Satisfaction and Morale Among Parish Clergy: What American Catholic and Orthodox Priests Can Learn from Each Other

The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches share a similar theology and a hierarchical church administration. Local parish communities are organized in similar ways. However, the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian churches occupy different places in the context of American culture, and they have developed distinct notions of priesthood. Findings explore similarities and differences in the attitudes and experience of Catholic and Orthodox clergy. Most striking, the younger clergy (less than 45 years of age) report more conservative attitudes about the priesthood, "democracy" in church government, and empowering lay persons in the ministry.     

Growth in Criticism?

Reports of global ecumenical conversations are regularly published by the World Council of Churches in a collection of volumes titled Growth in Agreement. The assumption is that the dialogues are not just repeating the same arguments they made half a century ago, but that relations between member churches have grown qualitatively as a result of this process. This paper asks whether Orthodox critique of Roman Catholic ecclesiology reflects signs of growth or continues “traditional” stereotypical thinking about other churches and religions. The paper first examines Orthodox reactions to Lumen Gentium during and immediately after the Second Vatican Council, then compares them with Orthodox reactions to the council’s 50th anniversary. The paper concludes by asking whether Pope Francis’ endeavour to reform the Catholic Church in the direction of greater synodality is partly the result of the expectations of our sister churches’ representatives over the past 50 years.     

Religion and the Catholic Church’s View on (Heart) Transplantation: A Recent Statement of Pope Benedict XVI and its Practical Impact

Heart transplantation is performed on approximately 4,000 patients per year worldwide and is considered the last resort for treatment of end-stage heart diseases. Due to persistent organ shortage, resources are limited, waiting periods are extensive, and patients still die while being on a waiting list for transplantation. The role of all churches and the support of the representatives of the churches are critical for the spiritual wellbeing of patients awaiting heart transplantation as well as for prospective individual organ donors and their families. The supportive role of the Roman Catholic Church and the recent statement of Pope Benedict XVI on organ donation are discussed.     

Ecumenical and Inter‐religious Engagement of Asian Pentecostals and Charismatics

The Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) has been a significant platform for all ecumenical organizations and churches in Asia to collaborate. However, although Pentecostal and charismatic churches have been growing rapidly in Asia and a number of megachurches have been founded, none of them have become members of the CCA. This article sets out the official ecumenical engagements of Asian Pentecostals with other Protestant churches and the Roman Catholic Church in recent years, before discussing the ecumenical impact of the charismatic renewal in several Asian countries. Finally, since Asia is the birthplace of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, and ecumenism is also concerned with inter‐religious relations, it discusses the development of Pentecostalism in the countries dominated by those three religions.     

An Orthodox Perspective on the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification

In 1999, the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, one of the main points at issue at the time of the 16th‐century Reformation. This article seeks to offer an Orthodox perspective on the Joint Declaration, through presenting an “Orthodox” approach to the doctrine of justification as the doctrine is set out in the text of the Joint Declaration. The article then discusses how this approach is reflected in the three international and regional dialogues between the Orthodox Church and the churches of the Reformation that took place almost simultaneously with the dialogue leading to the Lutheran–Catholic Joint Declaration.     

Is It Still a Movement?

In this address from 1971, the second general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Eugene Carson Blake, sets out the challenges facing the WCC at the beginning of the 1970s, identifying three key changes within the ecumenical movement: a shift in power and decision making away from the Protestant churches of North America and Western Europe; an organization more representative of churches in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and of Orthodox churches; and the ecumenical involvement of the Roman Catholic Church. It goes on to set out how the WCC, particularly since its conference on Church and Society held in Geneva in 1966, has been attempting to make Christian faith and morals relevant to a world experiencing rapid social, economic, and political change.     

Theologia Prima—Liturgical Theology as an Ecumenical Challenge to Lutheran Worship Practice

Abstract : The doctrine of justification is of highest importance for Lutheran theology. But regarding their worship practice Lutheran churches seem to be less aware of this priority than Orthodox, Roman‐Catholic and Anglican churches. David Fagerberg, building on Alexander Schmemann, claims the worship service experience is theologia prima, God's action upon God's people. At the same time Andrea Grillo calls the human being an animal ceremoniale stating that liturgy always reminds us that God's action comes first. Can Lutherans building upon this ecumenical liturgical theology find in the worship service the ‘place of justification’?     

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.     

