Laity

Yves Congar and the priesthood of the faithful: Educating, serving and representing Twenty-five years this week since the death of the Dominican theologian, Yves Congar on 24 June 1995! Although I was studying canon law in Paris at that time, I unfortunately could not go to his funeral. Just a few months earlier, however, I did attend the ceremony at which, seated in a wheelchair, he received his red cardinal's hat from Dutch Cardinal Jan Willebrands. Unusually, the service took place not in Rome but at the St Louis des Invalides Cathedral in Paris since Congar was too frail to travel. A former World War II prisoner of war who was then 90, he had already been ill for many years and was living at the Military Hospital near the cathedral. Afterwards, I made enquiries about meeting Congar but by that time he was unable to receive visitors. Nearly, 20 years later, however, while researching my PhD thesis, I was finally able to "meet" him and learn more about his links to Cardijn and the JOC through his archives located at the Dominican convent in Paris known as Le Saulchoir. As a young friar, Congar had in fact studied and taught at Le Saulchoir, which was then located at Kain across the border from Lille and not far from Tournai in Belgium.

The nine AMECEA Countries participated in the III Extraordinary World Synod of Bishops on "The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization" in Rome from 5-19 October, 2014. In Eastern Africa Small Christian Communities (SCCs) were part of the consultation process and answered 11 of the 39 questions in the poll. Research on the 180,000 SCCs in Eastern Africa reveals that SCCs elect lay ministers/animators/coordinators for specific groups such as couples (married and engaged), youth and children and for specific pastoral ministries such as Catechesis, Justice and Peace, Religious Education, Sacraments and Spiritual/Religious Formation. A SCC is a communion of families. The SCC is an important support group for families and promotes a family culture. The SCC is both a place and a path for the pastoral care and evangelization of families and marriages. This praxis of SCCs in Africa is contributing to the development of the theology of the Church as Family of God.

      Now SCCs in the AMECEA Region are preparing for the XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the "The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and in the Contemporary  World" to take place in Rome from 4-25 October, 2015 The meeting will ”seek working guidelines in the pastoral care of the person and the family.” We are challenged to continue to explore how SCC members and others can accompany families and couples who are wounded. This is the Ministry of Compassionate Accompaniment. This is part of the imperative for all Catholics to go to the margins of society to serve the poor, migrants and those without hope. Pope Francis also emphasizes the importance of welcoming, listening to and accompanying young people today.

        After the October, 2015 Synod of Bishops itself there will be an ongoing process involving collegiality and subsidiarity. There will be follow-up meetings and various commissions related to pastoral solutions to the challenges of family and marriage. Ongoing discussion and decision-making will take place on the local level through national episcopal conferences. Pope Francis is expected to issue a Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation with an ongoing plan of action that includes concrete pastoral solutions. SCCs help to promote this family and marriage ministry.

Fulltext in Swedish – with a summary in English)


Personal and Ecclesiastic Renewal – The Church of Sweden and the Vadstena Meetings 1943– 1985.

In this study, I examine the Vadstena Meetings for Personal and Ecclesiastic Renewal in order to contribute to the understanding of the Church of Sweden during the Cold War era. The primary sources are archives: The Vadstena Meetings archive in Linköping and certain personal archives. After the first two chapters, Introduction and Historical background, the study is chronologically organised. In the two following chapters, three and four, I focus on the meetings first phase, 1943 and 1945-46. The fifth chapter analyses an expansive era 1947-59, when meetings were held on several places. In chapter six I examine the last phase of the meetings, 1960-85, characterised by stagnation and withdrawal. Chapter seven concludes the study. As a point of departure for the analysis of the meetings a comprehensive account of the meetings is given as to the organisers, contributors, participants and the programmes. Their organisation has been illustrated by applying Judith Sharken Simons model in five stages of a life cycle of non-profit organisations: Imagine and Inspire, Found and Frame, Ground and Grow, Produce and Sustain and, finally, Review and Renew.
The Vadstena Meetings were voluntarily organised meetings, formally detached from, but within the framework of Church of Sweden. Initiators and organisers were prominent within the Church and active contributors were bishops, directors and well-known clergy. Women constituted the majority of the attending participants.
The Vadstena Meetings comprised both continuity and change with a continued focus on personal renewal. They provide an example of consensus aspiration and endeavour to bring together fractions within the Church of Sweden without compromising the essence of different groupings. The most prominent groupings at the time of consolidation of the Vadstena Meetings were the High Church movement and the Oxford Group Movement.
Although the idea and aspiration for amplitude continued well into the late 1950s, the Vadstena Meetings became more and more conform. By following the historical progress of the Meetings and putting them into context, I show how they reflect the development and change within society and the Church of Sweden. Corresponding to the growing emphasis on individual participation in civil society the Vadstena Meetings illustrate the changing and expanding possibilities for individuals to influence in the Church.

