Contemporary Challenges For Global Catholicism

A collection of 15 articles from the June 2021 edition of La Civiltà Cattolica, the highly respected and oldest Catholic journal published from Rome. Forging our Culture: Ignatius, Luther, Charles V and Magellan in the year 1521 by Giancarlo Pani considers how a number of events in the sixteenth century collectively propelled Europe into the Modern Age. Ignatius of Loyola’s devotion to St Peter is well-know, Pedro de Leturia asks what aspects of his spirituality are clearly inspired by St. Francis of Assisi? With over 70 per cent of the world’s Catholics now living outside Europe and North America, the Catholic Church is truly a global Church. However, it faces many challenges. Thomas P Rausch, a theologian at Loyola Marymount University in USA, summarized the issues. In Jacob and Esau Embrace: An Orthodox Rabbinic Declaration on Christianity Drew Christiansen argues that, in an age of secularization, Jews and Christians should bear witness in a special way to God’s holiness and his intrinsic link with the moral life. Cristian Peralta reflects whether the lack of certainty we are experiencing during the is pandemic something new and what are the certainties on which to build a sustainable future? Theological and Anthropological Consequences of Environmental Damage. An African reflects by Wilfred Sumani reminds us how nature conservation should be promoted not only for the sake of economic sustainability, but also for its theological and anthropological importance.

This book systematically assesses the political and social values of the more than 1.3 billion Catholics around the globe, by far the largest denomination of Western Christianity. Based on an extensive analysis of data from the World Values Survey and other global opinion surveys, the book sheds new light on the value systems and opinions of Roman Catholics. The authors highlight core problems and challenges the Church is currently facing in adapting to the modern world, including Catholic anti-Semitism, religious and sexual tolerance, and opinions towards democracy, while also offering an anthropological reflection on how well the Church is adapting or failing to adapt to the requirements of an open society.

"A critical analysis of the Catholic Churches around the world by areas (North America, Latin America, Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Europe), with attention to their origins, internal challenges, and external pressures"--

This history of the Catholic Church in Asia and the Pacific illuminates the processes of globalization Since the sixteenth century, Catholicism has contributed significantly to global connectivity. Except for the Philippines and Timor-Leste, Catholicism in Asia is, and is likely to remain, a minority religion. For this reason, it can serve as a unique prism through which to look at the processes of globalization in Asia. Asian Pacific Catholicism and Globalization demonstrates to scholars and students of Catholic history that the development of Catholicism in Asia and later in the Oceania-Pacific region is closely associated with three different phases of globalization. This book approaches the historical processes of globalization not as structural agencies or causal forces, but rather as the historical contexts that condition possibilities for human action and reaction in the world. The editors identify three distinct phases in the development of Catholicism in Asia and Oceania: early modern (sixteenth–eighteenth centuries), modern Western hegemony (1780s–1960s), and the contemporary (1960s–present). The book’s contributors discuss the development of Catholicism in all the major countries of the region, including China, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, India, and Australia.

The Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits, is the most successful and enduring global missionary enterprise in history. Founded by Ignatius Loyola in 1540, the Jesuit order has preached the Gospel, managed a vast educational network, and shaped the Catholic Church, society, and politics in all corners of the earth. Rather than offering a global history of the Jesuits or a linear narrative of globalization, Thomas Banchoff and José Casanova have assembled a multidisciplinary group of leading experts to explore what we can learn from the historical and contemporary experience of the Society of Jesus—what do the Jesuits tell us about globalization and what can globalization tell us about the Jesuits? Contributors include comparative theologian Francis X. Clooney, SJ, historian John W. O'Malley, SJ, Brazilian theologian Maria Clara Lucchetti Bingemer, and ethicist David Hollenbach, SJ. They focus on three critical themes—global mission, education, and justice—to examine the historical legacies and contemporary challenges. Their insights contribute to a more critical and reflexive understanding of both the Jesuits’ history and of our contemporary human global condition.

What is the Catholic Intellectual Tradition (CIT)? What can be its beneficial impact on life in all its aspects, on education, and on research at the beginning of the 21st century? In this collection, contributions written by scholars from Asia, Europe, North America, and South America show that the CIT is by no means a traditionalist reaction to a secular globalized world. Addressing contemporary issues - economical, social, managerial, educational, religious, philosophical, and theological - at a local or global level, they also draw on the Judeo-Christian heritage as it has been and is still preserved, transmitted, and developed in the Catholic Church. They show that the CIT is a powerful creative imagination that is able to make a life-fostering difference in today's world. (Series: Glaube und Ethos - Vol. 10)