Thesis advisor: Ruth Langer / The topic of covenant is perhaps the most fundamental means for humans to think about their relationship to God within a particular religious tradition. Since the time of the Second Vatican Council, the Church has gradually been reconsidering what covenant means for Catholics worldwide, especially in relation to other traditions, namely Judaism. Therefore, this paper initially aims to identify what covenant means for Jews and Catholics on an individual basis and how each tradition has historically thought about the other. Secondly, being written from a Catholic standpoint, this paper aims to redefine what covenant means for Catholicism in terms of how it addresses Judaism. Ultimately, this paper proposes a Catholic model for thinking about Judaism in a non-supersessionist manner. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Theology.

Cette thèse présente l’idée de la mort dans le récit Kammdro an Ankou - Le tournant de la mort de l’écrivain breton Loeiz Herrieu, rédigé entre août 1914 et février 1919, et les poèmes du poète breton Yann-Ber Kalloc’h issus de son recueil Ar en Deulin – A genoux, écrits en langue bretonne au début de la Première Guerre mondiale. Elle se situe dans le champ des études de civilisation. Après avoir défini et présenté l’idée de la mort et de la guerre à partir de différentes sources et références principalement littéraires, historiques et philosophiques, qui permettent de comprendre l’état d’esprit des deux hommes et de leur époque, cette thèse étudie la manière dont Loeiz Herrieu et Yann-Ber Kalloc’h ont exprimé leur idée de la mort dans leurs œuvres. Notre observation met en lumière la nature des représentations collectives qui les ont influencées, en particulier celles provenant de l’imaginaire catholique ou nationaliste, breton et français, la façon dont le contexte inédit de la Grande guerre oblige ces deux hommes à créer de nouvelles représentations au moyen d’une création littéraire qui leur permet de conserver une part de liberté individuelle et d’expression singulière, en ce moment de transition entre la société traditionnelle et la société moderne. Transition qui annonce une véritable rupture par la progression de l’individualisme parmi les hommes des sociétés européennes. Dans ce contexte, le regard porté sur les œuvres de Loeiz Herrieu et Yann-Ber Kalloc’h permet d’améliorer notre compréhension de l’esprit des Bretons du début du vingtième siècle, et des raisons qui firent accepter aux hommes bretons de partir se sacrifier au nom de la France / The present thesis focuses on the conception of death in Breton writer Loeiz Herrieu’s story Kammdro an Ankou U – At the turn of Death, drawned from August 1914 to February 1919, as well as in Breton poet Yann-Ber Kalloc'h’s poems from his anthology Ar in Deulin – On my knees, written in Breton at the beginning of World War I. It fits within the scope of civilisation studies. First and foremost, the concepts of death and war are defined and illustrated through various sources and references, which give the reader insight into both men’s and their contemporaries’ mindsets. Besides, this thesis examines how Loeiz Herrieu and Yann-Ber Kalloc’h expressed their respective conception of death in their respective works. The critical comparison thus brings to light not only the very nature of the collective representations which influenced these works – especially those originating from the Catholic or nationalist, both Breton and French, imagination – but also to what extend the unprecedented conditions induced by the Great War forced these two men to invent new representations through their creation. Consequently, they gained a certain amount of individual freedom and a voice of their own, in this crucial moment of transition between tradition and modernity in society. Such a transition introduces the complete break of the development of individualism in European societies. In this perspective, the perception of Loeiz Herrieu and Yann-Ber Kalloc’h’s works improves the current understanding of the Breton folk’s state of mind at the beginning of the 20th century and of the reasons why Breton men accepted to go and sacrifice their lives on the battlefield in the name of France

