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This study was undertaken to investigate and to propose a solution to the pastoral dilemma that faced the Catholic Church in Australia the 1990’s. The pastoral dilemma contrasted two opposing pastoral responses to the significant changes in Catholic life since the Second Vatican Council. One response reacted to the changes by interpreting them as “crises of faith”. This response determined that the decline in mass attendance, the fewer vocations to the priesthood and religious life and the disregard of the teaching authority of the Church was the result of a loss of faith. Consequently, it prescribed a return to previous values and behaviour. The other response was more difficult to determine and has been the principle work of this thesis. The second pastoral response was identified in the search for the sacred in the daily lives of the people. This search linked the changes in Catholic life to the ongoing journey of faith that has taken place. A pastoral response based on this understanding of the changes in Catholic life was seen to provide an opportunity for “all who invoked the name of Christ” to enter a deeper relationship with him and each other. This response embraced the spirit of renewal proposed by the Council. A review of religious literature published in Australia since the Council was conducted to provide an overview of the journey of Catholic life. It identified four categories of literature that displayed the most interest in the changes. Whilst the review had a particular focus on Catholics, it included other traditions. Of the four categories initially sociology of religion which attracted most interest, followed later by theological reflections and interpretations, and ultimately an interest in spirituality, or the “spirituality revolution”. The historical and biographical studies reviewed recounted the changes in Church life and remained at a lesser, but constant expression of interest. An examination of the research of sociology of religion in Australia established that the changes in religious belief and practice were influenced by environmental factors and, for Catholics, the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. The methods of sociology identified the significant areas of change, but their limited explanations of the changes did little to assist church authorities to resolve the tensions and difficulties. The limitations of statistical information about religion contributed to the pastoral dilemma. The findings of sociology increased interest in theological reflection about the influence of the changing context of society on Catholic life. These reflections endeavoured to explain the reforms of the Council, the relationship to the changes to the reforms and led to “contextual” theology which was embraced by the “Discovery of an Australian Theology”. Spirituality by the 1990s had become a popular response that purported to take the place of “organised religion” in the community. The interest in spirituality also became the key factor in the Catholic search for deeper values, and inspired a renewed sense of the spiritual in ordinary everyday life. The popular interest in spirituality was located in the tradition of Christian spirituality, and the thesis concluded that this tradition embraced the personal experience of God, as expressed in the lives of Catholics in Australia. Such personal experiences were identified and discerned to benefit of the individual and through dialogue transformed the community. The transformation, thus begun, continued in further dialogue, engaged the community, and inspired others beyond the community of the Church to believe. Therefore, the personal experience of the spiritual was authenticated by its place in the developing tradition of the Church. The Council called for individuals and communities in the Church to identify the “signs of the times” as the opportunities for renewal, and personal renewal was closely linked to communal renewal. The “search for a soul” expressed an Australian “sign of the times”. The search provided the opportunity for many people to embark on a journey that led to personal and communal renewal or transformation. Consequently, pastoral responses to renewal based on rule and regulation, or expectations of the past, lacked the personal spiritual dimension. Thus, the title of the thesis figuratively describes the spiritual journey of Catholics from a devotional religious experience to one that seeks to find the sacred in the core values and experiences of life.

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A descriptive analysis was given of the characteristics of the authors and citations of the articles in the journal Theological Studies from 1940-1995. Data was gathered on the institutional affiliation, geographic location, occupation, and gender and personal characteristics of the author. The citation characteristics were examined for the cited authors, date and age of the citations, format, language, place of publication, and journal titles. These characteristics were compared to the time-period before and after the Second Vatican Council in order to detect any changes that might have occurred in the characteristics after certain recommendations by the council were made to theologians. Subject dispersion of the literature was also analyzed. Lotka's Law of author productivity and Bradford's Law of title dispersion were also performed for this literature. The profile of the characteristics of the authors showed that the articles published by women and laypersons has increased since the recommendations of the council. The data had a good fit to Lotka's Law for the pre-Vatican II time period but not for the period after Vatican II. The data was a good fit to Bradford's Law for the predicted number of journals in the nucleus and Zone 2, but the observed number of journals in Zone 3 was higher than predicted for all time-periods. Subject dispersion of research from disciplines other than theology is low but citation to works from the fields of education, psychology, social sciences, and science has increased since Vatican II. The results of the analysis of the characteristics of the citations showed that there was no significant change in the age, format and languages used, or the geographic location of the publisher of the cited works after Vatican II. Citation characteristics showed that authors prefer research from monographs published in English and in U.S. locations for all time-periods. Research from the disciplines of education, psychology, science and the social sciences has increased, but authors preferred the use of theological sources for their research more than 70% of the time both before and after the council.

