CORNELIUS ERNST. SERMON PREACHED BY FERGUS KERR O.P.

"Ultimately, I cannot accept the framework of experience demanded and presupposed by the orthodox ecclesiastical tradition. I think I must face this, with consequences I can't foretell. I have another tradition to which I am almost equally respectful–in some ways more so–the tradition of the human heart: novels, art, music, tragedy. I cannot allow that God can only be adored in spirit and in truth by the individual introverted upon himself and detached from all that might disturb and solicit his heart. It must be possible to find and adore God in the complexity of human experience. (Patrick White). On my deathbed, what in memory will I be grateful for? Where will my life have been most fully lived? And memory is a sort of history. The eschatological moment must be a fulfilment and consummation of human history and not its negation merely. Let. me grasp this as true; then perhaps the pain may be more bearable. For of course there must be a negation and a separation at the heart of this affirmation and consent; and this remains the importance of the ecclesiastical tradition".     

The English Reformation in Dublin

As monarch of the lordship and (since 1541) kingdom of Ireland, King Henry VIII and his successors imposed the same ecclesiastical and religious policies they devised for England on Dublin, the most English city in Tudor Ireland. Far-reaching changes were effected to quite a remarkable degree. Yet the English Reformation failed to take root in the Irish city. This paper explores both the course of the Reformation in the capital of English Ireland and the reasons for its general failure. It also highlights some implications of Dublin’s experience relevant to continuing debates in English Reformation studies.     

Do pastoral counselors have a duty to report clergy sexual abuse done by their clergy clients?

What does a pastoral counselor do when a clergy client reveals that he or she has been sleeping with a parishioner? Does the counselor have an ecclesiastical duty to report this offense to a church official; or does the pledge of confidentiality trump any disclosure? Some ecclesiastical bodies require their clergy to bring knowledge of these offenses to church authorities. Does this requirement apply to pastoral counselors? The authors have been confronted with these questions in their ministry of pastoral counseling and have struggled with producing a faithful, professional response. Along the way they have not received clear direction from judicatories or professional organizations. This article is the authors' attempt to answer the questions raised above as well as to challenge professional and ecclesiastical bodies to confront more forthrightly the dilemmas these situations cause for pastoral counselors who seek to protect the welfare of the Church as well as protect the pledge to maintain confidentiality.     

Religious studies and claims of satanic ritual abuse: A rejoinder to Stephen Kent

Care of the dying is likely to be a useful indicator of trends in Christianity, a religion which for centuries has been deeply concerned with the problem of death. The article identifies three approaches to the spiritual dimension in contemporary terminal care—a religious approach, an ecclesiastical approach and an approach that identifies the spiritual as the search for meaning. Though the ecclesiastical approach dominates practice, the ‘meaning’ approach is becoming fashionable and represents a highly individualized, postmodern variety of religion with similarities to the New Age—a surprising conjunction in those hospices with a Christian foundation.     

Developments in Spiritual Care of the Dying

Care of the dying is likely to be a useful indicator of trends in Christianity, a religion which for centuries has been deeply concerned with the problem of death. The article identifies three approaches to the spiritual dimension in contemporary terminal care—a religious approach, an ecclesiastical approach and an approach that identifies the spiritual as the search for meaning. Though the ecclesiastical approach dominates practice, the ‘meaning’ approach is becoming fashionable and represents a highly individualized, postmodern variety of religion with similarities to the New Age—a surprising conjunction in those hospices with a Christian foundation.     

Bucer's Views on Ecclesiastical Property in the Light of Civil and Canon Law

Abstract

The issue of church property is a crucial one in the history of the sixteenth-century Reformation. In support of his views, Bucer could cite Holy Scripture, Roman Law and the Corpus Iuris Canonici, although Bucer felt that priority could be assigned to those laws that can be inferred from Holy Scripture. This article looks at four themes in the debate on ecclesiastical goods as they concern Martin Bucer: the differing ways in which Protestant estates dealt with the matter; the PR around such actions; resistance to the Emperor; and the issue of ecclesiastical estates ruled by prince-prelates.     

