Instructions for the Reader Published on Inters.Org (
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
A Spousal Hour
AMLR.v8i1.peeters.final 5/11/2011 3:27 PM Copyright © 2009 Ave Maria Law Review A SPOUSAL HOUR Marguerite A. Peeters † INTRODUCTION It is an honor and a joy for me to address you today, as we gather to celebrate the theological intuitions of Pope John Paul II on the “mystery of woman”—virgin, bride, and mother—twenty years after the publication of the apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem.1 These intuitions prophetically respond to the anthropological challenges we are now confronting in every society, at every level, down to the individual woman in the remotest African village. We are here to make that nexus—to identify how Divine Revelation and the teaching of the Magisterium respond to the concrete cultural challenges of our times, so as to better serve humanity. Mulieris Dignitatem came out a few years before the Cairo and Beijing conferences of the United Nations, which integrated the well- known themes of the Western sexual and feminist revolution—such as “possession of one’s body,” “control over one’s destiny,” “free love,” the “wanted child,” the “right to choose,” and a flawed conception of freedom, equality, and power—into new concepts such as “sexual and reproductive health and rights” and “gender equality.”2 These new themes became global political objectives, priorities of international cooperation and global norms. † Marguerite A. Peeters is an acknowledged expert in the field of international organizations, human rights, global cultural change, and postmodernity. She directs Dialogue Dynamics, a Brussels-based think tank that studies the key concepts, values, and operational mechanisms of globalization. -
Joseph Ratzingerʼs Soteriological Inclusivism ABSTRACT This Article
Joseph Ratzingerʼs Soteriological Inclusivism ABSTRACT This article examines the position of Joseph Ratzinger with regard to the classical question in the field of the theology of religions, the salvation of non-Christians. In criticism of a recent book by Ambrose Mong, it is argued that Ratzinger is not a soteriological exclusivist but an optimistic restrictivist inclusivist. As explained by Gavin DʼCosta, restrictivist inclusivists allow for the salvation of non-Christians, though they do not regard non-Christian religions as salvific structures per se. While restricting the salvific activity of God to the human conscience or certain positive elements in non-Christian cultures, this kind of an inclusivist may still be a soteriological optimist, as proves to be the case with Ratzinger. Having examined the subjective and objective aspects of Ratzingerʼs inclusivism, namely the concepts of conscience and Stellvertretung (vicarious representation), the article shows that in the 2007 encyclical Spe Salvi the two lines of thought are combined by Pope Benedict XVI in a reinterpretation of the doctrine of Purgatory, in such a way that ʻthe great majorityʼ of men are believed to reach eternal salvation. In1 his 2015 book Are Non-Christians Saved? Joseph Ratzingerʼs Thoughts on Religious Pluralism, Ambrose Mong touches on the classical question in the field of the theology of religions from the perspective of the thought of Joseph Ratzinger, also known as Pope Benedict XVI.2 Can non-Christians be saved? Where should Joseph Ratzinger be situated with regard to the three standard alternatives of exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism? Surprisingly, despite Ratzingerʼs well-known interest in the theology of religions, this aspect of his thought has received remarkably little scholarly attention prior to Mong.3 On the other hand, the scarcity of 1 I would like to thank the Utrecht Network for the Young Researchers grant that enabled me to work on this article in November 2016 at the University of Malta. -
Mary, Our Model
Chapter 7 Mary, Our Model UNDERSTANDING Pages 90 - 93 DISCUSSION Pages 94 - 99 89 Understanding / Mary, Our Model UNDERSTANDING WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS PASSAGE? The Big Picture It is in Mary that we discover the true nature and most perfect example of feminine humanity. Mary is “the new beginning” of the dignity and vocation of women, of each and every woman…. A particular key for understanding this can be found in the words which the Evangelist puts on Mary’s lips after the Annunciation, during her visit to Elizabeth: “He who is mighty has done great things for me” (Lk 1:49). These words certainly refer to the conception of her Son, who is the “Son of the Most High” (Lk 1:32), the “holy one” of God; but they can also signify the discovery of her own feminine humanity. He “has done great things for me”: this is the discovery of all