Strategically Prophetic Priests: An Analysis of Competing Principal Influence on Clergy Political Action

We assess clergy political activism dynamics using data from a national survey of Roman Catholic priests. Like their elite counterparts in interest groups and other secular political institutions, clergy encounter expectations and demands from competing principals when determining how to publicly act on key political issues. Building on insights from decades of clergy politics scholarship, we leverage new perspectives of principal-based influence by examining how Catholic priest perception of both local parish finances and diocesan bishop expectations affect their reported political actions. Our findings are consistent with the notion that parish and bishop principals condition priest political behavior, controlling for priest ideology. However, priest political action proves more sensitive to parish financial concerns than bishop encouragement.     

Two papers by Michael Fordham (d.1995)

The Journal has decided to publish a selection of previously unpublished papers from the Michael Fordham archives, which are being prepared for publication by James Astor and Elizabeth Urban, and of which the two papers published here are the first, both dating from the 1950s. 'Analyst and Priest' seems to be addressed to an audience of mainly religious people who are interested in the relation between psychology and religion and to whom Fordham is introducing some basic Jungian concepts and ways of thinking. The analyst in this lecture is the advocate of a new science, the priest an established figure with a role in society and rituals to perform. As the paper progresses he refines the differences between priest and analyst in terms of individual development versus a philosophy of life. The paper ends with a plea for co-operation between priest and analyst. 'Analyst and Scientist' was a radio talk given in 1956. In this paper Fordham makes the case for paying attention to the irrational. He draws support from Pauli and Polanyi. His theme is to show the scientific value of the subjective. From this he describes the scientific basis for Jung's comparative method and consequently of archetypal psychology.     

Perceptions of South Florida Hispanic and Anglo Catholics: From Whom Would They Seek Help?

Hispanic and Anglo Catholics in South Florida who attended Sunday services (N = 473) were surveyed to determine their help-seeking preferences for moral concerns, mental disorders, and practical life/family problems. Respondents were asked to indicate whether they would seek help from a priest; a priest with a degree and license in one of the helping professions (clinical social work, psychology, psychiatry, or mental health counseling); a layperson with a degree and license in one of the helping professions (clinical social work, psychology, psychiatry, or mental health counseling); or if they believed they could deal with the situation without external assistance. The findings suggest that Anglo Catholics prefer assistance from a person who was credentialed in one of the helping professions, whereas Hispanic Catholics would seek help from a priest with or without a background in the helping professions.     

Priesthood and the Epistle to the Hebrews

Current controversies about the ordination of women have shown the need for a re-examination of what the Christian Church means by priesthood. This article looks at the Epistle to the Hebrews' contribution to our understanding. To that end it focuses on the institution of priesthood in its first-century Jewish context and shows the use made of it by the author of Hebrews in his presentation of Christian faith.
Section 1 emphasizes some all-important differences between the NT's use of the language of priesthood and ours. Not least, it nowhere uses "priest" to designate Christian ministers. All the more striking, therefore, is Hebrews' depiction of Jesus as "high priest".
Section 2 discusses Judaism' Day of Atonement ceremonies – Hebrews' dominant cultic model. In the comparison drawn between Christ's death and exaltation with these rites, he becomes not only the high priest but also the expiatory victim.
As far as Judaism' cultic institutions are concerned, however, Jesus was not and never could be a priest, since he was of the tribe of Judah rather than Levi. Hence Hebrews appeals to Melchizedek. How this non-Israelite model is used by Hebrews to subvert the whole notion of priesthood as caste is discussed in section 3.
Finally, in section 4 Isaacs concludes that for Hebrews there is no longer a role for an ongoing priesthood, since Jesus has definitively achieved access to God, which was its raison d'être . Melchizedekian high priesthood is unique to Christ; neither inherited nor transmitted. Hence, unlike other NT authors, for Hebrews even the church as a corporate body is not a priesthood. As its closing chapters show, in this Epistle the cultic model gives way to the more inclusive one of pilgrimage.     

Turning towards the Tomb: Priesthood and Gender

Abstract

This article offers some broad theological reflections on gender and priesthood through the lens of three turns. The first turn is that of Mary Magdalene away from the gardener and towards her Lord. This is described as a turn which broke the male/female gaze. The second turn is Butler's turn towards gendered subjectivity which brings with it melancholia from which there is no escape. Stuart argues that Mary Magdalene's second turn is a turn away from a subjectivity grounded in gender towards a subjectivity grounded in Christ, a turn made by all those who receive the sacrament of baptism. The third turn is the traditional turn of the priest towards the east, a turn which obscures the gender of the priest and orientates those gathered towards a reality in which gender is deprived of any ultimate status. Stuart argues that the turn of the priest is a re-enactment of the turn of Mary Magdalene and that priesthood is essentially a non-gendered order.     