Today there are over 180,000 Small Christian Communities (SCCs) in the Catholic Church in the nine AMECEA countries in Eastern Africa. This book treats the following 16 headings:

• “SCCs in the Historical Perspective of 54 Years (1961 to 2015) in the AMECEA Region.”
• “Quantitative Evaluation of the Growth of SCCs in the AMECEA Region.”
• “Qualitative Evaluation of the Growth of SCCs in the AMECEA Region.”
• “Three Case Studies of SCCs in Eastern Africa.”
• “How SCCs Promote Reconciliation, Justice and Peace in Eastern Africa.” 
• “SCCs’ Contribution to the Praxis and Theology of the Church as Family of God in Eastern Africa.”
• “Evaluation of the Impact of SCCs in the AMECEA Region.”
• “Evaluation of the Influence of AMECEA’s SCCs in Africa and Around the World.”
• “The Future is Now: Using the Internet to Promote SCCs in Africa and Around the World.”
• “Promoting the Missionary Outreach of SCCs in the AMECEA Region.”
• “SCCs’ Involvement in the New Evangelization in Eastern Africa.”
• “SCCs Promote Family and Marriage Ministry in Eastern Africa.”
. How SCCs Are a New Way of Being/Becoming Church in Eastern Africa."
• ”How SCCs Are a New Pastoral Model of Church in Eastern Africa.” 
• “Future Challenges, Priorities and Actions for SCCs in the AMECEA Region.”
• “General Conclusions: The Way Forward.”

Major headings as follows:

1. New Method of Teaching/Learning about SCCs
2. Checklist of Activities in SCCs in Africa Today
3. Challenge of Tribalism and Ethnicity in SCCs in Kenya
4. Symbols to Promote Reconciliation and Peacebuilding in SCCs
5. Pastoral Theological Reflection Process in SCCs
6. 22 Criteria to Evaluate a Typical Neighborhood Parish-Based SCC
7. Survey of Catholic Major Seminaries and Institutes of Theology
8. Animators of Small Christian Communities, Not Leaders or      Bosses
9. How SCCs in Africa Can Participate in Larger Events of Catholic    Church

The very first Small Christian Communities (SCCs)/Basic Christian Communities (BCCs) in Africa started in DRC in 1961.The very beginning of SCCs in Eastern Africa can be traced back to the parishes of the Luo-speaking Deanery (especially Nyarombo, Ingri and Masonga Parishes) in North Mara in Musoma Diocese in northwestern Tanzania in 1966. The AMECEA Study Conference on “Planning for the Church in Eastern Africa in the 1980s” in Nairobi, Kenya in December, 1973 stated: “We have to insist on building church life and work on Basic Christian Communities in both rural and urban areas. Church life must be based on the communities in which everyday life and work take place: those basic and manageable social groups whose members can experience real inter-personal relationships and feel a sense of communal belonging, both in living and working.”  This pastoral policy was in the context of the statement: “We are convinced that in these countries of Eastern Africa it is time for the Church to become truly local, that is, self-ministering, self-propagating and self-supporting.” This is rooted in the theology that SCCs are not optional, but are the basic unit/basic cell/basic building block/basic foundation/most local expression of the Catholic Church.

      The AMECEA Study Conference on “Building Small Christian Communities” took place in Nairobi, Kenya in 1976.  The key statement was: "Systematic formation of Small Christian Communities should be the key pastoral priority in the years to come in Eastern Africa.” This is the single most important statement made about SCCs. The meeting went on to affirm the essential ecclesial character and characteristics of Small Christian Communities by stating: “The [Small] Christian Communities we are trying to build are simply the most local incarnations of the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.”
A major step was the First African Synod in Rome in April, 1994 on the theme "The Church in Africa and Her Evangelizing Mission to the Year 2000” with five main topics: "Proclamation of the Good News of Salvation", "Inculturation," "Dialogue", "Justice and Peace" and the "Means of Social Communications."  Of the 211 interventions during the first two weeks of the First African Synod, there were 29 interventions on SCCs (the fourth highest number after the topics of justice, inculturation and laity). 