the richness and personal resources of femininity, all the eternal originality of the “woman”, just as God wanted her to be, a person for her own sake, who discovers herself “by means of a sincere gift of self”…. In Mary, Eve discovers the nature of the true dignity of woman, of feminine humanity. This discovery must continually reach the heart of every woman and shape her vocation and her life.58 —Pope John Paul II, Mulieris Dignitatem 58Pope John Paul II, “Apostolic Letter on the Dignity and Vocation of Women,” Mulieris 90 Dignitatem (MD) (Rome: Vatican, 1988), 11 (emphasis in the original). We have now reached the last chapter in our study of John Paul II’s apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem and the concept of the feminine genius. -
Virginal Chastity in the Consecrated Virgin
VIRGINAL CHASTITY IN THE CONSECRATED VIRGIN Thesis by Judith M. Stegman In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Theology Catholic Distance University 2014 Submitted July 14, 2014 Feast of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin Copyright © 2014 Judith M. Stegman All rights reserved ii to: The Most Holy Virgin Mary of Nazareth, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, Queen of Virgins, whose tender maternal and virginal love is the font of virginal chastity for all generations iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ………………………………………………………………………… 1 The question of virginal chastity …………………………………………... 1 The fiat of the Blessed Virgin Mary ……………………………………….. 2 The fiat of the consecrated virgin ………………………………………….. 4 Preparation of the Human Race for the Gift of Virginity ………………………….. 6 Virginity of the Most Holy Trinity ………………………………………… 6 Pre-Christian concept of virginity …………………………………………. 7 Christian understanding of virginal chastity ………………………………. 9 Christian Virginity as a Way of Life ………………………………………………. 16 Virgins of the early Church ………………………………………………... 16 Development of a rite of consecration to a life of virginity ……………….. 18 Renewal of the rite of consecration to a life of virginity for women living in the world ……………………………………….………… 22 A most excellent gift – the meaning of consecrated virginity in today’s Church ………………………………………………………….. 23 Virginal Chastity as the Essential Prerequisite for the Consecration of a Virgin …. 29 Prerequisites stated in the Praenotanda to the Rite of Consecration ……… 29 Virginal chastity: an essential prerequisite for consecration ………..……... 33 The gift of virginity ………………………………………………………… 36 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my special appreciation and thanks to my thesis advisor Dr. Robert Royal and to the dedicated professors at Catholic Distance University who have guided my studies in theology. -
Priestly Ministry
Solidarity: The Journal of Catholic Social Thought and Secular Ethics Volume 4 | Issue 1 Article 4 2014 Priestly Ministry Isabell Naumann member of Advisory Board/ Philosophy and Theology/Sydney, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://researchonline.nd.edu.au/solidarity ISSN: 1839-0366 COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Copyright Regulations 1969 WARNING This material has been copied and communicated to you by or on behalf of the University of Notre Dame Australia pursuant to part VB of the Copyright Act 1969 (the Act). The am terial in this communication may be subject to copyright under the Act. Any further copying or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection under the Act. Do not remove this notice. Recommended Citation Naumann, Isabell (2014) "Priestly Ministry," Solidarity: The Journal of Catholic Social Thought and Secular Ethics: Vol. 4: Iss. 1, Article 4. Available at: http://researchonline.nd.edu.au/solidarity/vol4/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you by ResearchOnline@ND. It has been accepted for inclusion in Solidarity: The ourJ nal of Catholic Social Thought and Secular Ethics by an authorized administrator of ResearchOnline@ND. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Priestly Ministry This article is available in Solidarity: The ourJ nal of Catholic Social Thought and Secular Ethics: http://researchonline.nd.edu.au/ solidarity/vol4/iss1/4 Naumann: Priestly Ministry, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Dignity of Women Priestly Ministry, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Dignity of Women Isabell Naumann _______________________________________________________________________________ J. W. von Goethe: “The eternal feminine attracts us to the highest.” Introduction As the topic can be approached from various aspects here we will consider it from the perspective of mission, of being sent. -
John George HUBER: Can a Pope and a Patriarch Lead Us Towards Greater Unity?
