A New Agenda for European Charity: Catholic Welfare and Organizational Change in France and Germany

Case study research from France and Germany reveals that Catholic welfare is revising its mission and its methods. Central points are a different approach to voluntary participation, new public relations, and a rearrangement of public-private partnerships. As a result, Catholic welfare has become activated in both countries. While the shrinking of the overall influence of Catholic charity seems inevitable, there is more creative agency, and less programming by the old stakeholders. The national paths of change, however, differ in that Caritas, defending its service approach, is confronted with a process of de-institutionalization while Secours catholique, though giving particular emphasis to voluntary action is entering into further institutionalization.     

Determinants of attitudes held by Irish catholic and protestant women towards gender roles,maternal employment and social perceptions of women in Irish society

This paper is drawn from my doctoral thesis, which analyses similarities and differences in the social and religious attitudes of modern Catholic and Protestant (Church of Ireland) women in the Republic of Ireland.

My work is new in that it studies the attitudes of a female sample that is stratified according to religious tradition (Catholic/Protestant). The sample is also stratified by age (21–46/47–70 years) and location (rural/urban). Irish sociological and feminist scholarship has produced diverse work concerning many facets of Irish women's lives, but little research has specifically focused on the attitudes of Irish Protestant and Catholic women as distinct groups.

Qualitative and quantitative questionnaires were used to study the social and religious attitudes of respondents living in 12 counties throughout the Republic of Ireland. Twelve distinct attitudinal factors emerged from factor analysis. Themes contained in these factors included: 1. ?Perception's of social attitudes to women in Irish society

2. ?Attitudes to Article 41.2.1/2 of the 1937 Constitution1 41.2.1 “In particular, the State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved.” View all notes 41.2.2 “The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.” View all notes

3. ?Attitudes to maternal employment

4. ?Perception of the role of the Catholic/Protestant churches in women's lives

5. ?Religiosity

6. ?Attitudes to majority Catholic/minority Protestant status

7. ?Attitudes toward women clergy

8. ?Attitudes to moral issues (divorce and abortion)

9. ?Attitudes to Church influence in moral issues

The emergence of these factors are a significant contribution to sociological and feminist research because they have not previously been specifically researched from the perspective of Catholic and Protestant women.

The effects of religion, age and location on the 12 factors were then examined by means of analysis of variance, which identified those variables having significant main effects and interaction effects on respondent attitudes. Results emerging from percentage distributions and analysis of variance are presented for respondent attitudes to gender roles, maternal employment and perceptions of social attitudes towards women in Irish society.     

Religiosity as a predictor of students' political attitudes

This paper analyzes the relationship between students' level of actual religiosity and their sociodemographic characteristics, political orientation, and political attitudes. The paper is based on an online survey conducted at the University of Rijeka (N = 624) in 2021. The vast majority of our respondents (90%) received the three holy sacraments of initiation in their early childhood and attended Catholic religious education at school. The explanation of the significantly less actual religiosity of students is approached from the position of Pickel's contextualized theory of secularization. Relying on Voas and Day, a composite variable distinguishes highly religious students, moderately religious students, weakly religious students, and non-religious students on the basis of the respondents' positioning toward religious self-identification, beliefs, Church attendance, and the importance of religion in one's life. Statistically significant correlations between actual religiosity and political orientation were established. Very religious Catholic students, who are the least numerous and the least homogenous category, are more inclined to right-wing political orientation and reject ethno-nationalism/anti-multiculturalism less and accept clericalism more than other categories of students. In a broader sense, this study reveals that a large number of respondents distance themselves from religion and the Church at student age despite their experience of formal religious socialization at school age. Furthermore, the results suggest that the synergy of the liberalizing effect of education and the tolerant sociocultural atmosphere of an area reduces the influence of religiosity on the political attitudes and orientation of students.     

Religion and Public Perceptions of Gays and Lesbians in South Korea

Public support for gay and lesbian rights has increased in Western democracies, yet less is known regarding views in South Korea, or East Asia more broadly. Rather than broad cultural claims, this analysis asks to what extent religious identification explains perceptions of gays and lesbians. Public opinion survey data from South Korea finds that Protestants were consistently less supportive of homosexual issues compared to Catholics, Buddhists, and those without a religious identification. Furthermore, after controlling for religion, identification with the largest conservative party associated with less support.     