      The last 10 years has seen the increasing involvement of SCCs in promoting forgiveness, healing, reconciliation, justice and peace in Africa.  There is considerable documentation on how some of the 20,000 base communities (another name for SCCs) were involved in the reconciliation and healing ministry in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide. Research in Kenya, Rwanda and Sudan indicates that women are better in peacemaking than men. Men tend to emphasize power and control while women emphasize personal relationships. The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection (JCTR) in Lusaka, Zambia produced guided reflection pamphlets on justice and peace topics for SCCs to generate faith-based action.  The various reflection methods in the Lumko Program especially related to social justice are used throughout Africa.

      Today there are over 180,000 Small Christian Communities (SCCs) in the Catholic Church in the nine AMECEA countries. Tanzania has over 60,000 SCCs and Kenya has over 45,000 SCCs. Since 1973 they have been a key pastoral priority in Eastern Africa as a “New Way of Being (Becoming) Church” and a “New Pastoral Model of Church.”  The rich experience of the church in Eastern Africa especially pastoral, parish-based SCCs is contributing to the other parts of Africa and to the World Church. SCCs is a pastoral model of church integrally connected to the structures, ministries and activities of the parish. This helps local Catholics feel that “they are the church” and more responsible (“ownership”) for church life and decision making. SCCs are becoming more involved in justice and peace issues.

      What is the future? Many African SCCs have emerged from reading the contemporary signs of the times in Africa and responding to today’s reality. Cardinal Polycarp Pengo of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and the former President of SECAM, calls SCCs “a special or privileged instrument of evangelization.” Tanzanian theologian Laurenti Magesa emphasizes:  “For the future of Christian mission, specifically in Africa, we can say without hesitation that the development of small faith communities is an indispensable requirement.” They can play a major role in the New Evangelization. Already as a new way of being church and a new model of church (closely related to the Church as Family and the Communion of Communities Models of Church) African SCCs are influencing the World Church. SCCs in Africa will continue to develop in the spirit of the Spanish proverb popular with the Base or Basic Christian Communities in Latin America: "We create the path by walking."

Il tema dell’autorità e delle sue forme di esercizio costituisce, senza dubbio, una delle questioni più complesse, che riguardano non solo la riflessione ecclesiologica odierna, ma anche l’azione ecclesiale. In una Chiesa di
soggetti, infatti, la domanda sulle pratiche di esercizio dell’autorità avvia necessariamente una riflessione sulla pluriformità di tali espressioni, non riducibili solo a quella specifica dei ministri ordinati. Nel presente studio si indaga sulla possibilità e sulle condizioni per il riconoscimento ecclesiale e la conseguente praticabilità dell’autorità dei christifideles laici. In una Chiesa sinodale la questione è decisiva rispetto alla realizzazione dei processi di discernimento ad opera di un effettivo noi ecclesiale.

An essay that treats:

1. Historical Development of Small Christian Communities/Basic Ecclesial Communities in Africa
2. Themes of Small Christian Communities in Africa
    a. Relationships and Community
    b. Biblical
    c. Ecclesiastical
    d. Pastoral
    e. Contextual
    f.  Synodality
    g. Mission
3. Development of Small Christian Communities in Africa
4. Challenges of Small Christian Communities in Africa
5. Bibliography