John George HUBER Can a Pope and a Patriarch Lead us towards Greater Unity? Ecumenism is not static, but it is always in a dynamic change as the different actors vary and individuals dialogue with others. Reflecting on my experiences as an Evangelical-Lutheran and as a life-long student of ecumenism, I will first write about my changing perceptions of Pope Benedict XVI. Then in the second part I will share my experiences at the Orientale Lumen Conference in San Diego. Perceptions change, but the common road of Jesus Christ draws us together, despite personal and denominational separations. I. Three Encounters with the “Enforcer of the Faith” who Became BENEDICT XVI When a cloud of white smoke wafted heavenward above the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican on April 19, 2005, some of us were hoping that the cardinal from Honduras would fill the shoes of the Fisherman. But this was not to be. The choice was Joseph Cardinal RatzingeR, who instantly assumed the papal title of Benedict XVI. 1. Dominus Iesus Why was I so apprehensive about this particular member of the Curia? During my research for the Master of Ecumenical Studies program at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the name Joseph RatzingeR surfaced twice as I wrote a major paper on interconfessional agreements. My arrival at Bossey coincided with the announcement of the 120 release of a controversial document co-authored by this German cardinal who headed the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Its full title is Declaration Dominus Iesus on the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church, dated August 6, 2000, the Feast of the Transfiguration on the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar, and coincidentally the fifty-fifth anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. -
Reconciling Evangelization and Dialogue Through Love of Neighbor
Volume 52 Issue 2 Article 4 2007 Reconciling Evangelization and Dialogue through Love of Neighbor Amelia J. Uelmen Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/vlr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Amelia J. Uelmen, Reconciling Evangelization and Dialogue through Love of Neighbor, 52 Vill. L. Rev. 303 (2007). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/vlr/vol52/iss2/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Villanova Law Review by an authorized editor of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law Digital Repository. Uelmen: Reconciling Evangelization and Dialogue through Love of Neighbor 2007] RECONCILING EVANGELIZATION AND DIALOGUE THROUGH LOVE OF NEIGHBOR AMELIA J. UELMEN* I. INTRODUCTION A. Pope Benedict and InterreligiousDialogue A year and a half into his papacy, Benedict XVI faced his first major .£l~international crisis. On September 12, 2006, he delivered an aca- demic lecture in Germany at the University of Regensburg on the theme of faith and reason in Western culture.1 In the context of a discussion on compulsion in religion, Benedict referred to a fourteenth century dia- logue in which the Byzantine Emperor addressed an Islamic scholar: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman such as the command to spread by the 2 sword the faith he preached." Two days later the Organization of the Islamic Conference, represent- ing fifty-seven Islamic states, issued a press statement expressing "regret" for the "derogatory fallacies defaming Islam," and for the "smear cam- paign" that indulged in "character assassination of the prophet Moham- med." 3 In the days that followed, protests, some violent, occurred in Jakarta, Delhi, London and other cities. -
Pope Benedict XVI's Fresh Approach to Interreligious Dialogue
Beyond tolerance: Pope Benedict XVI's fresh approach to interreligious dialogue Author: Christopher Gross This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Chestnut Hill, Mass.: Theology Dept., Boston College, 2007 Interreligious Dialogue Engaging Particularities Conference Paper Boston College Year 2007 Beyond Tolerance: Pope Benedict XVI’s Fresh Approach to Interreligious Dialogue Christopher Gross, Catholic University of America 2 In the last 2000 years, only two popes have visited mosques: John Paul II and Benedict XVI. For John Paul, while it was an extraordinary gesture, it was emblematic of his papacy. Only two years earlier, he had kissed the Quran, while visiting with a delegation of Iraqi Muslims, and in 1986, he invited religious leaders from around the world to Assisi in order to come together to pray for peace. Conversely, for Benedict, the move was uncharacteristic. Only a few months before his visit to Istanbul’s Blue Mosque, Benedict had enraged the Muslim community with his comments at Regensburg, and in 1986, Benedict, then Cardinal Ratzinger, was openly critical of the gathering at Assisi. In one of the few public disagreements between these two friends, Benedict firmly stated that Assisi could not be the model for interreligious dialogue and argued that it gave the false impression that all religions are equally valid.1 Given Benedict’s disapproval Assisi and then his recent visit to the Blue Mosque, how are we to interpret these seemingly contradictory actions? What is the approach to interreligious dialogue that will be taken by this new pontificate? With his recent interfaith gesture in Turkey, it would seem that Benedict is shifting his position on interfaith relations and dialogue in order to carry on the legacy left by his predecessor. -
David Foote University of St. Thomas, Minnesota
THE NEW EVANGELIZATION AND THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF EX CORDE ECCLESIAE THE NEW EVANGELIZATION AND THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF EX CORDE ECCLESIAE Proceedings from the 38th Annual Convention of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars October 23-25, 2015 Saint Paul, MN Edited by Elizabeth C. Shaw Copyright © 2017 by the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. All rights reserved. Published by the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. CONTENTS Saints, Sinners, and Scholars: Eamon Duffy and the Return of Confessional History Christopher Shannon .................................................................................. 3 Benedict XVI, the Lives of the Saints, and the Renewal of Catholic Intellectual Life Christopher O. Blum ................................................................................ 12 Past as Pilgrimage and the Difference Transcendence Makes for an Academic Discipline David Foote ............................................................................................... 21 The Apostolate of the Mind: Transformation of Culture through Rethinking the Secular Sciences Max Bonilla ................................................................................................ 32 World Changers: Responding to the New Evangelization through Encounter and Accompaniment John Zimmer .................................................................................................. 46 Heart Speaks to Heart: Ex Corde Ecclesiae Twenty-Five Years Later Mark Newcomb................................................................................................. -