Cette thèse retrace le parcours existentiel de Gesualdo Bufalino à la recherche de la vérité. C’est un itinéraire que l'écrivain sicilien accomplit à travers le philtre de la littérature française, domaine privilégié de sa formation dès son plus jeune âge. La première phase, dans le chapitre qui s’intitule "Bufalino et les poètes français", identifie un très jeune Bufalino à la recherche d'une vérité "esthétique". Cette période va de l'enfance à l'appel aux armes, plus ou moins entre 1930 et 1942. Formé pendant l'adolescence à la lecture des symbolistes français et de Baudelaire, c’est surtout de ce dernier que le jeune Bufalino dégage sa vision existentielle, des outils de rhétorique, des émotions, une pléthore d'images et, plus que toute autre chose, une vision de la littérature comme dépositaire d'une vérité indéchiffrable, activité à laquelle il se consacre inlassablement, jusqu'à privilégier le culte de la forme.La deuxième phase, que l’on abordera dans le chapitre s’intitulant "Bufalino et les écrivains catholiques français", se déroule depuis 1942, année où Bufalino fut appelé au front, jusqu'à 1950. Au fil de ces années, Bufalino a entrepris une féconde correspondance avec l'intellectuel Angelo Romanò qui, aux prises comme Bufalino lui-même avec des doutes religieux, a initié l’écrivain sicilien à de nombreuses lectures et en particulier à celles des écrivains catholiques français, parmi lesquels nous avons isolé Claudel, Mauriac, Bernanos et Cendrars qui nous ont semblé plus utiles que d'autres dans l’observation et l’analyse de la recherche de la foi chez Bufalino.La troisième phase, dans le chapitre qui s’intitule "Bufalino et les écrivains éxistentialistes français" débute à peu près dans les années ‘50 et se termine en 1981, lors de la publication de son premier roman, ‘Diceria dell'untore’. C’est une période qui commence par un intérêt pour la vérité de la raison, ce qui deviendra plus tard une préférence marquée en particulier pour l'œuvre d'Albert Camus. La quatrième et dernière phase que l’on abordera dans le chapitre s’intitulant "Bufalino et la vérité plurielle" commence immédiatement après 1981 et analyse le tournant final de la recherche spirituelle de Bufalino jusqu'à la fin de sa vie, en 1996. Bufalino renoncera définitivement aux options métaphysiques et matérialistes. Il confiera entièrement sa quête de sens à la littérature, considérée comme une écriture différemment « sacrée » / This thesis retraces the existential itinerary in search of the truth of the Sicilian writer G. Bufalino, with a particular focus on the filter of the French literature that, from an early age, constituted the privileged field of reference for his formation.It starts from the years ranging from childhood to the call to arms, therefore more or less from the period between 1930 and 1942. Formed as a teenager on French symbolists and especially on Baudelaire, the young Bufalino got an existential vision, tools rhetoricians, emotions, a mass of images, and more than anything else a vision of literature as the depositary of an indecipherable truth, an activity to be indefatigably dedicated to and spent on until it consecrates its existence to the cult of form. The second phase is "Bufalino and the French Catholic writers" and goes approximately from 1942, the year in which he was called to the front, until '50. In these years, Bufalino undertook a fruitful correspondence with the intellectual Angelo Romanò who, in turn engaged in religious travails, began it to many readings and in particular to that of French Catholic writers, among whom we have isolated Claudel, Mauriac , Bernanos, Cendrars who seemed to us more than others useful to observe a Bufalino in search of a truth of faith. The third phase of the spiritual life of Bufalino is “Bufalino and the French Existentialist writers” and begins roughly in the 50s and ends in 1981, the year of the publication of his first novel, ‘Diceria dell'untore’. It begins with an interest in the truth of reason and later with a marked preference in particular for the work of Albert Camus. The fourth and last phase is “Bufalino and the plural truth’ and begins immediately after 1981, and observes the final turning point of Bufalino's spiritual research until the end of his life, that is until 1996. Bufalino will definitively renounce both the metaphysical and the materialistic options, and he will entrust his sense question entirely to literary research, understood as a differently 'sacred' writing

