This is a hermeneutical study of an attempt to inculturate a Redemptorist parish mission in a black township parish. The purpose of Redemptorist parish mission is conversion and renewal. This study is influenced by - - the spirit of St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) founder of the Redemptorists - Vatican II (1962-1965) and by - the African Synod (1994); and it uses the systemic stage model of Rambo and the spiral model of Costas, as a framework to understand conversion. The conversion experiences of ten parishioners of St. Peter's parish are used as data for the study. A theological reflection on the ten conversions confirmed the following: that cultural context is important for understanding conversion; that conversion is both a distinct moment and a continuous process; that it is imperative to understand conversion from the perspective of the convert him/herself. For 'mission preaching' to effect genuine conversion it must be inculturated. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / Th. M. (Missiology)

This thesis focuses on two extreme weather years in 1867-1868 that led to crop failure and subsistence crisis in parts of Sweden. Specifically it focus on Gävleborgs County and one parish, Hanebo Parish, in south west Hälsingland. The study presents contemporary examples from original sources on the national, regional and local level and one secondary source. With a qualitative approach, the study investigates the social impacts of sudden extreme weather and following harvest failure and assess signs of a possible subsistence crisis on regional and local level in the years of 1867-68. The empirics are analyzed trough demographic methodology often used to evaluate ”famine-like” situations, theories on famine and its causes and the three concepts: vulnerability, resilience and exchange entitlement. The result of the study shows a subsistence crisis in Gävleborg county and Hanebo Parish, in the years of 1867-68. These indications included poor harvest, demographic impact on parochial level and visible mitigating strategies for coping with the situation. Social hierarchies which are making impact on attitudes within the contemporary context of crisis are also discovered in the empiric material. The study also shows that state incentives and publically organised incentives can mitigate disaster both over short and long term.

Gemenskap är eftersträvansvärt för de flesta människor. Samtidigt är många gemenskaper relativt homogena och likriktade. På ett liknande sätt är många kristna församlingsgemenskaper uppbyggda, dvs. de är gemenskaper där mångfalden får svårt att hävda sig. Kan teologin bidra med öppningar i ett samtal om gemenskap och mångfald i den kristna församlingen och i mänskligt samliv? Denna avhandling utgår från hur man inom två konkreta församlingar i Svenska kyrkan talar om identitet och pluralism och försöker komma till rätta med att man har olika tankefigurer för hur en församlingsgemenskap skall kunna innefatta mångfald. Församlingarnas svårigheter pekar mot ett allmänkyrkligt dilemma, kanske allmänmänskligt: Hur förena gemenskap och mångfald? Dietrich Bonhoeffer är en teolog som i sina skrifter diskuterade just denna problematik, först som ung i avhandlingen Sanctorum Communio, senare som ledare för prästseminariet i Finkenwalde i boken Life Together och slutligen som motståndsman under krigsåren i det som var avsett att bli hans magnum opus, Ethics. Utifrån Bonhoeffers teologiska diskussion blir det viktigt att möta församlingarnas praktiska dilemma genom ansvarigt handlande i den konkreta situationen, att försöka gestalta en församlingsgemenskap som bejakar olikhet, medveten om mångfalden och om att varje handling hotar att utestänga några. / Most people strive for fellowship. However, most communities and fellowships are fairly homogenous and uniform. Many Christian parish fellowships are built in a similar fashion; they are, in other words, fellowships where pluralism has a hard time asserting itself. Could theology possibly contribute to opening up for discussions regarding community and pluralism in the Christian church and in social life? This dissertation takes its starting point in how two actual parishes in Sweden talk about identity and pluralism and how they try to come to grips with the fact that in each parish there are different mental figures as to how parish fellowship might include pluralism. The difficulties facing the parishes point to a dilemma facing all churches, and possibly all human beings: How to unite fellowship and pluralism? Dietrich Bonhoeffer is a theologian who in his writings discussed this very issue, first as a young man in his dissertation Sanctorum Communio, then later as the leader of the Seminary at Finkenwalde in his book Life Together and finally as a member of the resistance movement during WWII in what was meant to be his magnum opus, Ethics. Based on the theological discussion of Bonhoeffer, it becomes an important task to address the practical dilemma of the churches through responsible action in the practical situation; to try to model a community that includes otherness, at the same time being aware ofthe plurality and that each action may threaten to shut some people out.

This study is about twinning partnerships between congregations in the Church of Sweden (CoS) and the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT). The study is about three congregations within the diocese of Härnösand that has twinning congregations within the diocese of Iringa. The aim of the study is to define values within the twinning congregations that are important to the CoS. The study is based on interviews with lay people, elected and employed people within CoS. Swedish informants have told me that they see the prayer being part of daily life in a more natural manner for the friends in Tanzania. “The prayer is real within the congregations in Tanzania”, the people of the CoS are saying. What is the value for the CoS of having twinning congregations with ELCT? What do the Swedish people gain of it and how is it affected of the economical differences between the twinning congregations?