Mulieris Dignitatem, John Paul II, 15 August 1988 - Apostolic Letter
Mulieris Dignitatem, John Paul II, 15 August 1988 - Apostolic Letter http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/docum... APOSTOLIC LETTER MULIERIS DIGNITATEM OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF JOHN PAUL II ON THE DIGNITY AND VOCATION OF WOMEN ON THE OCCASION OF THE MARIAN YEAR Venerable Brothers and dear Sons and Daughters, Health and the Apostolic Blessing. I INTRODUCTION A sign of the times 1. THE DIGNITY AND THE VOCATION OF WOMEN - a subject of constant human and Christian reflection - have gained exceptional prominence in recent years. This can be seen, for example, in the statements of the Church's Magisterium present in various documents of the Second Vatican Council, which declares in its Closing Message: "The hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of women is being acknowledged in its fullness, the hour in which women acquire in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved. That is why, at his moment when the human race is undergoing so deep a transformation, women imbued with a spirit of the Gospel can do so much to aid humanity in not falling".1 This Message sums up what had already been expressed in the Council's teaching, specifically in the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes2 and in the Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity Apostolicam Actuositatem.3 Similar thinking had already been put forth in the period before the Council, as can be seen in a number of Pope Pius XII's Discourses4 and in the Encyclical Pacem in Terris of Pope John XXIII.5 After the Second Vatican Council, my predecessor Paul VI showed the relevance of this "sign of the times", when he conferred the title "Doctor of the Church" upon Saint Teresa of Jesus and Saint Catherine of Siena,6 and likewise when, at the request of the 1971 Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, he set up a special Commission for the study of contemporary problems 1 of 42 5/31/05 2:53 PM Mulieris Dignitatem, John Paul II, 15 August 1988 - Apostolic Letter http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/docum.. -
In Pope John Paul Ii's Mulieris Dignitatem
AMLR.v8i1.prokes.final 5/11/2011 3:32 PM Copyright © 2009 Ave Maria Law Review “THE FEMININE VOCATION” IN POPE JOHN PAUL II’S MULIERIS DIGNITATEM Mary Timothy Prokes, F.S.E.† The hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of women is being acknowledged in its fullness, the hour in which women acquire in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved. It is a question of understanding the reason for and the consequences of the Creator’s decision that the human being should always and only exist as a woman or a man.1 ~Pope John Paul II INTRODUCTION It is audacious for anyone, in the contemporary global context, to address and interpret the meaning of “The Feminine Vocation.” Yet that is precisely what Pope John Paul II did in his apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem in 1988. In the previous year, the Synod of Bishops had focused on “The Vocation and Mission of the Laity in the Church and in the World Twenty Years after the Second Vatican Council.”2 The Synod recommended “further study of the anthropological and theological bases that are needed in order to † Sister Mary Timothy Prokes, F.S.E., Ph.D., is a Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist, currently Professor of Theology at the Graduate School of Christendom College, Alexandria, Virginia. Her publications include MUTUALITY: THE HUMAN IMAGE OF TRINITARIAN LOVE (1993), TOWARD A THEOLOGY OF THE BODY (1996), and AT THE INTERFACE: THEOLOGY AND VIRTUAL REALITY (2004). 1. Pope John Paul II, Mulieris Dignitatem [Apostolic Letter on the Dignity and Vocation of Women] ¶ 1 (1988) [hereinafter Mulieris Dignitatem], reprinted in THE DOCUMENTS OF VATICAN II 732, 733 (Walter M. -
La Identidad De La Mujer En La Mulieris Dignitatem
LA IDENTIDAD DE LA MUJER EN LA MULIERIS DIGNITATEM Sandra Sato Sakaguchi El objetivo del presente artículo es abordar los contenidos más importantes que la Carta apostólica Mulieris Dignitatem desarrolla, mostrando, ayudados de las reflexiones sobre el tema que Juan Pablo II publicara anteriores a este documento y a los comentarios y estudios teológicos inmediatamente posteriores, la profundidad y el profetismo de los mismos. Trataremos de ahondar aquello que Juan Pablo II invita a profundizar en lo que él mismo ha llamado una meditación sobre la dignidad de la mujer pues debido a las limitaciones propias de una carta apostólica, los temas son esencialmente mencionados y propuestos pero no necesariamente desarrollados con mayor amplitud. 1. CREADOS A IMAGEN Y SEMEJANZA DE DIOS: “VARÓN Y MUJER LOS CREÓ”- “UNIDAD DE LOS DOS” El número 6 de la Mulieris Dignitatem inicia la reflexión de Juan Pablo II sobre lo que ha llamado el principio bíblico sobre el cual se fundamenta toda antropología cristiana1. Este volver sobre el principio es un seguir el modelo de Jesucristo quien en el pasaje del evangelio según San Mateo en el capítulo 19 y su correspondiente en el evangelio según San Marcos en el capítulo 10 responde a la pregunta malintencionada de los escribas sobre el tema del matrimonio, invitándolos a volver sobre lo que él llama: “el principio”2, es decir sobre la verdad de la creación del ser humano por parte de Dios en la Revelación3: “Jesús apela al «principio», esto es, a la creación del hombre, como varón y mujer, y a aquel designio divino que se fundamenta en el hecho de que ambos fueron creados «a su imagen y semejanza»”4.