Searching for a Priest ... or a Man? Using Gender as a Cultural Resource in an Episcopal Campus Chapel

This paper examines an Episcopal campus chapel's search process for a new priest. I argue that gender, at the group level, is a fluid cultural resource that search committee members use in contradictory ways to select a male priest. I illustrate my argument using data drawn from twenty‐eight in‐depth interviews and participant observation (1994–1995) of a search committee in an Episcopal campus ministry located on the grounds of a southeastern state university. My findings show that a patriarchal agenda can be upheld by a search committee without it ever being specified or codified. Well‐intentioned search committee members routinely do gender even as they claim and believe they act in gender‐free ways. The contribution this analysis makes to our understanding of congregational search processes and discrimination against female clergy is considered.     

Reinventing the celts

This paper, based largely upon fieldwork in Glastonbury, gives an overview of some of the beliefs and speculations about Celts and Druids which are now circulating in certain New Age circles. In addition to some innovative ideas, elements of this new received wisdom are redolent of the antiquarian speculation of the 18th century. However, ‘Celticity’ is now being regarded by New Agers primarily as a quality rather than a matter of historical or geographical fact, and the Celts, with their enlightened priests the Druids, have become the Noble Savages of Britain.     

Catholic Parish Organizational Structure and Parish Outcomes

Due to a number of factors, the Catholic Church has in recent years been required to be innovative in the way it organizes its parishes. Canon law addresses some options for dioceses that need to restructure their parishes. This study considers three of them: pastoring multiple parishes through a team of pastors (Code of Canon Law 517.1); entrusting pastoral care to someone other than a priest (c517.2); and appointing a single priest to pastor more than one parish (c526.1). The effect of each of these models on the change in parish Sunday Mass attendance is empirically estimated. No significant difference in Mass attendance was found between those parishes that had experienced an organizational restructuring and those that had not. When comparing the three different models of parish restructuring, parishes that were led by a team of priests were found to outperform parishes that had experienced the other two restructuring options.     

Spiritual direction and pastoral counseling

The thesis is that spiritual direction is a form of pastoral counseling-indeed, the core from which all other forms of pastoral counseling radiate, since all pastoral counseling aims ultimately to help others to ground their lives in God. The major elements of spiritual direction are described in an attempt to justify the thesis.Dr. Barry is Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology at Weston School of Theology and a staff member of the Center for Religious Development, both in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is a priest of the Roman Catholic Church.     

Pastoral Ministry and the Fleshly Body

This paper will explore the fleshly body of the pastor/priest/liturgist/caregiver and its engagement with the fleshly bodies of the ones given to their care. Its purpose is to address the physicality of being involved in pastoral ministry.     

I.P. Pavlov as a youth

Ivan P. Pavlov's youthful relations with parents and siblings, formal education, and social activities in Riazan' are described. The Pavlovs, a highly achievement-oriented family descending from a lowly serf, improved their social status by serving the Russian Orthodox Church. Pavlov, the son of a priest, studied in the 1860s at the Riazan' Ecclesiastic Seminary for priesthood. The turbulent 1860s' decade was a period of social and political reforms. Western ideas and science were introduced to Russia. The ambitious and idealistic I.P. Pavlov was influenced by popular essays written by the journalist D.I. Pisarev, the works of the German physiologist J. Moleschott, the English writer G.H. Lewes, the German zoologist C. Vogt and the physiologist M.I. Sechenov. Losing his religious faith, Pavlov abandoned the traditional goal of becoming a priest, and, convinced that science was a road to truth and progress, left Riazan' to study natural science at the University of St. Petersburg.     

