Suchergebnisse

The problem of Church-State relations—if under Church is understood the Church universal in its Catholic form—may be answered without too much difficulty on a high abstract level. But on the contingent level of concrete historical development the problem becomes not only highly involved, but almost inexhaustible. For every growth in the Church's doctrine, (for example, the decrees of the Vatican Council and every deeper-going change in the other partner's constitutional forms or in its philosophical and ethical justification or a change in its aims to greater comprehensive competencies) poses a new problem. No wonder, therefore, that in our era of restlessness, of dynamic social changes, of conflicting ideologies fighting for the baffled minds of the masses, of wavering traditions decomposed by the acid of nihilist skepticism, the Church-State problem arises in a new intensity and urgency. The external signs are there for everyone to see: the fury of a Hitler against the "Black International," the violent persecution of the Church in die satellite countries of the Russian orbit, and the complete subjugation of the Orthodox Church not to a "Christian" Czar but to die confessedly adieistic Politburo. In minor degree the problem is also bothering the people of the United States. A secularist outlook, indeed, may slur over the reality and intensity of the true problem. For the secularized outlook die Church in her essence—and even more so the churches and the sects—is not different in genere from odier numerous private organizations for die furtherance of more or less rational aims and longings in a constitutionally pluralist society. The secularist will, therefore, recognize only one pragmatic rule: tolerance unless the public order and the competency of the police power is directly concerned. Public order includes all too often for the secularist his reform ideas and his social ideals based on a relativist pragmatism in ethics and thus makes him highly sensitive to die criticism by a Church which bases ethics on revelation and on competencies which die secularist can only consider as unfounded and arrogant. Only if the Church remains in the private sphere of private individuals and stays in this "free" sphere where the secularist will tolerate any mass-idiosyncracies, only dius will he condescendingly tolerate the Church. His attitude may be explained to a degree by the fact of an exceedingly strong religious individualism and a subjective and emotional spiritualism, inimical to form and tradition (indigenous to this country and resulting in the easy dissolution of doctrinal unity into a multiplicity of sects). This spiritualist "formlessness" of religion, here, makes the emphasis on organically grown and established forms and on the objective institutions of religious life, so characteristic of the Catholic Church, a somewhat strange and suspicious thing. Yet there is no avoiding the nature and self-understanding of the Church, if the problem of Church and State should be approached. Otherwise the term "Church" would stand only for utterly private opinions by very private individuals in that sphere of irrational feeling and unscientific imagination which for the secularist agnostic is religion. And it is clear that upon such suppositions it would follow that the political authority has exclusive and plenary competency to judge about the compatibility of such a religion with the policy and the public order of the state. The consequence of such thinking is the abolition of the Church-State problem by the complete elimination of the Church.

Throughout Latin-American history certain abid ing issues of politics have arisen from the position of the Church in society and from the claims and attitudes of various sectors of Catholicism. An important basis in appraisal of these issues thirty years ago was the seeming alliance between the Church and the forces of conservatism. Appraisal today cannot be made in those terms, because such alliances have largely dis appeared. The permanent interests of the Church remain, however, and the authority that the Church claims has not changed in nature. Latin-American Catholicism has taken a realistic attitude toward social change which, in general, it is disposed to regard as not essentially antagonistic to Church interests but as offering new opportunities to influence the de velopment of society. Response to the opportunities will prob ably continue to be in terms of a diversity the limits of which are established by the authority that the Church continues to claim.

The book Komunisci i Kosciol w Polsce, 1945-1989 (Communists and the Church in Poland, 1945-1989), by Antoni Dudek and Ryszard Gryz, is reviewed.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN POLAND HAS SUCCESSFULLY RESISTED SUBJUGATION BY THE COMMUNIST REGIME. IT HAS THE RESPECT & ALLEGIANCE OF THE VAST MAJORITY OF POLES. SINCE LATE 1960S, THE CHURCH HAS USED THIS POSITION TO DEFEND PRINCIPLE OF HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL GROUPS IN POLISH SOCIETY. WHETHER SHE CAN PERFORM MEDIATOR ROLE HINGES ON MILITARY GOVERNMENT'S WILLINGNESS FOR DIALOGUE WITH SOCIAL FORCES SOLIDARITY SERVES.

The Catholicism is not shrinking, but rather, its demographic center of gravity is shifting. What was once a largely homogenous religion concentrated in Europe and North America, is now a truly universal faith. In 1900, just 25 percent of Catholics lived in the developing world; today that figure is 66 percent and climbing. In a few decades, the new centers of theological thought will no longer be Paris and Milan, but Nairobi and Manila. In this article, it briefly discusses the following topic about Catholic Church: Catholicism is right wing, the church is filthy rich, the church never changes, the Vatican is cloaked in secrecy, Catholicism is obsessed with sex, and the church is ultra hierarchical. Adapted from the source document.

Do bullies have free rein in our churches? Who are the bullies? What is scapegoating? Is it possible to practice the mercy and forgiveness demanded by Gospel ethics while also protecting people from emotional and professional damage?These are some of the questions that Stephen Finlan seeks to answer, looking for an ethic of behavior that is both spiritually valid and psychologically wise. He seeks responses to bullying that are both ""wise"" and ""harmless"" (Matt 10:16), that do not leave people helpless against the cruelty of church bullies. Bullying has become a major concern in schools and

Like the church they serve, the full-time Roman Catholic professionals, including religious Sisters and Brothers as well as priests, are experiencing a period of crisis. Fewer people are entering this career, and many are leaving it. The main losses are in the specialized ministries in which the best- educated have been engaged. Meanwhile the traditional struc tures are being revised and replaced with experimental forms. The authoritarian system is giving way to collegiality at all levels, from relations with the laity to those with the hierarchy. A new focus on task-orientation has emphasized professionali zation which, in turn, has promoted self-fulfillment and relative autonomy. Seven out of ten of the church professionals in America are religious Sisters who are reorganizing their com munities around smaller task forces with much greater local self-direction than ever before. The traditional assumption that a celibate clergy is much more effective professionally than a married clergy is now being widely questioned. The religious orders, while maintaining celibacy, are re-evaluating the prac tical aspects of the vows of poverty and obedience. The in creasing "openness" of the church is reflected in the seminaries and training places of church personnel, who are now receiving a much broader and diversified professional preparation.