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Canon law and the sexual abuse crisis continued: The Consequences of the Failure of the Rule of Law

John J. Coughlin

in Canon Law: A Comparative Study with Anglo-American Legal Theory

This chapter addresses the canonical consequences of antinomianism and legalism. These include injury to the victims, the alleged link between priesthood and sexual deviancy, the disruption of the ... More

This chapter addresses the canonical consequences of antinomianism and legalism. These include injury to the victims, the alleged link between priesthood and sexual deviancy, the disruption of the unity of law and theology, and the diminishment of canon law as law properly understood.Less

Canon law and the sexual abuse crisis: Antinomianism, Legalism, and the Failure of the Rule of Law

John J. Coughlin

in Canon Law: A Comparative Study with Anglo-American Legal Theory

This chapter consists of two major parts. The first reviews the canonical provisions that were in place to respond to allegations of sexual abuse and to impose the penalty of dismissal from the ... More

This chapter consists of two major parts. The first reviews the canonical provisions that were in place to respond to allegations of sexual abuse and to impose the penalty of dismissal from the clerical state on a guilty priest. It also presents statistical information about the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests in the United States from 1950 until 2006. In light of the information, it argues that canonical action could have been taken against guilty priests, especially those who were serial child abusers. The second part offers an explanation for the failure of church authorities to utilize canon law in dealing with cases of sexual abuse. After reviewing some examples of antinomianism and legalism on the part of 19th-century bishops in the United States, it discusses how these approaches led to the failure of canon law in dealing with cases of clergy sexual abuse. It suggests that, when a psychological model replaced the rule of canon law, the conditions were set for great harm to individuals and the common good.Less

Mending Fences; or, What the Public Saw

Karin E. Gedge

in Without Benefit of Clergy: Women and the Pastoral Relationship in Nineteenth-Century American Culture

At the same time that ministerial misconduct exposed the flaws in separate spheres ideology, the accounts of two dozen clergymen’s trials disclose the ways they worked to repair and reinforce the ... More

At the same time that ministerial misconduct exposed the flaws in separate spheres ideology, the accounts of two dozen clergymen’s trials disclose the ways they worked to repair and reinforce the damaged boundaries. Caught in a disgraceful liaison that threatened a career, ministers usually escaped conviction or severe punishment. In the course of these trials, clergy were rescued from the dangerous domestic sphere and “masculinized,” portrayed as valiant combatants in monumental political or theological battles that secured their positions in the public sphere and acknowledged their value to the church and to society. Only two of these men were Catholic priests, yet most enjoyed a cultural immunity similar to the medieval privilege of “benefit of clergy.” Women, however, were “feminized,” depicted as vulnerable victims in need of the protection of fathers and husbands within the domestic sphere and suffering public ignominy if they strayed beyond it. In short, clergy learned to stay out of the domestic sphere and women to stay in it.Less

 Abstinence, Balance, and Political Control in Mesoamerica

Jeanne L. Gillespie

in Celibacy and Religious Traditions

Mesoamericans celebrated sexuality, which placed them in opposition to Catholic priests. The cultures manifested a connection between abstinence, purity, and uncleanliness caused by excess and ... More

Mesoamericans celebrated sexuality, which placed them in opposition to Catholic priests. The cultures manifested a connection between abstinence, purity, and uncleanliness caused by excess and imbalance due to a lack of sexual moderation.Less

Introduction

John R. Dichtl

in Frontiers of Faith: Bringing Catholicism to the West in the Early Republic

Two years after the war had ended through the Treaty of Paris and only months after he had been appointed as head of the missions of the United States's Roman Catholic Church, Father John Carroll ... More

Two years after the war had ended through the Treaty of Paris and only months after he had been appointed as head of the missions of the United States's Roman Catholic Church, Father John Carroll described the potential farmlands, the rich forests, and the Mississippi to a European colleague. His friend was asked to convince American Catholics to undergo training overseas then come back home to serve, as there was a critical shortage of clergymen. Aside from how older parishes were rapidly growing, several Catholics were found to be moving towards the west as there may have also been incentives such as liberal land grant offers for Clergymen support. Since Protestants would willingly supply land to attract Roman Catholic priests, these Catholic-Protestant relations proved to have improved during the American Revolution.Less

Brazil: Superstar and Competition with Pentecostals

Edward L. Cleary

in The Rise of Charismatic Catholicism in Latin America

When Father Marcelo Rossi became a recognized superstar in Brazilian public life, his various publics were invested in him with many different interests and issues. That a Catholic priest could sing ... More

