Saint-Maron : une paroisse diasporique : église et fidèles maronites à Montréal (1969-2015)

L’immigration maronite à Montréal date de la fin du XIXe siècle, mais c’est dans les années 1970 et 1990, à la suite des guerres au Liban, qu’il y a eu les plus grandes vagues. De rite syriaque antiochien, mais d’obédience catholique romaine, les immigrants maronites n’avaient pas d’église paroissiale propre. Les autorités diocésaines montréalaises avaient rassemblé les catholiques orientaux dans une même église dont le service était assuré par l’ordre melkite du Saint-Sauveur. En 1969, le père de l’ordre maronite mariamite Élias Najjar fonde avec des Égyptiens maronites la première paroisse. Cette étude se penche sur le processus qui a mené à la naissance de cette paroisse, son évolution à travers le temps et la vie de ses paroissiens. L’approche est narrative et descriptive, elle s’inscrit dans le cadre de l’histoire sociale et religieuse. Les résultats de l’analyse mettent en lumière une église nationale et un nouveau modèle de paroisse diasporique, différent du modèle classique, recelant des diversités infranationale, internationale et interconfessionnelle.

The role of the church in developing the law: response to commentators

Three of the four commentators endorse our concerns about intervention by the Roman Catholic church as an omicus curiae in civil litigation, with few reservations. One commentary rejects our arguments in We deal first with the three commentaries that support our arguments; secondly, with the reservations and qualifications in those commentaries, and thirdly, with the commentary that totally rejects our arguments.

The role of the church in developing the law

The church and other community organisations have a legitimate role to play in influencing public policy. However, intervention by the church and other religious bodies in recent litigation in Australia and the United Kingdom raises questions about the appropriateness of such bodies being permitted to intervene directly in the court process as amici curiae. We argue that there are dangers in such bodies insinuating their doctrine under the guise of legal argument in civil proceedings, but find it difficult to enunciate a principled distinction between doctrine and legal argument. We advise that judges should exercise caution in dealing with amicus submissions.

The Church of Goa: Give to Cesar what is Cesar's

Este ensaio analisa os desafios que a Igreja de Goa enfrentou nas décadas que seguiram à era colonial. O balanço é positivo, e isto foi devido em larga medida à participação mais intensa dos leigos com formação democrática e experiência profissional na India vizinha. Palavras-chave: Goa, igreja, VAticano II, participação leiga, desafios. Key-words: Goa, church, Vatican II, lay participation, challenges.

“The political economy of the Church”

A igreja de Goa é uma filha da expansão portuguesa. Nasceu e cresceu no âmbito do Padroado português do Oriente. Essa ligação beneficiou e prejudicou a sua missão espiritual. Desde 1961 a igreja de Goa enfrenta os desafios da democracia. Apesar da demonstração de progresso visível, há muito caminho para percorrer, particularmente no que diz respeito à administração dos bens temporais da igreja e com maior participação leiga nessa área.

"Church in Goa: Servants, slaves and rebels

This article in Goa Herald daily seeks to respond to a round-table conference convoked by Minister Eduardo Faleiro to reflect upon the need of calling the attention of the Goa Church to lack of transparency and accountability in its administration of Church properties.

Mapping and characterization of a green biofilm inside of Vilar de Frades Church (Portugal)

Vilar de Frades church is integrated in the Vilar de Frades Monastery, located in the North part of Portugal (Barcelos). The monastery, founded in 566, suffered several architectural modifications and restoration works, the most relevant was in the XVI century. The church, in granite, has one nave and six bays,holding ten chapels with vaults of crossed ribbings. Nowadays, the chapels present a severe biological colonization characterised by an intense green biofilm, which becoming apparent in other locations inside the church. In the course of a general survey concerning the conservation state of the church, an accurate campaign was planned in order to assess the main biodeterioration agents, map biological colonization and determine the environmental conditions. Laboratory analyses were accomplished with optical microscopy and spectrofluorometry. This study presents the results of this campaign. Details on conservation or preservation works that need to be implemented are also presented.

Cryptococcus neoformans strains isolated from church towers in Rio de Janeiro City, RJ, Brazil

Cryptococcosis has been a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with Aids. Many reservoirs of the agent Cryptococcus neoformans have been reported, but the ecology of this yeast must be elucidated in order to establish surveillance programs and to prevent infections. The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of C. neoformans in Rio de Janeiro City, RJ, Brazil. Ten churches were selected for sampling and detection of the yeast collecting pigeon dropping, air samples from church towers and neighboring areas during one year. The data demonstrated that C. neoformans has been present in every church selected and was present in 37.8% of 219 pigeon dropping samples. As well as, the yeast was isolated from soil, insects, eggs, pigeon nests and feathers. Fifteen air samples (4.9%) were positive. The growth on C.G.B. medium showed that all strains belonged to C. neoformans var. neoformans, with 98.8% of the strains belonging to serotype A.

A bayesian approach for NDT data fusion: The Saint Torcato Church case study

This paper presents a methodology based on the Bayesian data fusion techniques applied to non-destructive and destructive tests for the structural assessment of historical constructions. The aim of the methodology is to reduce the uncertainties of the parameter estimation. The Young's modulus of granite stones was chosen as an example for the present paper. The methodology considers several levels of uncertainty since the parameters of interest are considered random variables with random moments. A new concept of Trust Factor was introduced to affect the uncertainty related to each test results, translated by their standard deviation, depending on the higher or lower reliability of each test to predict a certain parameter.

Survey and dynamic behaviour of the Our Lady of Conception Church, Portugal

The Our Lady of Conception church is located in village of Monforte (Portugal) and is not in use nowadays. The church presents structural damage and, consequently, a study was carried out. The study involved the survey of the damage, dynamic identification tests under ambient vibration and the numerical analysis. The church is constituted by the central nave, the chancel, the sacristy and the corridor to access the pulpit. The masonry walls present different thickness, namely 0.65 m in the chancel, 0.70 m in the sacristy, 0.92 in the central nave and 0.65 m in the corridor. The masonry walls present 8 buttresses with different dimensions. The total longitudinal and transversal dimensions of the church are equal to 21.10 m and 14.26 m, respectively. The survey of the damage showed that, in general, the masonry walls are in good conditions, with exception of the transversal walls of the nave, which present severe cracks. The arches of the vault presents also severe cracks along the central nave. As consequence, the infiltrations have increased the degradation of the vault and paintings. Furthermore, the foundations present settlements in the Southwest direction. The dynamic identification test were carried out under the action of ambient excitation of the wind and using 12 piezoelectric accelerometers of high sensitivity. The dynamic identification tests allowed to estimate the dynamic properties of the church, namely frequencies, mode shapes and damping ratios. A FEM numerical model was prepared and calibrated, based on the first four experimental modes estimated in the dynamic identification tests. The average error between the experimental and numerical frequencies of the first four modes is equal to 5%. After calibration of the numerical model, pushover analyses with a load pattern proportional to the mass, in the transversal and longitudinal direction of the church, were performed. The results of the analysis numerical allow to conclude that the most vulnerable direction of the church is in the transversal one and the maximum load factor is equal to 0.35.