ABSTRACT. Ralf van Bühren geht dem Kirchenbau nach, wie er sich von der Renaissance zum Barock entwickelt hat, und fragt nach dem Einfluss, den dabei das Konzil von Trient gespielt hat. Nicht jede Veränderung im Kirchenbau ist schon einer Reformabsicht geschuldet. Van Bühren kann aber an anschaulichen Beispielen zeigen, dass markante Veränderungen wenigstens indirekt auf die pastoralen Absichten des Trienter Konzils zurückgreifen. Dazu zählt anders als in den zahlreichen mittelalterlichen Stifts- und Klosterkirchen mit ihren Sichtbarrieren zwischen Klerus und Volk der helle Einheitsraum mit einem aus dem ganzen Kirchenschiff gut einsehbarem Altarbereich, der auf eine einheitliche Gottesdienstgemeinschaft zielt. Dazu zählt aber auch ein Hauptaltar, der durch seine künstlerische Ausstattung der zentrale Blickfang ist und sich sowohl für die liturgische Eucharistiefeier (Mensa) als auch für die devotionelle eucharistische Anbetung (Tabernakel) eignet. Die aktive Beteiligung aller Gläubigen (participatio actuosa) am Gottesdienst, die seit der Aufklärung als reformerische Forderung begegnet und dann von der Liturgischen Bewegung und dem Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzil aufgegriffen wurde, erfuhr bereits eine Vorwegnahme im barocken Kirchenbau durch die prominente Installation von Kanzel und Beichtstühlen im Langhaus, dem Raum für die Laiengläubigen. Insgesamt kann die gern diffamierte „Theatralität“ des barocken Kirchenraums als Ausdruck einer neuen Aufwertung der liturgischen Rolle der Laien gewürdigt werden.
(Stefan Heid, Vorwort)

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Vito Mancuso is an Italian theologian and philosopher of religion, who deflects from traditional Catholic theology with the intention to draft a new perspective on how theology should be understood, not only in the academy but also in public and private life. This is why he resorts to Hegelian concepts, which redefine most of what traditional theology has held dear throughout history, with a specific focus on how to turn theology from ideas defined by divinity to notions explained by anthropology. A prolific writer, Mancuso has written almost one book per year for the past decade or so, while he is also very
active in the media by giving interviews and writing short articles for famous Italian newspapers, such as La Repubblica. In all his endeavors, Mancuso attempts to provide contemporary society with a view of God which is essentially human and profoundly anthropologic in nature in the hope that such an understanding of God will make sense of humanity’s current issues and struggles. Despite the rather controversial fame he acquired in Italy, Mancuso is virtually unknown to the English-speaking public, so this paper is an attempt to present him to those who are not only versed in English theology and philosophy of religion, but also to those who still believe that theology and philosophy of religion may be valuable instruments for the information and transformation of today’s society.

Today there are over 160,000 Small Christian Communities (SCCs) in the Catholic Church in the nine AMECEA countries in Eastern Africa. This book treats the following 15 headings: • SCCs in the Historical Perspective of 54 Years (1961 to 2015) in the AMECEA Region.” • “Quantitative Evaluation of the Growth of SCCs in the AMECEA Region.” • “Qualitative Evaluation of the Growth of SCCs in the AMECEA Region.” • “Three Case Studies of SCCs in Eastern Africa.” • “How SCCs Promote Reconciliation, Justice and Peace in Eastern Africa.” • “SCCs’ Contribution to the Praxis and Theology of the Church as Family of God in Eastern Africa.” • “Evaluation of the Impact of SCCs in the AMECEA Region.” • “Evaluation of the Influence of AMECEA’s SCCs in Africa and Around the World.” • “The Future is Now: Using the Internet to Promote SCCs in Africa and Around the World.” • “Promoting the Missionary Outreach of SCCs in the AMECEA Region.” • “SCCs’ Involvement in the New Evangelization in Eastern Africa.”...

Theological Education by Extension in Malawi Grassroots theological education should be viewed as an intrinsic part of theological education. It is part of a threefold model of theological engagement: grassroots, ministerial, and academic. All three types of learning operate on the same continuum, yet each has a distinct purpose, distinct content, and a distinct audience. Refocusing on grassroots theological education will help the Church overcome some of the fragmentation of theological education, especially the grassroots/ministerial divide. It will to help to integrate the three areas of theological education so that they inform and challenge each other. It will allow churches and their leaders to provide theologically sound answers to the actual questions of the grassroots Church.

The nine AMECEA Countries are preparing for the III Extraordinary World Synod of Bishops on "The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization" to take place in Rome from 5-19 October, 2014. In Eastern Africa Small Christian Communities (SCCs) are part of the consultation process and answered 11 of the 39 questions in the poll. Research on the 160,000 SCCs in Eastern Africa reveals that SCCs elect lay ministers/animators/ coordinators for specific groups such as couples (married and engaged), youth and children and for specific pastoral ministries such as Catechesis, Justice and Peace, Religious Education, Sacraments and Spiritual/Religious Formation. A SCC is a communion of families. The SCC is an important support group for families and promotes a family culture. The SCC is both a place and a path for pastoral care and evangelization. This praxis of SCCs in Africa is contributing to the development of the theology of the Church as Family of God.