The development of concordatarian law from the year 1964 onward The goal of this thesis is the analysis and comparisson of concordatarian law in few select countries. This thesis is mainly focused on the countries of Central Europe (Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Republic of Poland, Federal Republic of Germany). In order to expand the scope of this thesis, two other countries were chosen. The first one is the Kingdom of Spain, which represents a unique example of a gradual change between the so called traditional concordatarian system and the new and modern system developed after the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council. The second country, that was chosen is the Republic of Colombia as a non-European country with long and interesting history of concordatarian tradition. The thesis itself is divided into two main parts. The first part (composed of the first two chapters) aims to define the basic terms, which are used throughout the entire thesis. Such basic terms as concordat, the subjects of concordatarian agreements, the Holy See and others are defined in the first chapter. Also the international legal personality of the Holy See and its historical development is examined in the same chapter as well. The Second Vatican Council and its teachings had a profound impact on the concordatarian...

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:27:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabio Vieira de Souza.pdf: 575790 bytes, checksum: eb3e657ee17e95beb22d1bc5363f7691 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-26 / This study aims to present systematically the impact and resonance of the Second Vatican Council on the Archdiocese of Montes Claros. It starts with the analysis of the conciliar event in order to better understand its internal dynamics, its meaning and the scope of its conclusive documents. Following, it presents the reception as a theological category, the theoretical framework which has allowed us to interpret the changes that occurred in this local Church in the North of State of Minas Gerais after Vatican II. Finally, it focuses on the reception of Vatican II in this Archdiocese, reporting the way that this diocesan church has received the renewing impulse of Vatican II. It presents the historical and theological factors that signaled the new attitudes of the Archdiocese of Montes Claros, and that enabled the consolidation of a Church as people of God, being active and syntonized simultaneously with the invigorating breath of Vatican II, with the guidance from the Church in Brazil and Latin America and with the social reality of the people in the north of the State of Minas Gerais / O presente trabalho busca apresentar, de forma sistemática, os impactos e a ressonância do Concílio Vaticano II na Arquidiocese de Montes Claros. Este estudo parte da análise do evento conciliar no intuito de melhor compreender sua dinâmica interna, o seu significado e o alcance de seus documentos conclusivos. Na sequência, apresenta a recepção enquanto categoria teológica, referencial teórico que permitiu interpretar as transformações ocorridas nessa Igreja local do Norte de Minas Gerais no pós-Vaticano II. Finalmente, concentra-se sobre a recepção do Vaticano II nessa Arquidiocese, tratando da forma como essa Igreja diocesana recebeu o impulso renovador do Vaticano II. São apresentados fatores históricos e teológicos que assinalam uma nova tomada de postura na Arquidiocese de Montes Claros e que possibilitaram a consolidação de uma Igreja Povo de Deus, atuante e sintonizada simultaneamente com o sopro renovador do Concílio Vaticano II, com os encaminhamentos da Igreja na América Latina e no Brasil e com a realidade social do povo norte-mineiro.

Changes of canon law from the Second Vatican Council to the present Abstract This diploma thesis deals with the development of canon law after the Second Vatican Council. Canon law, like other systems of law, is undergoing constant development, responding both to the development of human knowledge and to the changes in society in which it exists. The thesis deals with the changes of canon law made by the popes after the Second Vatican Council, with the main emphasis being placed on the changes made by papal laws, ie apostolic constitutions or motu proprio. Ecclesiastical laws of lower legal force are included in the work only if they implement the papal law or are otherwise directly affected by it. The introductory part of the thesis deals with the historical context of the Second Vatican Council, especially the First Vatican Council, which was forcibly interrupted right after the publication of the first two documents and never officially ended. Nevertheless, the work on the first codification of canon law, completed in 1917, was born on its basis. The social and political development associated with the two world wars caused the need to reform not only the code but also the whole canon law. The next part of the work deals with the Second Vatican Council, convened by Pope John XXIII. for the purpose of...

The thesis The Church and its lay aspect. Ecclesiolgical fondations of laity in the beginning of 21st century describes the situation of the lay aspect in the Church. Firstly, it defines its position within the structure of the Church. Then, on the basis of the theological reflection of the Church and its lay focus, it explains the mission of lay people as representatives of specifal state of life. Lastly, it analyzes the situation of contemporary Church, based on some examples connected to laity. The aim of the thesis is to highlight the Church approach to the world with specific emphasis on laity. It also points out the importance of the inclusive approach of the Church in the World.