"采中补洋"的四川基督教领袖--四川圣公会会督宋诚之伦理观述评

以民国时期四川著名的基督教领袖宋诚之为对象,考察其从官宦子弟成为教徒,晋升为主教的人生经历,分析其思想观念与地域环境、社会背景、时代变革之间的互动关系,探寻中国基督教在中西之间、传统与现实之间的交汇折中,借以丰富近代四川社会思潮的研究.     

Gender Equality as Institutional Work: The Case of the Church of Sweden

Institutional theory predicts that organizations respond to external changes in their environment to be able to safeguard their long‐term viability. One of the most significant institutional changes in the last century has been the entry of women into both labour markets and professions; however, an extensive literature reports that gender inequality and various forms of sexism still structure and influence the everyday work of organizations. Drawing on the recent literature on institutional work, the article reports on a study of how the Church of Sweden has managed to relatively successfully institutionalize female ministers as legitimate and widely respected members of the professional category of ministers ordained by the Church. Female ministers believe they are, by and large, respected in the Church, but suggest that gender remains an issue as women are at times expected to embody certain interests and have to answer some questions that their male colleagues may have been spared. The findings describe institutional work as an ongoing process with no fixed end‐point, stressing agency as the distributed and collective capacity to question established beliefs and norms.     

近代教会历史模式的构建:以潮惠长老会为个案

传教话语模式不仅建构了近代中国教会成立前后的历史,而且确立了教会历史记录应当遵循的规则,进而深刻影响到此后教会历史的书写样式。西方差会来华传教是近代中国基督教历史非常重要的内容,中国教会史本身就带有强烈的传教意义,这种意义从一开始已经渗入到教会历史记载和历史叙述之中。本土教会的历史叙述虽然不能完全跳出传教史的窠臼,但却可以赋予"本土教会"的重要性,从而建构不同的教会谱系,只是这一"本土"已是由西方差会定义的"本土",其自身的主体性尚待建立,以此类"本土"为视角的学术追求有可能面临基础虚空的危险。     

The Role of Secularism of State on the Relationship Between Catholic Identity,Political Orientation,and Gay Rights Issues

In discussions of regulations governing same-sex marriage and adoption by gays and lesbians, the issue of state secularism is often called into question. This study aims to test the mediating effects of state secularism on the relationship between Catholic identity, political orientation, and gay civil rights. Participants were Catholic Italians who completed a questionnaire measuring the constructs under investigation. Results showed that state secularism mediates the effects of Catholic identity and political orientation on attitudes toward same-sex marriage and adoption by gays and lesbians.     

Institutional crisis assessment and mission-driven response in practice: One religious-affiliated university’s response to the Catholic priest sexual abuse and cover up crisis

An institutional crisis occurs when individuals and organizations fail to perform the routines and roles that produce the collective interests and social order of the institution. The institution of the Catholic Church continues to endure a crisis of priest sexual abuse and those in positions of leadership covering up these incidents. The crisis reached another eruption point in 2018 when a Pennsylvania grand jury produced a report that documented these crimes. Any organization within the institution could proactively decide that it must respond to maintain its credibility, while also helping repair the reputation of the institution. A response to an institutional crisis should be driven by an organization’s assessment of events as well as its mission, values, and sense of responsibility to its stakeholders. The response should also use the unique skill and resource capabilities of the organization. This case study focuses on the response of one religious-affiliated university that was prompted by the Pennsylvania grand jury report. The appeal of studying a religious-affiliated university is that it serves dual missions: that as part of the larger religious institution and that of a higher education institution. In response to this institutional crisis, the university has a focus on victims’ concerns from the religious mission perspective and is using its capabilities of amassing and disseminating knowledge from the higher education mission perspective.     

Building shalom: Integrating social work,peacebuilding and Catholic Social Teaching for transformational change

ABSTRACT

This article argues for greater integration between peacebuilding and social work, based on shared values, complementary practices, and congruence among key underlying theories in both fields. The article also describes how principles of Catholic Social Teaching align with and enhance both social work and peacebuilding. The implications of the ecological model for the three commonly accepted domains of social work practice—micro, mezzo, and macro—find equivalent expression in dimensions of conflict transformation, as well as in Catholic Relief Services’ approach to building social cohesion by working iteratively at individual, intragroup, and intergroup levels. Three case studies illustrate this approach.