The article is intended as an introduction into the study of a particular source on the Soviet-period history of the Church. It demonstrates potential for the interdisciplinary survey of “letters to power” as an action and a source within broader contexts of the Orthodox Church’s integration into a Soviet society and its defensive strategies. Soviet believers’ letters, written in defense of their Church and their religious rights, became the most widespread form of their protest against discriminatory policy pursued by the state. In the first part the author provides a general overview of believers’ petitioning (as the text and the action) focusing on their reasons for writing letters, their self-representation and the view of the authorities. The author also examines discursive techniques and rhetorical conventions used it the letter. In the second part of the article the author examines a revealing case: the petitioning campaign of Orthodox believers from Chernihiv in defense of S...

Данная статья представляет собой публикацию с комментарием письма советских верующих о гонениях на монахов Почаевской лавры. Публикуемый документ хранится в архиве Кестонского центра по изучению религиозной политики и общества (Университет Бэйлор, Техас, США), ранее в архиве Кестонского института (Оксфорд, Великобритания). Попав на запад в 1964 г., он сыграл немаловажную роль в распространении информации о религиозных преследованиях в СССР в годы хрущевской антирелигиозной кампании и конкретно в учреждении Кестонского института в 1969 г. Публикация письма сопровождается вступительной статьей, которая вводит письмо в контекст холодной войны на «религиозном фронте», и комментариями справочного характера.

This is the publication of a letter from Soviet believers about persecutions of the monks of Pochaev Lavra, Ukraine. This letter is preserved
in the Keston Center for Religion Politics and Society at Baylor University, Texas, USA, earlier in the Keston Institute (Oxford, UK). This
document reached the West in 1964 and played an important role in
spreading the information about antireligious assaults in the USSR
in the years of the Khrushchev rule and particularly in the establishment of the Keston Institute in 1969. The publication is accompanied
with an introductory note that places the document within the Cold
War “religious front” context, and reference commentaries.

The role of the laity in the church has been a topic of discussion during the 20/21st centuries in both Catholic and Protestant theological conversations. The intensity of the topic has grown in recent years because of questions surrounding the role of the church in society and the question of the power of Christ to transform society despite the movement towards secularization, especially in the West, that is devoid of the Triune God. This conversation brings to the forefront the question of the meaning of the Church in regards to its ecclesiology and the ultimate purpose it serves.

I plan to further develop this concept in the future with additional focus on insights of the Church Fathers.

The Second Vatican Council resulted in significant developments in multiple areas of the study of theology, including ecclesiology, the theology of the laity, and moral theology. Moral theology has experienced a renewal in virtue and exemplarist ethics, yet generally continues to operate in isolation from ecclesiology and sacramental
theology. In this essay, the work of Johann Adam Möhler is drawn from to articulate an ethics of virtue rooted in ecclesiology and the Church’s liturgical celebration, which is then used to discuss Christian exemplarity through the laity’s baptismal participation in the threefold office of Christ as priest, prophet and king.

The article examines the everyday resistance of the Orthodox believers in the postwar Ukrainian
Republic. Drawing from numerous unpublished archival sources, the author investigates stages and
scales of believers’ protest, and techniques they used to defend their religious rights. Believers’ practical
adaptability to Soviet sociopolitical and socio-cultural is considered to be crucial for the Church’s
survival.
Keywords: Soviet state, Church, Orthodox Church, antireligious policy, believers, everyday resistance

Illustrating the theme of laity today, more than fifty years after the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, after the constitution Lumen Gentium, the decree Apostolicam Actuositatem, Paul VI's exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, John Paul II's Christifideles laici and Pope Francis' Evangelii Gaudium, is a significant opportunity.
Already some theologians of the Nouvelle Théologie such as Congar , lay people such as Guitton , other theologians such as Philips , and the pontifical magisterium itself with Pius XI , had drawn attention to the need on the part of pastors to help the lay Christian faithful to grow and mature in their awareness of their vocation and mission.
The teaching of John Paul II in Christifideles Laici, made a synthesis by identifying in the binomial vocation - mission, the key to retaining the decisive factors proper to the historical development of the theology of the laity .

