The question of whether life exists beyond death remains one of the most pertinent of our existence, and theologians continue to address what relevance the answer has for our life in the present. In ...this book, William J. Hoye uses the phenomenon of emergence - the way higher forms of existence arise from a collection of simpler interactions - as a framework for understanding and defending the concept of eternal life, showing how it 'emerges' from our present life, our human longing for fulfilment and happiness, and our striving for knowledge of reality. Hoye uses the work of Karl Rahner and Thomas Aquinas to explore questions concerning suffering, the ultimate relevance of morality, and how the fundamental idea of responsibility changes when viewed eschatologically. Contemporary reasons for denying an afterlife are examined critically and extensively. This book will be of great interest to those studying systematic theology, theological anthropology and Catholic theology.
This absorbing book takes us back to the busy, colorful world of a Netherlandish Catholic bishop and his flock during the age of Reformation. It is drawn from a rare journal, one of many kept by ...Mathias Hovius from 1596 to 1620 while he was Archbishop of Mechelen (part of modern Belgium). Elegantly written, the book focuses not only on the life of Mathias Hovius but also on key events and characters of his time; it portrays "lived religion," so that we see people from all sides getting involved in the constant negotiation of what it meant to be a good Catholic.Craig Harline and Eddy Put recreate the eventful life and times of Mathias Hovius-a world in which other-believers were outright heretics, the nagging fevers of old age were the result of unbalanced bodily humors, and a corruptible earth rested motionless at the center of the universe while God sat exalted on a throne just beyond the fixed stars. The authors also tell the stories of monks, nuns, priests, millers, pilgrims, peasant women, saints, town and village councils, and ordinary parishioners; each story, fascinating in its own right, illustrates a major theme in the history of the Catholic Reformation. In the end Harline and Put have painted a picture teeming with life and energy.
Clergy conferences John Hill
Australasian Catholic record,
04/2024, Volume:
101, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Clergy conferences are taken for granted by priests and deacons as part of normal clerical life. For some, they are an occasion for catching up with friends not otherwise or rarely encountered; for ...others, a painful but necessary part of their yearly round; for very few, a learning experience. News of cancellation or postponement is received by some with disappointment; by others, with elation or indifference. For many, they are further evidence, if that were needed, that the modern church, like much else in contemporary civil society, is more concerned with talking than doing. The clergy are not alone: conferences seem to have become an integral part of most professions and careers; doctors, administrators, police, philosophers, canonists, teachers, firemen, and so on, could not imagine their professional lives without conferences or meetings.
Julian Tenison Woods' life as a priest unfolded in phases. After ordination on 4 January 1857, aged twenty-four, he spent ten years in Penola parish, four in Adelaide, eleven as an itinerant ...missionary, three in Asia, four months in the Northern Territory and three years in progressive illness till death on 7 October 1889, aged fifty-six. Woven into this, apart from the Adelaide years and the next two, was study of natural science.
John Joseph Therry-one of the first Catholic priests officially sanctioned by English authorities to minister in penal New South Wales-arrived with his superior, Fr Philip Conolly, into Botany Bay on ...3 May 1820. For the next forty- four years, Therry's zealous ministry extended across New South Wales, Port Philip, and Van Diemen's Land, up until his death at Balmain, Sydney, in 1864. Described as the 'Founder of the Catholic Church in Australia' and 'Parish Priest of New South Wales', Therry has been subject to hagiographic treatment by clerics, including Eris O'Brien (1922), Aubrey Gwynn (1924), John Eddy SJ (1967), Leo O'Mahony (1973), and John McSweeney (2000).There has been a tendency to understate Therry's erratic temperament because of the alleged persecution of Catholics-including Therry-by colonial governors and officials. Few historians have examined Therry in a more balanced manner, the two main exceptions being James Waldersee and Tasmanian scholar, Fr W.T. Southerwood. Therry's recidivist tendency for insubordination and excessive mischief-making led Patrick O'Farrell to remark that Therry's life was 'stunted and half wasted in faction and dispute'. Apart from analysis of the fourteen-year-long torrid dispute about the finances surrounding St Joseph's Church, Hobart, there has been little examination of Therry's extensive business and property endeavours in the penal colony of New South Wales and their implications for the development of Catholicism as well as his reputation as a Catholic priest. This article, drawing on unpublished primary sources-the Therry Papers held at the State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW), and manuscripts held at the State Library of Victoria (SLV) and the Jesuit Provincial Archives (JPA)-provides new insights into Fr Therry, his education and family, business dealings, and his convoluted and controversial estate.
Przedmiotem analiz w niniejszym artykule są przemiany religijności polskiego społeczeństwa w odniesieniu do autodeklaracji wyznaniowych, praktyk religijnych, zasad moralnych ukazanych w kontekście ...procesu sekularyzacji. Artykuł prezentuje analizy empiryczne oparte na danych pozyskanych z instytucji badawczych i projektów indywidualnych, ukazując różnice między ogółem społeczeństwa a środowiskiem młodzieży. Wyniki badań potwierdzają, że przyspieszona sekularyzacja dotyczy przede wszystkim młodzieży. Przedmiotem refleksji jest również pytanie o możliwość wypracowania adekwatnej odpowiedzi Kościoła na zdiagnozowane wyzwania sekularyzacyjne. Kwestia ta pozostaje jednak otwarta.
The Catholic Church in the U.S. has been under concerted public pressure to improve its child protection policies. However, development of these policies has largely been left to the discretion of ...local dioceses with little central oversight. To determine the scope of current abuse prevention policies, we analyzed all 32 U.S. archdioceses' policies and practices for developing a safe environment and preventing child sexual abuse. Using a tool developed from a list of unique components selected from the policies of all 32 archdioceses, we compared policies and procedures across archdioceses. On a group level, we found policies to be inadequate. The average score for archdioceses in the general area of prevention was 40.7 (SD = 9.3) out of 102 possible points (40% of possible points) with few prevention policies conforming to basic best practices that would be expected of a youth-serving organization. The variation and inconsistencies across archdioceses reveal the need for the Catholic Church to establish more uniform standards for preventing sexual abuse. These standards should be grounded in evidence-based practices and expert guidance. We also discuss some key areas which warrant immediate attention in future policy-making.
In many Western countries, the Catholic Church (like several others) is currently suffering a vocations crisis. Australia is no exception. Each year, dioceses see more priests retire, die, or leave ...the priesthood than new ones are ordained. For this reason, it is becoming increasingly mission-critical for dioceses to understand better the vocational journeys of those men who do become priests. These are also, of course, groups of considerable sociological interest: what motivates them to do (and become) something so countercultural? This article presents the main findings from a qualitative research project exploring the vocational journeys of recently ordained (i.e., within the past ten years at the time of the study) priests in the Archdiocese of Sydney, New South Wales.
El Concilio Vaticano II, asamblea que entre 1962 y 1965 reunió a más de dos mil obispos procedentes de distintas partes del mundo, supuso todo un proceso de reestructuraciones que transformaron la ...perspectiva que la Iglesia católica tenía sobre sí misma y sobre su relación con el mundo contemporáneo. El presente artículo pretende aproximarse a los efectos que el Concilio tuvo en la vida de la Iglesia mexicana durante la época de la primera recepción de las reformas conciliares (1962-1968). Se plantea que, aunque desde el inicio mismo del Concilio hubo en México manifestaciones de adhesión a sus disposiciones, no fue sino hasta 1968 cuando, debido a la confluencia de distintos sucesos, se detonó un mayor interés por renovar a la Iglesia mexicana de conformidad con el espíritu conciliar.
