How the Market Became Divine

We have moved beyond a “market economy” to what some have called a “market society,” one in which everything seems to be for sale. We also now see the advent of a “market religion,” in which the values and life meanings of consumer culture have become dominant. This new religion has its own doctrines, rituals, priesthood, and mission to “go into all the world.” It has its own narratives of creation, fall, and redemption, and its own saints and heroes. But because its underlying thrust is endless growth, and we live on a finite planet, it is carrying us toward destruction. Some parts of Christianity are opposing what Pope Francis has called “idolatry,” but unfortunately most parts are being swept into its new dispensation.     

Pope Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum: Reconciling Conflicting Values

This article examines the content of Pope Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum and his accompanying Letter to the Bishops and interprets them as a bold attempt to bring liturgical peace to the Catholic Church by freeing the “Tridentine” Latin Mass for general use and promoting internal reconciliation by reconciling theological values which have been at variance since Vatican II. It also examines how different individuals, writers and groups have reacted to these documents as expressed in periodical literature, books and web sites. A reading of the literature reveals that most responses are strongly and passionately for or against the Pope's decision and reasoning, with relatively few voices advocating a moderate and reconciliatory stance. In general, people have reacted in a predictable way depending on their already established loyalties.     

Who’s Winning the War Against Science?

There is an outcry among scientists that they are being attacked on multiple fronts by fake news, alternative facts, climate change denial, fossil fuel industries, shrinking government funding, postmodernism, and religion. Is this siege mentality realistic or paranoid? It’s realistic. This article encourages theologians and other religious leaders to ally themselves with scientists in defense of evidence-based judgments in public policy-making.     

La oración como técnica de subjetivación en la espiritualidad cristiana del siglo XVI

Resumen

La investigación de este trabajo analiza el papel que la práctica de la oración supuso en la regulación del individuo a mediados del siglo XVI, dentro del contexto espiritual español. Parece que su uso—como parte de un trabajo personal para vivir acorde con la fe y doctrina cristianas—se extendió en el siglo XVI, a juzgar por el auge en la demanda de los libros espirituales que la contenían como ejercicio y de la proliferación de libros pensados propiamente para la oración. Una oración que entendemos como técnica individual de comunicación con Dios para fines de formación personales. Vamos a estudiarla considerándola una práctica cristiana que medió percepciones que uno/a tenía de sí mismo/a y codificó modos de ser, postulando, así, su contribución en la construcción de una determinada subjetividad espiritual.     

Is the Catholic Church in America Experiencing Internal Secularization? Priests’ Assessments of Pope Francis and the Condition of the Church

This study addressed internal secularization in the Catholic Church by testing the role of several factors in priests’ assessments of the state of the Church in the United States, priests’ views of whether the Church's situation is getting better or worse, and their attitudes toward Pope Francis. Comparisons with identical questions fielded in 2002 revealed a striking pessimistic turn among priests over the last two decades. In addition, regression analyses using the 2021 Survey of American Catholic Priests revealed that “in-house” factors—namely, attitudes toward Pope Francis and perceptions of how well bishops have restored confidence in the Catholic Church following the sexual abuse crisis—most powerfully predicted priests’ current pessimism. On top of this, politically conservative priests and priests ordained more recently tended to be most critical of how Francis is handling his duties, signaling a pronounced tension inside the Catholic Church over religious authority, a defining feature of internal secularization.     

Pope Francis: a pastor according to the heart of Christ

Catholic Canon Law stipulates that the Pope is ‘the pastor of the universal Church on earth’. Pope Francis took up the challenge which this statement poses to those exercising the Petrine ministry by asking for prayers that he might be ‘a pastor according to the heart of Christ’. How is a Pope ‘a pastor according to the heart of Christ’? What particular opportunities does the Petrine ministry offer for this? What are the pastoral aspects of the papacy? What does it seem we can expect from Pope Francis in this regard? As this article shows, the task of ‘a pastor according to the heart of Christ’ has an impact on several aspects of the implementation of the Petrine ministry, such as using the Pope’s power in the service of unity, encouraging collegiality in communion as the visible centre of the entire Christian Church in dialogue with other religions, that the world may believe.