When Father Marcelo Rossi became a recognized superstar in Brazilian public life, his various publics were invested in him with many different interests and issues. That a Catholic priest could sing well enough to gain popular attention is little more than a trivial celebrity fact, that he would want to sing and dance before hundreds of thousands of participants in Catholic Mass is a mystery that is delved into in this chapter. Without question, Father Marcelo possessed superstar status both among people in the pews and in the wide and vibrant world of Brazilian popular culture. At the end of 2007, he gathered 35 singing performers for an all-day event billed as a Missa/show to be staged at a motor racetrack. In the end, Frei Betto said that Padre Marcelo accomplished what liberation theology could not do: capture the attention of society for Christianity.Less

Praying in the Public Square: Catholic Piety Meets Civil Rights, War, and Abortion

James P. McCartin

in Roman Catholicism in the United States: A Thematic History

This chapter focuses on Milwaukee priest James Groppi, who marched alongside local African American children boycotting public schools to protest racial inequality. It reaffirms that deep into the ... More

This chapter focuses on Milwaukee priest James Groppi, who marched alongside local African American children boycotting public schools to protest racial inequality. It reaffirms that deep into the postwar era “integralism—the integration of Christian practice into all activities of one's everyday life—provided the spiritual foundation for Catholic activism.” Integral Catholics heeded the call of American Jesuit Gerald Ellard to “live ... with the life of Christ living within us.” This practice of piety changed politics, and then piety itself was changed via personal experiences of prophetic Catholicism in action. This prophetic mode became Dorothy Day's “radical” daily witness beginning in the 1930s; three decades later it approached normative status among a wide swath of Catholics from all walks of life.Less

The forgotten Irish: Entrepreneurs and professionals

John Herson

in Divergent paths: Family histories of Irish emigrants in Britain 1820-1920

This chapter reviews general evidence for the emigration of professional and entrepreneurial Irish. The proportion in Stafford is shown to be in line with that elsewhere. There are four case studies. ... More

This chapter reviews general evidence for the emigration of professional and entrepreneurial Irish. The proportion in Stafford is shown to be in line with that elsewhere. There are four case studies. Hugh Woods Gibson came from an Ulster Presbyterian family. The history of his family shows how Irish Protestants could merge seamlessly into British society. William Clendinnen, a doctor from Co. Wicklow, was Stafford’s first Medical Officer of Health but his family history demonstrates issues of male domination, marital violence and oppositional identity. Finally, the histories of two Irish Catholic priests, Michael O’Sullivan and James O’Hanlon, are explored and issues raised about the role of Irish priests in the English Catholic Church and in relation to the Irish.Less

Abbé Ouvière

Terry Rey

in The Priest and the Prophetess: Abbé Ouvière, Romaine Rivière, and the Revolutionary Atlantic World

Entitled “Abbé Ouvière,” Chapter 3 seeks to answer three questions: (1) Who was Abbé Ouvière? (2) Why did he wind up in Saint-Domingue? (3) How and why did he become a principal in the early stage of ... More

Entitled “Abbé Ouvière,” Chapter 3 seeks to answer three questions: (1) Who was Abbé Ouvière? (2) Why did he wind up in Saint-Domingue? (3) How and why did he become a principal in the early stage of the Haitian Revolution? Born into a family of meager means in Aix-en-Provence in 1762, Ouvière received a benefice as an adolescent by which he became an abbé and a secular priest. This afforded him an excellent education in both theology and medicine, enabling Ouvière to involve himself politically, as a Catholic priest, in the Haitian Revolution, and culturally, as a scientist and physician, in the intellectual life of early Republican America. The chapter reveals the means by which Abbé Ouvière would become a trusted adviser to the free colored Confederate Army, which was preparing to wage war to secure the full civil rights of free blacks and mulattoes as French citizens.Less

Marriage, Celibacy, and Ordination

David C. Steinmetz

in Taking the Long View: Christian Theology in Historical Perspective

This chapter explores the issues of marriage and celibacy. It presents the following arguments: that the Protestant churches were not entirely wrongheaded to accept celibacy as a gift and resist it ... More