Wenn man in der katholischen Theologie und Praxis anerkennen muss, dass der Begriff "Laie" mittlerweile "zerschlissen" (Leo Karrer) ist, ist man nicht dazu gezwungen, krampfhaft daran festzuhalten. Vielmehr sollte das Plädoyer von Alfons Weiser unterstützt werden, die negative Bezeichnung "Laien" nicht mehr zu verwenden und stattdessen von "Christen" zu sprechen.

A b s t r a c t. St George Preca, a Maltese priest who lived between 1880 and 1962, was canonised in 2007. Preca dedicated himself to the teaching of the catechism in Malta. Being aware that he could not undertake this endeavour all by himself, he embarked on the project of teaching the catechism with lay people. This was not a simple task prior to Vatican Council II. Notwithstanding this, George Preca was able to overcome all obstacles and give lay people the front positions. This was something that Vatican Council II was to do some years after Preca's death. This paper seeks to show how Preca was a pioneer in the apostolate of the laity. This will be done by showing how Preca not only recognised the laity's right to the apostolate, but how he united them as a group for a far-reaching apostolate, which while remaining obedient to the hierarchy, had a very deep impact because they had an adequate formation for the apostolate.

Today there are over 195,000 Small Christian Communities (SCCs) in the Catholic Church in the nine AMECEA countries in Eastern Africa. This book treats the following 15 headings: • SCCs in the Historical Perspective of 61 Years (1961 to 2022) in the AMECEA Region.” • “Quantitative Evaluation of the Growth of SCCs in the AMECEA Region.” • “Qualitative Evaluation of the Growth of SCCs in the AMECEA Region.” • “Three Case Studies of SCCs in Eastern Africa.” • “How SCCs Promote Reconciliation, Justice and Peace in Eastern Africa.” • “SCCs’ Contribution to the Praxis and Theology of the Church as Family of God in Eastern Africa.” • “Evaluation of the Impact of SCCs in the AMECEA Region.” • “Evaluation of the Influence of AMECEA’s SCCs in Africa and Around the World.” • “The Future is Now: Using the Internet to Promote SCCs in Africa and Around the World.” • “Promoting the Missionary Outreach of SCCs in the AMECEA Region.” • “SCCs’ Involvement in the New Evangelization in Eastern Africa.” • “SCCs Promote Family Ministry and Marriage Ministry in Eastern Africa.” • ”How SCCs Are a New Model of Church in Eastern Africa.” • “Future Challenges, Priorities and Actions for SCCs in the AMECEA Region.” • “General Conclusions: The Way Forward.” See Healey, Joseph, "Building the Church as Family of God: Evaluation of Small Christian Communities in Eastern Africa," Eldoret: AMECEA Gaba Publications – CUEA Press Double Spearhead Nos. 199-200 (Print Version 2012 and 1st Reprint 2014). 163 pages. The Online Digital Version regularly updated from the 2012 print version is available as a free Ebook containing 1520 pages as of 21 December, 2023 on the Small Christian Communities Global Collaborative Website at: http://smallchristiancommunities.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Build_new.pdf

У цій статті розглянуто ряд питань, які постали після Гаванської зустрічі між Папою Франциском та Патріархом Кірілом. Ця зустріч не одному спостерігачеві пригадала останній Вселенський Ферраро-Флорентійський Собор. Особливу увагу в статті приділено ролі УГКЦ в житті Вселенської Церкви. Так як греко-католики є одночасно православними і католиками, то вони повині ділитися цим скарбом зі всією Церквою. Нова ситуація в Україні та світі вимагає від кожного мирянина УГКЦ бути готовим приймати виклики сучасності й при цьому старатися якнайшвидше перейти зі сфери теоретичної на практичну любов до ближнього.

This article considers a number of issues that appeared after the meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Cyril of Moscow in Havana. This meeting recalled the last Ecumenical Council of Ferrara-Florence. The particular attention in this article is focused on the role of the UGCC in the life of the Ecumenical Church. As the Greek Catholics are Orthodox and Catholic at the same time, they should share this treasure with the entire Church. The current situation in Ukraine and the world appeals to every layman of UGCC to be ready to cope with the challenges of our days and to move from theoretical to practical love of neighbor.

No review of theological education or assessment of its fitness for
purpose can succeed without the contribution of the voice of the laity.
This is even more true for everything that directly affects the laity like
grassroots theological education (sometimes called Christian
education) and ministerial theological education where there is the
most direct relation and engagement with the grassroots/laity of the
church. The natural inclination for institutional reviews of theological
schools and theology programmes of churches is to seek input from
specialists in the area of theology and theological education but
unfortunately, not always from the laity. These reviews will fall short
and be incomplete if no special consideration is given to pro-actively
engaging the voice of the grassroots who is the direct audience and
recipient of the majority of grassroots and ministerial theological
discourses.