The Epistemological Roots of Ecclesiastical Claims to Knowledge

In theoretical matters, ecclesiastical claims to knowledge have lead to various conflicts with science. Claims in orientational matters, sometimes connected to attempts to establish them as a rule for legislation, have often been in conflict with the justified claims of non-believers. In addition they violate the Principle of Autonomy of the individual, which is at the very heart of European identity so decisively shaped by the Enlightenment. The Principle of Autonomy implies that state legislation should not interfere in the life of individual citizens, as long as his or her actions do not violate the rights of others. This paper—using the example of the theory of evolution—rejects ecclesiastical claims to theoretical knowledge as completely unfounded and preposterous. In the case of orientational knowledge—using the example of euthanasia—ecclesiastical claims to (universalizable) knowledge are shown to be unfounded as well. The Church’s position with respect to euthanasia and a range of other bio-ethical topics, such as pre-marital sex, contraception, abortion, indissolubility of marriage, and homosexuality, rests on a very peculiar ethical position. This ethical position is the natural right theory, which—far from being universalizable—is shared by very few people. Among other things, this position presupposes the belief in God as the creator of nature, and the assumption that ethical norms can be derived from this premise. Thus ecclesiastical knowledge claims, cannot be justified in a way which could be reasonably supposed to be universally acceptable. Kant (see the quote) was the first to require this sort of justification. Claims that fail to implement Kant’s stipulations should be eliminated by what I would like to call “Kant’s razor”.     

Desacralizing Political Theology: Dionysius the Areopagite and Giorgio Agamben

Giorgio Agamben argues that Christian thought provides the paradigm of modern governmental power, which reinforces mundane government by investing it with glory. Agamben claims that Dionysius the Areopagite exemplifies this structure; in his view, Dionysian negative theology serves to sacralize ecclesiastical power. In response, I argue that Dionysius desacralizes every authority, affirming that some things are sacred even as he subjects that affirmation to thoroughgoing critique. Against both dogmatic adherence and pure profanation, Dionysius models a politics that draws on the power of the sacred while holding it open to unpredictable development.     

Faith in the Classroom: The Perspective of a Pastor Called to College Teaching

Abstract. Can one uphold a call from an ecclesiastical body while teaching in a college classroom? This paper will argue that the dual roles of pastor and professor can be integrated by the adoption of faith development as a learning goal. This goal seems to stand at odds with three important aspects of academic teaching: the demographic reality of religious pluralism, the ethical requirement to preserve student autonomy, and the overarching goal of a university education to promote critical thinking. My argument will be that, far from violating these three areas, faith development as a broad learning goal can actually provide a valuable deepening of pluralism, autonomy, and critical thought in the educational experience of students. The method of exploration will be autobiographical. I will show how it is that in my dual roles as an ELCA pastor called to a faculty post I articulate and use faith development as an overarching learning goal in the context of (1) a theological pedagogy based on an interfaith logos theology, (2) a value‐laden pedagogy vis‐à‐vis consumerist self‐formation, and (3) an adaptation of stages of faith development to the classroom.     

Psychospiritual Resiliency: Enhancing Mental Health and Ecclesiastical Collaboration in Caring for Those Experiencing Dissociative Phenomena

Trauma can oftentimes be a catalyst for changes in an individual’s religious and spiritual beliefs. Beliefs about the cause of the trauma, for instance, may include attributions of possessing spirits, and are to be found in an increasingly pluralistic and multicultural society. Such preternatural explanations may be referred to as dissociative identity disorder, possession form. Unwittingly, an overreliance on neurobiological explanations and relegation of cultural idioms of distress may diminish effective collaboration with ecclesiastical authorities. Concomitantly, ecclesiastical experts are confronted with bewildering posttrauma dissociative symptomatology, and may not be prepared as diagnosticians to rule out psychobiological explanations. In both instances, client care may be compromised. Noteworthy, the current investigation integrates the author’s participant observation research at the Vatican’s school of Exorcism in Rome, Italy.     

In the light of the splendor: Veritatis Splendor and moral theology.

In the last 25 years, Roman Catholic moral theology has debated issues ranging from the sources of moral theology to the role of ecclesiastical authority in moral theology. In 1993, Pope John Paul II issued his encyclical letter Veritatis Splendor, which addresses issues in fundamental moral theology. The encyclical must be understood against the background of ongoing debates since Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical on birth control (Humanae Vitae). It is not clear what the impact of Veritatis Splendor will be. However, it seems safe to say that it will be deployed in debates about issues such as birth control, artificial reproduction, sterilization, and abortion.     

John Colet,Preaching and Reform at St Paul's Cathedral, 1505-19

Abstract

As a Christian humanist, Colet attempted clerical reform partly by means of preaching. Evidence from Colet's ecclesiastical life as dean of St Paul's suggests that his success was limited by the inappropriate expression of his idealistic ecclesiology, which demanded perfection. Although Colet's passion for preaching was shared and admired by humanist colleagues, his sermons received negative reactions from his cathedral clergy, the Bishop of London and Henry VIII.

The intellectual basis for Colet's ecclesiology was a combination of Pauline theology and Dionysian spirituality, which created a vision of Church perfection by means of purification and illumination. However, Colet sought a spiritual and moral revival, not a fundamental change to the structure of the Catholic Church. Colet's humanist success was achieved mainly outside the ecclesiastical world.     