This chapter explores the issues of marriage and celibacy. It presents the following arguments: that the Protestant churches were not entirely wrongheaded to accept celibacy as a gift and resist it as a law; that the Protestant emphasis on the interdependence of men and women in marriage and the common calling of men and women to seek the will of God in mutual relationship is an important corrective to theologies that subordinate women to men, on the one hand, or that dispense with the relationship between male and female as trivial, on the other hand; that the Reformation did not sanction the ordination of women to the public ministry of Word and sacrament; and that a Christian is a female is no bar to valid ordination in the church.Less

Black is Black

Stanisław Musiał and Gwido Zlatkes

in Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry Volume 13: Focusing on the Holocaust and its Aftermath

This chapter investigates how Poles react to the Revd Henryk Jankowski's antisemitic statements. If in any Western country, a cleric (a Catholic priest as well known as the Revd Jankowski) presented ... More

This chapter investigates how Poles react to the Revd Henryk Jankowski's antisemitic statements. If in any Western country, a cleric (a Catholic priest as well known as the Revd Jankowski) presented such antisemitic opinions, many people of good will would protest in the streets. In Poland, it is still impossible. Though in Polish society, sensitivity and solidarity seem to be awakening today, they express themselves in only one context: where an exceptionally hideous murder has been committed. The chapter argues that in Poland, it will be a long time before antisemitic excesses or statements will get people moving. After all that happened in the land at the hands of the Nazis, there is still no social awareness that antisemitism is deadly by its nature, and in every form, even if often not directly or immediately. In this regard, the past is taking its toll: not long ago the subject of antisemitism was taboo, and to be a patriot meant, in the interpretation of the ruling Communist Party, to be anti-Zionist, which in practice equalled being an antisemite.Less

Rosalind

Kristin C. Bloomer

in Possessed by the Virgin: Hinduism, Roman Catholicism, and Marian Possession in South India

This chapter introduces Rosalind, her family, and the Jecintho Prayer House in Chennai. It tells the story of how Alex, her cousin, first came to be healed and possessed by Mary (Mātā). The accounts ... More

This chapter introduces Rosalind, her family, and the Jecintho Prayer House in Chennai. It tells the story of how Alex, her cousin, first came to be healed and possessed by Mary (Mātā). The accounts of possession move to Rosalind, and Mary reveals her true name as Jecintho (Queen of Roses). The family founds a prayer house, and a following grows. The chapter offers an account of members’ narratives. It also describes the author’s first visit to the prayer house and her personal responses to being prayed over and investigates what it means to be a participant-observer, a “witness.” It begins to analyze the form of agency involved in possession practices. Roman Catholic priests take note of the group with responses ranging the spectrum.Less

The Birmingham Political Union

in Irish Birmingham: A History

This chapter begins with a discussion of the arrival of Irish migrants in Birmingham in the early 1800s. It then describes the successful campaign for Catholic emancipation in Ireland led by lawyer ... More

This chapter begins with a discussion of the arrival of Irish migrants in Birmingham in the early 1800s. It then describes the successful campaign for Catholic emancipation in Ireland led by lawyer Daniel O'Connell. At this time, Birmingham had no MP of its own, and many in the town felt that this situation paralleled the lack of representation had encouraged Ireland's Catholics to join O'Connell's crusade. Local reform leaders set up their own organization called the Birmingham Political Union, and convinced Birmingham cleric Father Thomas Michael McDonnell to use his friendship with O'Connell to help with the region's new political enterprise. In October 1831, the Birmingham Political Union organized probably the largest political gathering ever seen in Britain, in an effort to persuade the House of Lords to pass electoral reform measures. When the meeting failed to move the peers in London, Father McDonnell next invited O'Connell himself to Birmingham.Less

Since the Beginning: A Historical View of International Sisters in the United States

Mary Johnson, Mary L. Gautier, Patricia Wittberg, and Thu T. Do

in Migration for Mission: International Catholic Sisters in the United States

This chapter traces Catholic international sisters in the history of the United States, from the eighteenth century to the present time. The chapter discusses the primarily European origin of many ... More

This chapter traces Catholic international sisters in the history of the United States, from the eighteenth century to the present time. The chapter discusses the primarily European origin of many sisters and religious institutes in the first three centuries of sisters’ immigration, and the Asian, African, and Latin American origin of international sisters’ migration to the United States today. It describes the invitations from some bishops and priests in the United States to some religious institutes, and the sisters’ frequent accompaniment of co-ethnics in this country. It discusses the many educational and healthcare institutions the sisters built in this country, and the ministries they also conducted.Less