Du XIe au XIIIe siècle, l'abbaye de Marmoutier a constitué un important réseau de dépendances monastiques – ou prieurés – dans l'Ouest de la France et notamment en Anjou. Dans cette région, le processus de fondation s'étend des années 1040 à 1150 et les moines font preuve d'un réel savoir-faire en ce domaine, sachant s'adapter aux contraintes et aux acteurs locaux. Chaque prieuré est à la tête d'un patrimoine à la structure complexe, accumulé, organisé et défendu par les moines dans les dépendances, avec le soutien et la surveillance de l'abbaye-mère. Les liens entre abbaye et prieurés sont constants, ce que l'étude de la production écrite des moines permet de mettre en valeur. La fin du XIIe siècle et le début du XIIIe siècle sont marqués par des remaniements du réseau monastique. En Anjou, certains prieurés disparaissent, d'autres se renforcent, ce qui est le signe de la capacité d'adaptation de l'abbaye aux difficultés rencontrées, afin de maintenir durablement ses possessions. / From the 11th century to the 13th century the abbey of Marmoutier established a significant network of monastic dependencies – or priories – in Western France and especially in the area of Anjou. In this region the foundation movement flourished between the years 1040 and 1150, the monks of Anjou being well-skilled in navigating the often intricate local constraints and power relationships. Each priory managed its own complex set of lands, the acquisition, organization and legal defense of which were undertaken by the monks, with the support and supervision of the mother-abbey. A study of the monastic writings attests to these strong ties between the Abbey and its priories. Finally, major modifications of this prioral system characterized the end of the Twelfth century through the beginning of the Thirteenth : in Anjou some houses disappeared while others continued to grow, yet another sign of the Abbey's ability to adapt to difficult circumstances in order to persevere.

L’immigration maronite à Montréal date de la fin du XIXe siècle, mais c’est dans les années 1970 et 1990, à la suite des guerres au Liban, qu’il y a eu les plus grandes vagues. De rite syriaque antiochien, mais d’obédience catholique romaine, les immigrants maronites n’avaient pas d’église paroissiale propre. Les autorités diocésaines montréalaises avaient rassemblé les catholiques orientaux dans une même église dont le service était assuré par l’ordre melkite du Saint-Sauveur. En 1969, le père de l’ordre maronite mariamite Élias Najjar fonde avec des Égyptiens maronites la première paroisse. Cette étude se penche sur le processus qui a mené à la naissance de cette paroisse, son évolution à travers le temps et la vie de ses paroissiens. L’approche est narrative et descriptive, elle s’inscrit dans le cadre de l’histoire sociale et religieuse. Les résultats de l’analyse mettent en lumière une église nationale et un nouveau modèle de paroisse diasporique, différent du modèle classique, recelant des diversités infranationale, internationale et interconfessionnelle. / Maronite immigration to Montreal started at the end of the 19th century. During the 1970s and 1990s, massive waves of Lebanese immigrants arrived to Montreal due to the wars in Lebanon. The Maronite Church is fully Roman Catholic but has a syriac-antiochean rite. Maronite immigrants did not have their own parish in Montreal and had to go for célébrations in the Oriental Catholic Church which was created by Montreal clerical authorities and served by Greek-Catholics (Melkites) of the Saint-Sauveur order. In 1969, Father Élias Najjar from the Maronite mariamite order, together with Maronites from Egypt, founded the first Maronite parish in Montreal. This thesis aims to study the process behind the constitution of the first parish, its evolution and the life of its parishioners by using a narrative and descriptive approach in the frame of the social and religious history. Results show a national Church and a new model of Maronite diasporic parish, different from the classical one, having subnational, international and inter-confessional diversities.

The intention of this study is to approximate the attitude to children born out of marriage and their mothers in the years 1750-1849. The nominal excerpts from parish registers were used to find numbers of births and proportion of illegitimate children at the manor of Škvorec, the area located at the eastern border of Prague. The proportion of children born out of marriage is compared with contemporaneous regulations that could influence attitudes and behavior of contemporary society. The study also investigates the social status of born children, their fathers and godfathers. The results show that the position of unmarried mothers and their children has improved in the followed period. The results suggest that many unmarried mothers already lived with their partners in the companienate marriage in that time.

In thirty years, the number of second homes for recreation fishers in coastal Terrebonne Parish has grown from 244 in the late 1970s to an estimated 2,500 in 2005. This thesis considers the ramifications of the tourism boom along the parish's historically isolated and undeveloped coastline. Four coastal communities are examined: (1) Montegut, Pointe-aux-Chenes and Isle de Jean Charles; (2) Cocodrie and Chauvin; (3) Dulac; and (4) Dularge and Theriot. The research question is twofold: Why has coastal tourism been allowed to develop in the fragile wetlands that protect residents from dangerous storms?; and What does tourism development mean for the indigenous American Indian and Cajun people who live along the coast? The author argues the proliferation of recreation fishing camps has had a serious dislocating effect on coastal Terrebonne's population, and the ongoing development of the tourism industry will devastate culturally rich bayou regions.

This study examines the phenomenon of student resiliency as it relates to Nunez Community College students who returned to attend school in the community of St. Bernard Parish following Hurricane Katrina. Nunez Community College is located in Chalmette, Louisiana, fifteen miles east of the City of New Orleans. The community is adjacent to the Lower Ninth Ward. This study seeks to answer the questions of why the students returned to a disaster-stricken area to continue their studies and how the students coped in the aftermath. There is a significant gap in the literature on post-disaster resiliency and in particular, the role of education in post-disaster recovery. Twelve students who returned to Nunez Community College post-Katrina were interviewed using a Student Resilience Model as a conceptual framework. The perceptions of the students' post-disaster experiences resulted in five themes which included Individual Resilience, Post-Disaster Academic Integration, Post-Disaster Social Int

The research, presented here, is about the collaborative governance and adaptive management in coastal planning efforts of Louisiana. Fundamental conflict, between the idea of environmental conservation and developmental growth, has always existed in the coastal regions. The presence of the large number of environmental laws, at various levels of government and their different management objectives for utilization of coastal resources, requires study of intergovernmental relationship. Taking Plaquemines Parish as a case in point, this thesis will, therefore, review the critical restoration plans for intergovernmental coordination and conflicts. It will also provide recommendations, for elected representatives and policy makers, with an aim to promote collaborative governance and improve adaptive management of coastal resources.