Vito Mancuso, one of Italy’s most famous intellectuals and author of best-selling books on religion – such as L’anima e il suo destino [The Soul and Its Destiny] (2007) and Io e Dio. Una guida dei perplessi [I and God. A Guide for the Perplexed] (2011) – is a secular theologian and philosopher of religion who promotes an anti-traditional understanding of Christianity aimed at lay people influenced by contemporary secular ideas. Mancuso’s influence appears to have reached a pinnacle since he is present in the media with various TV and internet
interviews as well as articles published in famous Italian newspapers such as La Repubblica and Corriere della sera. Moreover, his book The Soul and Its Destiny (2007) has been sold in over two hundred thousand copies which is a record for a theological work by any standards. Since he is still unknown to the English-speaking world, this paper investigates Mancuso’s notion of freedom, particularly freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, in the general context of his religious philosophy which focuses on the concept of soul. In Mancuso, a Catholic by (his own) confession, reality is essentially material, so everything which exists in the world and the universe is part of this material reality. The human being is no exception, thus its natural constitution is thoroughly material. Everything pertaining
to the human being, including the idea of soul, is material. However, the fact that ideas, such as the soul, can be conceived within the materiality of the human
being is indicative of the latter’s capacity for spiritualization; consequently, spirituality is also part of and constitutive of materiality. Hence, Mancuso’s belief that the soul is material, and so is everything traditionally accepted as spiritual, including ideas such as God and freedom. Since freedom can be connected to matter and
materiality through the concept of soul, Mancuso argues that the reality of freedom is innate in every human being; men and women, however, must become aware of it and then live it out in their daily lives by promoting as well as defending freedom of conscience and freedom of religion. Both types of freedom are compulsory not
only for the good of humankind in general, for peace, and security, but also for every particular human being who can lead an authentic life only by practicing freedom of conscience and freedom of religion without fearing repression of any sort.

The aim of this study has been to identify, explain and delineate praying among peasant communities in late medieval Sweden. Four aspects have been examined through the perspectives of ideals and practices, namely the standards of prayer, devotional prayer, prayer in times of need and prayer cultures. The standards of prayer considered the physical and mental behaviour of the praying peasant woman or man. Devotional prayers were foremost the three ‘standard’ prayers Paternoster, Hail Mary and Apostolic Creed, and could be used separately or combined. Prayer in times of need was possibly considered a matter of praying to saints, something that cannot be proven to have been either practiced or recommended on other, ordinary occasions where God and the Virgin Mary were considered the proper recipients of prayer. A few authentic prayers exist where peasant women and men in connection with miracles constructed elaborate prayers and to propose business-like agreements with saints. Ways to maintain the prayer cultures were through mnemonic techniques, and indulgences stipulating and confirming prayers used or to be used in connection with certain churches, days and places within the churches. The prayer life of those belonging to peasant communities was both elaborate and full of nuances.

The article is published in: Textus et Studia, nr 4(4) 2015, s. 71–93.

The article is intended as an introduction into the study
of a particular source on the Soviet-period history of the
Church. It demonstrates potential for the interdisciplinary
survey of “letters to power” as an action and a source
within broader contexts of the Orthodox Church’s integration
into a Soviet society and its defensive strategies. Soviet
believers’ letters, written in defense of their Church and
their religious rights, became the most widespread form
of their protest against discriminatory policy pursued
by the state.
In the first part the author provides a general overview
of believers’ petitioning (as the text and the action) focusing
on their reasons for writing letters, their self-representation
and the view of the authorities. The author also
examines discursive techniques and rhetorical conventions
used it the letter. In the second part of the article the author
examines a revealing case: the petitioning campaign of
Orthodox believers from Chernihiv in defense of St. Trinity
Church as it is presented in their letters written between
1962 and 1972.

Based on lectures and experiential meditations that I have used in my course entitled Lay Spiritual Practices, which I have taught at the Franciscan School of Theology since 2001, this retreat is designed for personal spiritual engagement with traditional prayer practices in the Christian tradition with some discussion of interfaith applications.