La direction de conscience est une pratique catholique qui connaît un nouveau succès au XIXe siècle. Dans ce cadre, femmes et hommes détaillent à leur directeur leur vie personnelle et les mouvements de leur âme, à des fins de moralisation et de progression spirituelle. Pour l’Église catholique, c’est l’un des vecteurs de transmissions d’un système de valeurs qui place les femmes au cœur de la régénération morale de la France, en les transformant en agents de conversion de leurs familles. Le renouveau de la direction de conscience constitue ainsi une réponse pastorale au projet de reconquête de la société française par l’Église catholique, dans un contexte de contestation de ses prérogatives. Les projets des personnes dirigées ne peuvent cepen-dant se résumer à ceux de leurs directeurs : la direction de conscience donne accès à des ressources concrètes et symboliques qui permettent d’aménager les normes de genre. Le directeur est sollicité pour jouer le rôle d’intermédiaire et d’arbitre de la vie conjugale des couples des élites pour qui la discrétion des échanges est primordiale. Ainsi, son rôle dépasse largement la régulation des pratiques de dévotion, fonction qui lui est donnée par les manuels de piété. Si les directeurs s’acquittent de ce travail d’encadrement spirituel jusqu’aux années 1880, les attentes des personnes dirigées s’infléchissent ensuite vers une demande d’accompagnement dont la dimension spirituelle s’affaiblit, ce qui fait naître des conflits. Cette transformation de la pratique de la direction de conscience doit être reliée à l’évolution générale des « techniques de soi » (Foucault) et notamment au développement de la médecine psychologique. / Spiritual direction is a Catholic practice which regained currency in the second half of the nineteenth century: women and men would go through their lives and the movements of their souls with their director, with moral improvement and spiritual progression in mind. The Catholic Church established this practice as one of the vehicles for the transmission of a system of values which puts women at the heart of moral regeneration in France, by turning them into agents of conversion of their families. The resurgence of spiritual direction thus constitutes a pastoral response to the Catholic Church’s project to reclaim the French society, in times when its prerogatives met frequent protest. Yet, the directees’ projects cannot be limited to their directors’: spiritual direction grants access to practical and symbolic resources aiming at adjusting gender norms. The director is also solicited by couples from the French elite to be the go-between and referee of their conjugal life, with the greatest discretion as for their exchanges. The director’s role thus largely exceeds mere control of devotion practices, even though devotional manuals state this as a director’s main function. Even though directors go on fulfiling such a spiritual supervision until the 1880s, the directees’ expectations then bend toward a less spiritually-charged support, leading to conflicts. Such a transformation of the practice of spiritual direction must be linked to the general evolution of “technologies of the Self” (Foucault) and, especially, to the development of psychological medicine.

Le roman catholique tel que nous le connaissons est le fruit d’une illusion rétrospective. Nous avons voulu, dans cette thèse, montrer que l’on ne peut lire le roman du second XIXe siècle au prisme de sa popularité au XXe siècle. Le succès qu’il rencontre dans l’entre-deux-guerres est le fruit d’une évolution lente. Des auteurs comme Jules Barbey d’Aurevilly, Joris-Karl Huysmans ou Léon Bloy, n’ont été acceptés de leur temps ni par le monde laïque, ni par le monde catholique. Ils occupent une place inconfortable entre le « prophète romantique » et l’« intellectuel catholique ». Si le monde intellectuel chrétien du XXe siècle s’est servi de ces auteurs pour accréditer l’existence du genre, le roman catholique est loin, au XIXe siècle, de constituer une évidence. Nos recherches explorent en conséquence sa visibilité à cette époque. Basées sur un travail d’archives qui se fonde sur le dépouillement des journaux et bibliographies catholiques, elles ont permis de reconstituer les difficiles rapports du monde chrétien avec le roman. Cette approche archéologique contribue à restituer l’ampleur de la tentative de réforme par l’art qu’ont essayé de mener à bien Barbey d’Aurevilly, Huysmans et Bloy. Elle sert de fondement à un travail de poétique qui interroge, dans le cadre de l’évolution de l’écriture romanesque, le sens qu’il faut accorder à cette tentative de révolution esthétique. / This dissertation explores the constitution of the Catholic novel as a genre in the second half of the 19th century. It aims to show how Jules Barbey d’Aurevilly, Joris-Karl Huysmans and Léon Bloy were misread, partly because of the success of the genre during the 20th century. The popularity of the 20th-century Catholic novelists such as Claude Mauriac or Georges Bernanos has indeed swept away the difficulties encountered by Catholic writers over the course of this anti-clerical period. This work invetigates the reception of the Catholic novel at that time. It is based on historical researches, especially the study of Christian "bibliographies", Catholic press and edition. This provides a better understanding of Barbey d’Aurevilly, Huysmans and Bloy’s conception of Catholic novel as an original theory of art.

