The Diocese S Darkest Chapter

From its quiet inception in 1988, to a hailstorm of statewide and national controversy over thirty years later, this book follows the development of public discourse regarding a clergy sexual abuse scandal in a small Catholic Diocese in Central Pennsylvania. Weaving together the evolving local and national narratives, it offers a striking account of how stakeholder rhetoric has influenced public perception of the Catholic abuse crisis in America, and driven public actions. While the book enriches our local knowledge of the tragic--and ongoing--cultural trauma triggered by the revelation of clergy perpetrated abuse in a small Catholic Diocese, it also makes a critical theoretical contribution to our understanding of the role of rhetoric in publicizing private pain, and galvanizing collectives to take it on as their own. The process of cultural trauma, Niebauer contends, unfolds through rhetorical forms that provide individuals with a constraining and enabling set of rhetorical choices. Highlighting the recurrent rhetorical forms of narration, kategoria, apologia, and topoi, The Diocese's Darkest Chapter brings a new vocabulary and explanatory force to the study of cultural trauma, and the Catholic abuse crisis in America.

From its quiet inception in 1988, to a hailstorm of statewide and national controversy over thirty years later, this book follows the development of public discourse regarding a clergy sexual abuse scandal in a small Catholic Diocese in Central Pennsylvania. Weaving together the evolving local and national narratives, it offers a striking account of how stakeholder rhetoric has influenced public perception of the Catholic abuse crisis in America, and driven public actions. While the book enriches our local knowledge of the tragic--and ongoing--cultural trauma triggered by the revelation of clergy perpetrated abuse in a small Catholic Diocese, it also makes a critical theoretical contribution to our understanding of the role of rhetoric in publicizing private pain, and galvanizing collectives to take it on as their own. The process of cultural trauma, Niebauer contends, unfolds through rhetorical forms that provide individuals with a constraining and enabling set of rhetorical choices. Highlighting the recurrent rhetorical forms of narration, kategoria, apologia, and topoi, The Diocese's Darkest Chapter brings a new vocabulary and explanatory force to the study of cultural trauma, and the Catholic abuse crisis in America.

In this fast-paced mystery surrounding ancient artifacts, long forgotten manuscripts and a malignant evil lurking in the shadows, MacBridan finds himself up against an enemy more ruthless, more deadly than he has ever faced before. The body count and the suspense continue to rise the closer he gets, all in a place where no one is who they appear to be.

This book introduces readers to Catholic social teaching, the Church’s long tradition of reflection on the meaning of social justice and how to enact it. The Church derives its faith-based principles for promoting justice and peace from rich sources in scripture, theology, reason, and human experience. These teachings, as contained in papal encyclicals and documents from global gatherings of bishops, have inspired broad efforts to advocate for so many important goals—including human rights, the common good, equitable international development, disarmament, healthy family life, and labor justice. Readers will be led step-by-step to a deeper understanding of the demands of social justice in the world today. They will also examine the building blocks of Catholic social teaching, including its key themes, sources, and methods for clarifying values and reaching firm conclusions, always in ways appropriate to pluralistic modern societies. Along the way, readers will encounter great heroes of social change and prophets of peace and justice. This new fourth edition includes expanded coverage of such topics as global migration and climate change, new case studies applying ethical principles to currently pressing social issues, and the major social teaching of Pope Francis. The book culminates with a description of the social justice advocacy of Pope Francis who has renewed Catholic social teaching in many distinctive ways. He has provided new resources that empower the church to navigate the many crises facing the world today. These include the refugee and environmental crises, profound challenges to family life and economic justice, and the desperate need for more effective diplomacy and global peacebuilding. A number of helpful resources contained in this volume, including eight tables, discussion questions, topics for further study, and an annotated list of print and web resources on Catholic social teaching, make this volume a perfect text for college-level courses on social justice.

The Church Confronts Modernity assesses the history of Roman Catholicism since 1950 in the United States, the Republic of Ireland, and the Canadian province of Quebec

The Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), called by Pope John XXIII in 1959, produced sixteen documents that outlined the Church’s attempts to meet increasing calls for modernization in the wake of social and cultural changes that were taking place in the twentieth century. Catholic Education in the Wake of Vatican II is the first work dedicated to the effects of the Second Vatican Council on catholic education in various national and cultural contexts. These original pieces, grounded in archival research, explore the social, political, and economic repercussions of Catholic educational changes in Canada, Europe, and South America. The volume provides insightful analysis of many issues including the tensions between Catholicism and Indigenous education in Canada, the secularization of curriculum in the Catholic classroom, Church-State relations and more. The contributors reveal the tensions between doctrinal faith and socio-economic structures of privilege found within the Church and introduces the reader to complex political interactions within the Church itself in the midst of a rapid era of secularization.