A Catechumenate for the Korean Methodist Church: Ressourcement, Formation and a Response to Secularism and Korean Traditional Religions

Research by Korean sociologists of religion indicates that Korean Protestantism has lost much of the spiritual vitality of preceding generations and that it increasingly shows the influences of Korean shamanism, Neo-Confucianism, and Western secularism and consumerism. Suggestions in the areas of homiletics and Christian social ethics have been offered to help steer the Korean Protestant churches away from these worldviews toward a more biblically-based course. Drawing upon and expanding these earlier studies and proposals, the current work recommends another method for developing a biblically-based, spiritually-revitalized, baptismally-shaped and ministry-committed Protestantism in Korea: a pre-baptismal adult catechumenate, in this case one designed for the context of the Korean Methodist Church. In order to produce a renewed catechumenal structure for Korean Methodism, adult catechumenal processes as well as baptismal theologies and rites are examined and analyzed from three principal sources: the first five centuries of the Christian church, and especially the mystagogical literature of the fourth century; the Roman Catholic Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults developed after the Second Vatican Council; and the United Methodist Church in the United States, both texts officially authorized by the denomination's General Conference and unofficial materials, among them resources for an adult catechumenate in the Come to the Waters series. In addition, previous and current practices of preparation for baptism in the Korean Methodist Church are identified and critiqued. From these findings a set of principles is put forward that guide the proposed catechumenal structure.

From "This is my body" to the Church in the twenty-first century: the Last Supper as the decisive moment and criterion of a renewed ecclesiology

Certains symptômes sont les indicateurs incontestés des très graves problèmes que connaît l’Église. S’ils existent aussi dans des confessions et des religions diverses, seuls seront examinés ici ceux qui concernent l’Église catholique. Parmi les plus significatifs figurent un fort déclin dans la participation à des activités religieuses comme les célébrations eucharistiques dominicales, surtout chez les jeunes, une pénurie presque catastrophique de prêtres ordonnés, une perte de prestige et d’influence de l’enseignement dispensé par l’Église. Ces symptômes varient en intensité selon les pays, mais les statistiques indiquent qu’ils se multiplient. Nombre de ces problèmes sont attribuables à l’extrême vélocité de changements qui surviennent partout et à l’apparente inaptitude de l’Église à s’adapter, en raison notamment de son attachement à la pensée néo-scolastique et à la tradition tridentine. Cette fidélité absolue à une tradition vieille de quatre cents ans l’empêche de se faire à un environnement en évolution rapide et radicale. Des changements appropriés s’imposent pratiquement partout dans l’Église. Or, pour que ceux-ci soient efficaces et respectueux de la nature propre de l’Église, la tradition est un guide qui ne suffit pas. S’appuyant sur les termes de l’encyclique Ecclesia de Eucharistia, « le moment décisif où elle (l’Église) a pris forme est certainement celui où a eu lieu l’institution de l’Eucharistie, dans la chambre à l’étage », la thèse présentée suit le plus près possible l’interprétation donnée aux paroles de Jésus, ceci est mon corps, telles qu’elles ont été prononcées la première fois. Selon cette évidence, il est permis d’affirmer que les caractéristiques définitoires de l’Église provenant de ces mots sont agape, unité, service. Tel doit être le principe directeur des changements. C’est sur une telle base que sont décrits les secteurs où les changements s’imposent ainsi que les aspects visés. Ces changements comprennent les points suivants : liturgie, sacrements, catéchèse, mystagogie, théologie, structure, gouvernance de l’Église et ses enseignements, évangélisation. Ces secteurs exigent des efforts sérieux dans la préparation des personnes touchées par ces changements et dans l’attention portée à l’exigence primordiale voulant qu’agape, unité et service soient les principes actifs et évidents régissant l’Église.

‘The Apostolate of the Pen’: Mgr De Ségur and the mobilization of Catholic opinion in Second Empire France

This article contends that the papacy and ultramontane Catholicism played a pivotal role in the democratization of culture in Second Empire France. Drawing upon recent scholarship, which argues that religion played an important role in the constitution of mass democracies in modern Europe, this article revisits the pamphlet campaign led by Mgr Gaston de Ségur at the height of the Italian question in February 1860. Ségur made the most of the freedom of expression enjoyed by the Catholic Church in France in an attempt to direct Catholic opinion, and place pressure on the French government over its diplomatic relations with the pope. New archive material, notably Ségur’s correspondence with the leading Catholic journalist of the time, Louis Veuillot, sheds further light on Rome’s interventions in French culture and politics and its consequences. The article demonstrates that one of the most important, if unintended, results of the ultramontane campaign was to trigger reforms to the cultural sphere, and the granting of freedoms to their political enemies: the Republicans and freethinkers.

Opening the Windows of the Church to the World: The Creation of Nostra Aetate and Its Impact on the Christian-Jewish relationship

It is important to assert that this study is not a work to inflict guilt on the Catholics or Catholicism for their silence and indifference during the Holocaust. Instead, this study is about the process of moving on from the Catholic Church's past to where the Jewish community's theological existence was finally recognized and the Jewish people were no longer seen as the Others who killed Christ. This was, achieved through a church declaration titled Nostra Aetate (In Our Time). This study records the journey traversed by this declaration, the insurmountable odds it faced in its creation until its promulgation and the impact it has on the Jewish-Christian relationship.