I.P. Pavlov as a youth

Ivan P. Pavlov’s youthful relations with parents and siblings, formal education, and social activities in Riazan’ are described. The Pavlovs, a highly achievement-oriented family descending from a lowly serf, improved their social status by serving the Russian Orthodox Church. Pavlov, the son of a priest, studied in the 1860s at the Riazan’ Ecclesiastic Seminary for priesthood. The turbulent 1860s’ decade was a period of social and political reforms. Western ideas and science were introduced to Russia. The ambitious and idealistic I.P. Pavlov was influenced by popular essays written by the journalist D.I. Pisarev, the works of the German physiologist J. Moleschott, the English writer G.H. Lewes, the German zoologist C. Vogt and the physiologist M.I. Sechenov. Losing his religious faith, Pavlov abandoned the traditional goal of becoming a priest, and, convinced that science was a road to truth and progress, left Riazan’ to study natural science at the University of St. Petersburg.     

Gregor Feinaigle,mnemonist and educator

Gregor Feinaigle opened in Dublin in 1813 one of the most splendid and, briefly, successful public schools in Great Britain, unusual for the extent of its offerings, for its advanced disciplinary methods, and for the key to its teaching methods – the art of memory. How Feinaigle, a German priest turned mnemonist, rose to fame as an educator in Ireland is the subject of this article.     

In search of miracles

The movie The Third Miracle invites theological reflection on miracles, sainthood, and faith. A movie filled with Lutheran themes of unmerited grace and blessings of the ordinary life, the story line follows a Catholic priest tasked with exploring the authenticity of reported miracles associated with a lay woman and a bleeding statue. Faith and miracles are shown in their ordinariness, easily missed without the eye of faith, and sainthood is juxtaposed with the expected and unexpected vis‐à‐vis motherhood.     

Is there a chaplain in your clinic?

As medical care continues to move outside the hospitals, clients with spiritual needs are more often to be found in clinics and doctors' offices than inpatient settings. Chaplains in partnership with physicians can contribute to healing in outpatient centers. A study of one group of clinic patients indicates that an outpatient setting may be a better place to address spiritual needs than a hospital setting. Pastoral interventions are acceptable to many clients, who according to statistics are already using alternative therapies to augment traditional medical care. Paul A. Mandziuk, M. Div., a priest of the Missionaries of La Salette, is a chaplain at Saint Louis University Health Sciences Center in St. Louis, MO, and serves on the leadership council of the National Association of Catholic Chaplains.     

Calvary and the church broken for the world

The film Calvary raises a host of issues around how the movie‐going public understands clergy. Perceptions of clergy are often caught between expectations of hypocrisy and accusations of naivety. By subverting any sharp distinctions between that which is “holy” and that which is fully human in the calling of the priest, the movie demonstrates a kind of cinematic Christology that is also instructive for ecclesiological purposes, particularly when put in dialogue with the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the same subject.     

艾香德牧师与中国佛教:民国时期宗教对话的一个案例

民国时期,中国佛教进入改革发展阶段,社会影响力也波及到其他各种宗教。挪威传教士艾香德来到中国后,受佛教影响,积极学习佛经,深入寺庙与佛教徒进行交流,参访南京支那内学院,撰写了有关中国佛教的著作,并依照佛教寺院制度,先在南京和平门外创办景风山基督教丛林,后又在香港建立道风山基督教丛林。艾香德以较为开放的胸怀倡导宗教对话与宗教联合,当时虽然没有得到人们特别重视,甚至还受到了一些批评,但在全球化的今天,宗教对话与宗教联合被越来越多的宗教团体所认同与接受,已成为世界宗教发展中的一种值得关注的文化现象,重新回视艾香德所倡导的宗教对话就显得更有理论价值与实践意义。     

Psychological type preferences of Roman Catholic priests in the United Kingdom

This study explores the psychological type profile of Roman Catholic priests. A sample of 79 priests completed the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (Form G). The study shows that Roman Catholic priests tend to prefer introversion over extraversion, feeling over thinking and judging over perceiving. Near equal preferences are shown for sensing and intuition. The type preferences of Roman Catholic priests in the UK are compared and contrasted with the type preferences of Roman Catholic priests in the USA and Protestant clergy in the UK. These findings are explored within the context of the role of the priest within the Roman Catholic Church.     

Changing Trajectory: An Integrated Theoretical View of the Roman Catholic Priest Sex Abuse Scandal

The sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests across the United States is a direct result of access to children, and that access changes across the life-course of individual priests. Turning points affect not only an individual priest’s motivation to commit the crime, but also the suitability of a target. Guardianship of the victim and the surveillance of the offender play a salient role in facilitating the opportunity for the sexual assault of a child. Two criminological theories are germane to how contextual elements of the abusive situation can fluctuate across the life course: (1) Life Course Theory and (2) Routine Activity Theory.