Therapeutic Enterprise: A Psychological Exploration of Healing Elements in a Local African-American Spiritualist Church

African-American Spiritualist churches are dynamic and diverse ecclesiastical bodies in their exhibition of rich doctrinal material, elaborate public and private altars, and their multifarious ritualistic activities. This article employs analytical psychology to argue that these Spiritualist groups, as seen in the Redeeming Spiritualist Christian Church of Nashville, represent a viable therapeutic enterprise addressing certain psychological disruptions.     

Deus Ex Machina: The Influence of Polling Place on Voting Behavior

Voting is perceived as free and rational. Citizens make whatever choices they wish, shielded from external influences by the privacy of the voting booth. The current paper, however, suggests that a subtle source of influence—polling places themselves—can impact voting behavior. In two elections, people voting in churches were more likely to support a conservative candidate and a ban on same‐sex marriage, but not the restriction of eminent domain. A field experiment found that people completing questionnaires in a chapel awarded less money (relative to people in a secular building) to insurance claimants seeking compensation for abortion pills, but not to worker's compensation claimants. A laboratory experiment found that people subliminally exposed to ecclesiastical images awarded less money (relative to people exposed to control images) to abortion pill claimants, but not to worker's compensation claimants. Exposure to ecclesiastical images affected only Christians; non‐Christians' awards were unaffected by the prime. These findings show that polling locations can exert a powerful and precise influence on political attitudes and decision making.     

Catholic missions in China: failure to form native clergy

The success and failure of Christianity in China was tied to the missionaries’ ability to accommodate to Chinese culture and the powers that ruled over this vast nation. A number of reasons have been put forward regarding the failure of Christian missions in China. Inability to adapt to native norms, ignorance of Chinese language, association with Western imperialism, rivalries among various religious orders, congregations and missionary societies, and the reluctance to establish a Chinese ecclesiastical hierarchy all contributed to hindering the propagation of the gospel. This paper argues that the main reason for their failure was the refusal of European clergy to hand over the leadership of the church to the Chinese, in spite of Rome’s edicts to establish an indigenous ecclesiastical hierarchy. With local clergy in charge, the issue of language and cultural adaptation would have been resolved. Unfortunately, the native clergy were looked down upon by their Western counterparts, who were mostly motivated by national and institutional interests rather than pastoral concern for the local people. The appointment of the first Chinese bishop, Gregorio Lopéz (Luo Wenzao), was more a political move than a pastoral need.     

‘Relics of the Amorites’ or ‘Things Indifferent'? Peter Martyr Vermigli's authority and the Threat of Schism in the Elizabethan Vestiarian Controversy

Abstract

In the years following the enactment of the Elizabethan Settlement, the threat of schism loomed over the Church of England with respect to provisions governing uniformity of ecclesiastical dress. Were the traditional vestments and ornaments of worship ‘relics of the Amorites’ whose use was inconsistent with a truly Reformed ecclesiastical order? Or were they rather ‘adiaphora’ and therefore to be tolerated? Numerous appeals by both parties to the dispute were made to Peter Martyr Vermigli, now settled in Zurich, for his judgement of the matter. Although Vermigli's authority was cited by both sides, he emerges a staunch defender of the Settlement. Consistent with his intervention of 1550 in John Hooper's brief period of resistance to the Edwardine vestments rubric, Vermigli counselled conformity with careful nuance. Vermigli's stance in the vestiarian controversy in turn raises important questions about the ‘Reformed’ identity of the Elizabethan Church.     

The Roman Catholic Church of Norway and migration challenges

Ever since its re-establishment in Norway in 1843, the Roman Catholic Church has grown steadily. On 1 January 2017, the church had a total membership of approximately 150,000. The reason for the latest, and certainly largest, wave of Catholic migrants to settle in Norway is labour migration resulting from the eastward expansion of the EU in 2004, when Poland and Lithuania joined. About half the Catholic population of Norway originates from these two countries. This article focuses on the following research question: How does the Roman Catholic Church in Norway, represented by sisters in religious communities, priests and ecclesiastical employees, respond to the large influx of Catholic migrants to Norway? The study is based on a qualitative survey consisting of semi-structured interviews with 10 informants, all religious sisters, priests or ecclesiastical employees. Although some informants admit that the strong growth resulting from migration has posed problems, such as tendencies to form ‘parallel congregations’ based on ethnic origin, most expressed a positive view of this influx of migrants and of the future of the Catholic Church in Norway.     

Bioethical Issues and Health Care Chaplaincy in Aotearoa New Zealand

This paper summarizes survey and interview results from a cross-sectional study of New Zealand health care chaplaincy personnel concerning their involvement in multiple bioethical issues encountered by patients, families and clinical staff within the health care context. Some implications of this study concerning health care chaplaincy, ecclesiastical institutions, health care institutions and government responsibilities are discussed and recommendations presented.