes in science and the teaching of other Christian churches begged for a fresh start. John Paul II, elected pope in 1978, attempted to update that teaching by providing new background arguments, without changing any of the strictures in the foreground. John Paul II insisted on necessity of total love, allowing for no exceptions. He claimed that divorce was impossible because the spouses retained no control over their marriage promises. Homosexual activity was judged to be morally deficient. Likewise the recent arrival of reproductive technology was largely condemned for breaking the sexual unity of the spouses. But fertile sexual activity was newly appreciated as the important activity of spouses cooperating with the creative activity of God. In the twenty-first century the Church’s official teachings continues to be reformed, but their relevance is widely questioned as social norms continue to drastically change.

Evolution of Catholic Marriage Morality in the Twentieth Century from a Baby-Making Contract to a Love-Making Covenant Part I: Code of Cannon Law to Vatican II

Sexual ethics in the West has been evolving, in practice and in theory, over the last century. The official Catholic Church teaching was challenged by many Christian churches and by the changing culture of the West. The Vatican insisted that no change could be made in its timeless truths. Nevertheless, each challenge required ever more sophisticated and convoluted arguments. The impetus for change came through the Western shift from seeing sexual activity as a procreative act toward viewing it as a way for husbands and wives (and gradually also any consenting adult) to express and deepen love. The Second Vatican Council accepted this new view, but subsequently the official teaching became more strict, insisting that both procreation and marital love-making must be present. The teaching of Pope Paul VI prohibiting contraception was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back for many Catholics. They abandoned the official teaching, recognizing that it was the new personalist view itself that complicated the meaning of marriage. Subsequently, the Canon Law tried reestablish the validity of loveless sex in marriage–the dominant view through the centuries. That move was rejected.

Americanism Redux

This chapter investigates the use of Americanism to appropriate Roman Catholicism for the good of a nation. It recounts older Roman Catholic heresy claimed that the American political system was not at odds with church teaching, even though the United States seemed to stand for most of the social and political realities that nineteenth-century popes had condemned. It also talks about the Americanists in the nineteenth-century who argued that Vatican officials misread the United States, stating that the nation was far friendlier to Roman Catholicism than Europeans imagined. The chapter details how Americanists urged the church to update its polity to the nation's political sensibilities, a strategy that would make Roman Catholicism look less odd in the United States. It also highlights ways Americanists adapt Roman Catholicism to life in a secular, constitutional republic.

Introduction

This chapter focuses on how Roman Catholics became prominent players in conservative circles and provides an understanding on the affinity and tension between national and Roman Catholic traditions and ideals. It describes John F. Kennedy's kind of Roman Catholicism, which Americans and the press found acceptable. It also mentions John Courtney Murray, who was considered a potential breakthrough for Roman Catholicism that harmonizes church teaching with national ideals, unlike Kennedy whose electoral victory was an example of religious indifference. The chapter talks about Pope Leo XIII's 1899 condemnation of Americanism or adjustment of the church to freedom, democracy, and popular sovereignty as Roman Catholics were still laboring under papal opposition to modernity in the 1950s. It refers to John T. Noonan, Jr., who authored important books about the church's evolving moral theology.

Americanism for the Global Church

This chapter begins with Pope Paul VI's statement about John F. Kennedy's assassination, stating that the incident was a dastardly crime. It describes the synergy between the papacy and the White House during Kennedy's tenure that was evident well before the president's tragic death. It also recounts how John XXIII prevailed on Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev to accept a compromise that involved the United States lifting its blockade and the Soviets promising to send no more warships to Cuba during the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962. The chapter looks at Kennedy's commencement speech at American University, which is considered as a kind of eulogy for Pope John as the president announced the suspension of nuclear weapons tests and the resumption of negotiations with the Soviets. It explores the convergence of papal pronouncements about international relations that blended church teaching and American ideals.