Catholic Feminist Ethics Reconsidered

Taking Catholic sexual ethics and liberal feminist ethics as points of departure, this essay argues that both frameworks are ill‐prepared to deal with the moral problems raised by sex trafficking: while Catholic sexual ethics is grounded in a normative understanding of sexuality, liberal feminist ethics argues for women's sexual autonomy, resting upon freedom of action and consent. From a perspective that attends both to the phenomenological interpretation of embodied selves and the Kantian normative interpretation of dignity, it becomes possible to critique both the Catholic and the liberal feminist frameworks of ethics. I argue that Catholic sexual ethics requires a reconceptualization as social ethics in order to meet the challenges of our present time, but that the shift is possible without giving up the moral imperatives of both Catholic and feminist ethics to protect human dignity and women's rights.     

CATHOLIC ETHICS AS SEEN FROM PADUA

During the summer of 2006, over four hundred Catholic ethicists from around the world gathered for four days in Padua, Italy. About sixty of the conference papers have become available in two edited collections, Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church: The Plenary Papers from the First Cross‐cultural Conference on Catholic Theological Ethics, and Applied Ethics in a World Church: The Padua Conference. As the conference was marked by a distinctive and creative tension—between the diversity which characterized the nationalities and cultural identities of the participants, on the one hand, and the commonness of their religious heritage, on the other—these essays can tell us much about contemporary Catholic ethics in its response to global pluralism. The following develops four reflections. First, the conference papers pursue a style of scholarship that is at once critically creative and ecclesially rooted. Second, the conference raises new concerns about the importance that Christian formation must have in a pluralist world. Third, the participants affirm and defend the ultimate universality of moral goods while also arguing that these goods are expressed and embodied in unavoidably particular ways. Finally, the most important contribution that Catholic ethics can make to public conversations about issues of common concern is through its articulation and defense of key human values.     

A New Culture of Learning: Digital Storytelling and Faith Formation

How has the “new culture of learning” begun to transform us, and in what ways might the faith formation practices of religious communities be impacted by the shift? Recent research funded by the MacArthur Foundation lays an empirical basis for recognizing shifts in learning brought about by widespread access to digital technologies. The implications of that research, in turn, pose widespread challenges to the work of faith formation in contemporary communities of faith. Communicative theologies may be best poised to engage these challenges through the practices of digital storytelling.     

Racism,Xenophobia, and Migration in Italy,a Post-Catholic Country

This paper looks at the present situation of xenophobia and racism in Italy through the lenses of land and displacement. It examines the relationship between the homeland and the phenomenon of migration – internal and international – from the beginning of the unitary unified state of Italy (1861) and the Catholic identity of Italian society. Colonialism opened the door to disdain for Black people, while fascism decreed racial laws against Jews without opposition from the Catholic hierarchy. After the Second World War, the Italian Republic banned any form of racism; but more recently the fear of the stranger has led to intolerance of migrants arriving in Italy because of war, violence, hunger, and poverty in their homelands. While Pope Francis, Italian bishops, and many Catholic associations and individuals have called for an attitude toward migrants based on the gospel, sentiments of racism and hate against foreigners are widely present among the population of a formerly Catholic country.     

The Christology of Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen re-visited from the perspective of Scandinavian Creation Theology

This article is a response to Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen's Christology from the perspective of Scandinavian creation theology. Starting from the identification of a common post-liberal horizon, together with similar challenges from anti-liberal theology, the author enters into a critical examination of Kärkkäinen's systematic theology elaborating on the possible contributions from Gustaf Wingren. First, the significance of creation as horizon of understanding for Christology is discussed. Second, the relationship between anthropology and Christology is investigated, with a special focus on theological resources to transcend the dichotomies and the zero-sum game that places God and humans in opposition as competitors.     

The World Council of Churches and the Theology of Christian-Jewish Relations

This essay explores the approach of the World Council of Churches (WCC) to the theological questions involved in Jewish-Christian relations, while also noting connections between these questions and political factors. The first part focuses on WCC assemblies. At Amsterdam in 1948, a brief document emphasized four key issues: the relationship of the Jewish people to God and to the Church; antisemitism; mission; and the State of Israel. At subsequent assemblies, especially after 1967, with attention focusing on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the plight of the Palestinians, theological discussion of these questions was avoided. The second part of the essay turns to the discussion of these four questions at other levels of the WCC, also considering the wider context of this discussion in the varied approaches developed among WCC member churches. A major theme throughout the essay is that because of the spectrum of ecclesiastical and regional affiliations across member churches, theological discussion of these questions has been controversial within the WCC. If its output in this field of theological work has therefore understandably been limited in comparison with that of some member churches and ecumenical partners, the WCC does nevertheless have a unique capacity to play a convening role for discussion of these difficult questions between Christians of different traditions and from very different political contexts.     

“Together towards a Banquet”: The Feast as Promise and Resistance in Together Towards Life and Contemporary Theological Discourse

This article explores the symbol of the feast, as proposed by the 2012 World Council of Churches’ affirmation Together towards Life: Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes (TTL). The feast is introduced as an appropriate hermeneutic tool to account for the multi-layered and dynamic reality of human life in the presence of others and in the presence of God. Interpreting the feast, together with TTL, as a symbol of the liberation and reconciliation of the whole creation and of the celebration of life in response to the outreaching love of God, the article reflects on some contemporary theological voices arguing that God’s invitation to the feast of God’s kingdom is a central element of Christian existence. Such feasting is, among other things, characterized by the dynamics of facing, the presence of the other, the awareness of human corporeality, and the particularization of the other that can overcome the idolatrous power of death. Entering this conversation, the present article will argue that the symbol of the feast can helpfully be understood in its two-fold dynamics of promise and resistance. While giving assurance about the transformation of all reality in the coming reign of justice and peace, the symbol of the feast, with its emphasis on inclusiveness and equality, also empowers people to resist all life-denying forces. Walking with the rest of the creation “together towards a banquet,” Christians are thus enabled, it will be asserted, to discern and actively live their vocation.     

Depression and Contributors to Vocational Satisfaction in Roman Catholic Secular Clergy

A nationally selected, random sample of Roman Catholic secular (i.e., diocesan) priests was examined using the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale and an instrument developed for this study to assess contributors to priests' vocational satisfaction. In addition, a self-report inventory gathered information regarding participants' demographics as well as four categories of predictor variables (i.e., overall level of vocational satisfaction, social support, spiritual activities, physical environment). The study yielded a response rate of 45%. Secular clergy reported rates of depression approximately seven times greater than are found in the general population, and also indicated that the recent sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic church had negatively affected their mood. Priests' engagement in sacramental activities contributed greatly to their vocational satisfaction, and low levels of vocational satisfaction were found to be most predictive of depression. Factors comprising priests' vocational satisfaction were External Manifestations (e.g., preaching, teaching), Internal Manifestations (e.g., prayer life, affirmation of God's call), and Social Manifestations (e.g., relationships with parishioners, appreciation from others).