Unity for the sake of missions

Pentecostal-Charismatic Christians form a block of over 600 million people inside Christianity. This article assesses the theological and missiological reasons behind the development of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christians since the beginning of the 20th century. Pentecostals have been hesitant in developing contacts with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and conciliar churches, fearing to be connected to a collaboration that is more human-oriented than spirit-oriented. Slowly, however, the openness toward visible, concrete cooperation on a larger basis has developed in mutual dialogue with others, such as the Global Christian Forum, which represents the Roman Catholic Church, the WCC, the World Evangelical Alliance, and the Pentecostal World Fellowship. Pentecostals today are involved in many kinds of collaboration between the different denominations among themselves but also with other evangelical and even conciliar churches when possible, to fulfil the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.     

A blessing in disguise? Empowering Catholic health care institutions in the current health care environment.

Health care institutions, including Roman Catholic institutions, are in a time of crisis. This crisis may provide an important opportunity to reinvigorate Roman Catholic health care. The current health care crisis offers Roman Catholic health care institutions a special opportunity to rethink their fundamental commitments and to plan for the future. The author argues that what Catholic health care institutions must first do is articulate the nature of their identity and their commitments. By a renewed commitment to the praxis of health care on their own distinctive terms, Roman Catholic health care institutions may reestablish a vision of human nature and human service in an increasingly secular society. Health care could then reclaim its place as a powerful setting for the expression of Roman Catholic faith, life and witness.     

Understanding equality in health care: a Christian free-market approach.

This paper examines the arguments presented by the Roman Catholic Bishops in their 1993 Pastoral Resolution, Comprehensive Health Care Reform: Protecting Human Life, Promoting Human Dignity, Pursuing the Common Good, concerning health care reform. Focusing on the meaning of equality in health care and traditional Roman Catholic doctrine, it is argued that the Bishops fail to grasp the force of the differences among persons, the value of the market, and traditional scholastic arguments concerning obligatory and extraordinary health care. To attempt to equalize the distribution of health care would be ruinous. A more traditional understanding of Christian thought reveals an acceptance of inequality in health care distribution and a bias against using the secular state to coerce a solution to such concerns for social justice.     

Forgiveness and Religious Faith in Roman Catholic Married Couples

Roman Catholic couples (130 couples, ages 24–84), at three churches in a suburban town in the southern U.S., completed a section of the Family Forgiveness Scale and the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire. The factor structure and loadings of forgiveness items differed from those previously reported. Levels of faith and forgiveness were similar between husbands and wives. Faith was correlated with most forgiveness dimensions, and faith and some aspects of forgiveness were related to duration of marriage.     

Managed Care, Catholic Vision, and the Claims of Justice

There are numerous challenges posed to Roman Catholic healthcare institutions by recent developments in health care delivery.Some are practical, involving the acceptable limits of accommodationto and collaboration with secular networks of health care delivery.Others, quite often implicated in the first set, are explicitlytheological. What does it mean to be a distinctively Roman Catholichealth care institution? What are the nature and the scope ofRoman Catholic institutional identity? More broadly, what isthe moral relevance of themes in Roman Catholic social teachingto the provision of health care? This issue of Christian Bioethicsaddresses these questions with a spirited exchange among itsauthors. They offer noticeably different perspectives on thegeneral cogency of Roman Catholic social teaching and differentstrategic recommendations for Roman Catholic institutions tomaintain, or recover, their distinctive presence in health caredelivery.     

Personality expectations and perceptions of Roman Catholic clergy members

This study examined the expectations of Roman Catholic priests' personality characteristics. Personality measures (i.e., Symptom Check List-90-Revised, Weinberger Adjustment Inventory, Belief in Personal Control Scale, and several authordesigned measures) were administered to 102 undergraduate students. The subjects' perceptions of Roman Catholic priests' personality traits were examined by having the subjects complete the Personality Adjective Checklist (PACL) describing a typical Roman Catholic priest. These scores were compared to PACL scores from 12 successful applicants to the priesthood. Findings suggest that subjects tend to view Roman Catholic priests stereotypically as authority figures and that Catholic subjects view priests more positively than do non-Catholic subjects.     

The future of Catholic health care: observations from an Orthodox Christian perspective.