The Catholic Doctrine of Transubstantiation: An Exposition and Defense

The purpose of this thesis is to offer both an exposition and defense for the Catholic Church's traditional understanding of eucharistic transubstantiation. I hope to show how a belief in such a doctrine is in no way irrational nor is it indefensible; butinstead, the doctrine of transubstantiation makes sense when it is viewed in light of what Catholic Christians believe about who the human being is, what the human desires, and the special way in which God personally works in human history. The method I am following investigates how the doctrine of transubstantiation coheres with and follows the other beliefs that Catholics hold; that is, beginning with certain presuppositions, there is a certain rational progression to the Catholic understanding of real presence.

How Teresa and Maria Margaretha migrated to Nordstrand: Translation of Relics and Transformation of a German Island into a Catholic Dutch enclave in the 17th century

When on 26 May 1662 the founding first stone was laid for a new church on the island Nordstrand at the coast of Schleswig, relics of Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) and of the Dutch Carmelite abbess Maria Margaretha ab Angelis (1605-1658) were inserted. This church was built for Dutch dyke builders who were called to reconstruct the island after its destruction by flood in 1634; coming from a Catholic background and from the Dutch Republic which was at war with Spain at that time, the dyke builders and their families were guaranteed religious freedom in the Lutheran duchy of Holstein. In this paper, the reasons for the choice for the Spanish mystic Teresa of Avila and for the Dutch Carmelite abbess Maria Margaretha are discussed. The latter patroness was never beatified but had died in the smell of holiness; after her death several miracles were ascribed to her. It is understandable that migrants brought relics of their appreciated holy persons who would remind them of their homeland. The paper will first shortly introduce the two patronesses of the church. In the second part, the reasons for this choice will be discussed. Behind this translation of relics not only spiritual reasons played a role. The function of the translation of the saints was first to keep up geographical and political connections with the old country (both Spain and the Netherlands), secondly to perpetuate personal-familial relationships (esp. with Maria Margaretha), thirdly to strengthen the confessional identity in a non-Catholic environment. Fourthly the transfer brought a certain model of Christian life and reform to the new place of living, which in the second part of the 17th century became marked as “Jansenist”. The paper shows the transformation of the island into an enclave of Dutch Catholic culture.

The Catholic Identity of Malta after Ten Years of Membership in the European Union: Challenges and Prospects. Occasional Paper 2/2014

Introduction. Ten years have elapsed since Malta’s accession in the European Union. One can still recall vividly the intense and acrimonious campaign prior to the membership referendum and the ensuing electoral victory that confirmed the Nationalist Party (PN) in power under the leadership of Edward Fenech Adami in 2003. In both cases the Maltese voted in favour of entry into the EU. During both exercises in democracy the Maltese were exposed to the rhetoric of both prophets of doom and prophets of plenty. For the former accession meant a loss of national and territorial independence, for the latter it meant the beginning of opportunity for all and, in some cases, the answer to all of Malta’s woes. Now, ten years later, a further appraisal of Malta’s membership and place in the European Union is called for. The purpose of this paper, however, is to reflect upon how this membership has affected the Roman Catholic Church in Malta and what prospects lie ahead for the Catholic community within Maltese society that remains in a state of constant flux on both the social and the religious level. It traces the major events that have accelerated the transformation of Malta into a secular society. The paper describes how these events, together with pressures that are being brought to bear by secular movements upon Maltese society, are profoundly affecting its Catholic identity and redrawing its moral landscape. It also discusses ways and means by which the Catholic Church in Malta can address these challenges and contribute towards the construction of a more humane Maltese society. In order to achieve this, it must first and foremost remain a coherent witness of a faith that is forever alive, dynamic and relevant.

The life and character of Edmund Geste, S. T. P. The principal compiler of the church of England ... the first protestant bishop of Rochester, afterwards bishop of Salisbury, by appointment of and almoner to Queen Elizabeth.

Appendix I: A treatise against the prevee masse in the behalfe and furtheraunce of the mooste holye communyon made by Edmund Geste. 1548: p. [69]-140.

The church of Christ : its foundation and constitution.

Mode of access: Internet.

The ancient liturgy of the Church of England, according to the uses of Sarum, York, Hereford, and Bangor, and the Roman liturgy arranged in parallel columns with preface and notes,

Appendix (p. [279]-333):--Liturgia S. Clementis.--The Order of the Communion, 1548.--The Supper of the Lorde, 1549.

The Protestant : essays on the principal points of controversy between the Church of Rome and the Reformed /

Mode of access: Internet.

Count Campello and Catholic reform in Italy /

Mode of access: Internet.

Sketches of the early Catholic missions of Kentucky : from their commencement in 1787, to the Jubilee of 1826-7, embracing a summary of the early history of the state, the adventures of the first Catholic emigrants, biographical notices of the early missionaries, the early history of the principal Protestant sects in Kentucky, with some account of the establishment of the episcopal see at Bardstown, of the various religious societies, and of the general state of the Catholic religion in Kentucky /

Preface dated (p. ix): Bardstown, Kentucky, Feast of Corpus Christi, 1844.

An inquiry into the Catholic truths hidden under certain articles of the creed of the church of Rome /

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Delineation of Roman Catholicism : drawn from the authentic and acknowledged standards of the Church of Rome ... /

Mode of access: Internet.