The author reflects on the future of Catholic health care by looking at the essays in this volume by Dennis Brodeur, Clarke E. Cochran, and Christopher J. Kauffman. The author argues that (1) Roman Catholic teaching on the Trinity is defective, yielding an inadequate model of society, (2) Roman Catholic teaching on the Incarnation is defective, yielding an impoverished understanding of the "sacramental," and (3) the institutional orientation of Roman Catholicism combined with the lack of true sacramental vision makes it nearly impossible for Roman Catholic theory to criticize the current structure of health care financing.     

From Sectarian to Secular Control of Education The Case of Newfoundland

On September 2, 1997, Newfoundland transitioned from church to state control over education. Prior to this change, education had been controlled by churches. Recently, on November 9, 2000, an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada by the Roman Catholic Church to declare the change unconstitutional was denied, settling the issue legally, although, perhaps, not politically. This article describes Newfoundland's educational system prior to the public referendum in 1997 that removed church control of education and explores some of the recent issues that have arisen since transition. It calls for further investigation into the effects of the change and the political, social, and economic forces that led to such a fundamental change.     

Lumen Gentium No. 8, and Subsistit in, Again

Francis A. Sullivan says that the one Church of Christ continues to exist perfectly in the Catholic Church, and is present imperfectly in other churches and ecclesial communities. However, he thinks Lumen Gentium 8 also enables us to say that the many churches, non-Catholic and Catholic, are all in the one Church of Christ, since to say the one Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church means no more than "continues to exist in" the Catholic Church. In this way, he denies the identity of the one Church of Christ and the Catholic Church. We point out that magisterial documents since Vatican II have consistently refused this proposal, and have instead spoken only of the one Church being present or operative, according to degrees, in non-Catholic churches and communities. We argue that while it is true there is "ecclesial reality" outside the Catholic Church, in that there are elements of truth and sanctification outside of her, the one Church of Christ of which Vatican II expressly speaks is the Church with all the gifts of unity and instruments for salvation with which Christ endowed it. The Catholic Church is not contained in any larger divinely willed and dominically instituted ecclesial reality, and it is without qualification the one Church of Christ and the one Church of Christ is without qualification the Catholic Church.     

Church‐based Community Activism: A Comparison of Black and White Catholic Congregations

Scholars have recently examined the role of black churches ein einitiatingcivil rights and social justice activities, community development and rehabilitation projects, and family support and community health outreach programs. Practically all of this research has been on black Protestant churches. This article seeks to address this gap in the literature byinvestigating the extent to which African‐American Catholic congregations engage in social action and social service programs in their communities. Data drawn from a nationwide survey of U.S. Catholic parishes are us d to show that black church s are significantly more likely than white churches to engage in social service and social action activities independent of a variety of demographic, organizational, and structural factors known—or suspected—to influence activism. This finding lends support to the argument that the extra‐religious functions of black churches—Protestant and Catholic—are more deeply ingrained in these religious institutions than is suggested by some analysts. Equally significant is the finding of positive and significant relationships between churches that have parish councils and leadershiptraining programs and congregational activism. This finding lends support to previous findings that suggest that the organizational structure of religious institutions may influence churchgoers opportunities for learning and practicing civic skills relevant to community activism.     

Women’s Ministry in Ecumenical Perspective

Although discussion about the ministry of women seems to have come to a standstill as a result of arguments that don’t seem to change, the actual practices of the churches have evolved beyond doctrinal positions. In the Roman Catholic Church, many women have been appointed to positions in pastoral care and education, and even to decision‐making bodies. In the Orthodox Church, prerogatives previously reserved for nuns are beginning to be applied to lay women. But if we can entrust women with pastoral responsibilities, why is it not possible to move to include them in priestly ministry? To answer this question, we need to analyze the implicit levels of refusing the priesthood to women.     

Young People,Sexuality, and HIV Prevention Within Christian Faith Communities in South Africa: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Faith communities exert a powerful influence on the life of their members, and studies are needed about how they may be able to influence young people’s attitudes regarding sexuality and HIV prevention. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire from young people (811), aged 15–24 years, affiliated to the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church and the Assemblies of God. The majority of participants perceived themselves at risk of HIV infection (53 %). Premarital sexual abstinence was the most frequently (88 %) reported prevention message, followed by faithfulness (23 %), HIV testing (18 %) and condom use (17 %). Furthermore, religious affiliation was associated with education on sexuality and HIV in youth groups, with better information given to members of the Lutheran and Catholic churches. Faith communities need to strengthen their capacity to educate young people in a more holistic way about sexuality and HIV prevention.