On December 9, 1905, newspapers announced the French Third Republic had passed the Law on the Separation of the Churches and the State. This law dissolved the complex relationship that had existed between the French state and the Catholic Church and ended the public role of religion. However, while religious conviction seemed to be on the wane within the French metropole, public discourse in the early twentieth century regarding the impending French seizure of Morocco consistently referred to the French populace as “Christians” while the Moroccans were collectively labeled as “Muslim savages.” This thesis argues that the French media, government, and other public figures generated the concept of a “Christian France” in order to underline the moral and civilizational superiority of a supposedly unified French civilization in relation to the inhabitants of Morocco.

Employing the concepts of lifeworld (Lebenswelt) and system as primarily discussed by Edmund Husserl and Jürgen Habermas, this dissertation argues that the lifeworlds of Anglo-Indian and Goan Catholics in the Greater Toronto Area have permitted members of these communities to relatively easily understand, interact with and manoeuvre through Canada’s democratic, individualistic and market-driven system. Suggesting that the Catholic faith serves as a multi-dimensional primary lens for Canadian Goan and Anglo-Indians, this sociological ethnography explores how religion has and continues affect their identity as diasporic post-colonial communities. Modifying key elements of traditional Indian culture to reflect their Catholic beliefs, these migrants consider their faith to be the very backdrop upon which their life experiences render meaningful. Through systematic qualitative case studies, I uncover how these individuals have successfully maintained a sense of security and ethnic pride amidst the myriad cultures and religions found in Canada’s multicultural society. Oscillating between the fuzzy boundaries of the Indian traditional and North American liberal worlds, Anglo-Indians and Goans attribute their achievements to their open-minded Westernized upbringing, their traditional Indian roots and their Catholic-centred principles effectively making them, in their opinions, admirable models of accommodation to Canada’s system.

Employing the concepts of lifeworld (Lebenswelt) and system as primarily discussed by Edmund Husserl and Jürgen Habermas, this dissertation argues that the lifeworlds of Anglo-Indian and Goan Catholics in the Greater Toronto Area have permitted members of these communities to relatively easily understand, interact with and manoeuvre through Canada’s democratic, individualistic and market-driven system. Suggesting that the Catholic faith serves as a multi-dimensional primary lens for Canadian Goan and Anglo-Indians, this sociological ethnography explores how religion has and continues affect their identity as diasporic post-colonial communities. Modifying key elements of traditional Indian culture to reflect their Catholic beliefs, these migrants consider their faith to be the very backdrop upon which their life experiences render meaningful. Through systematic qualitative case studies, I uncover how these individuals have successfully maintained a sense of security and ethnic pride amidst the myriad cultures and religions found in Canada’s multicultural society. Oscillating between the fuzzy boundaries of the Indian traditional and North American liberal worlds, Anglo-Indians and Goans attribute their achievements to their open-minded Westernized upbringing, their traditional Indian roots and their Catholic-centred principles effectively making them, in their opinions, admirable models of accommodation to Canada’s system.

A largely overlooked chapter of American history is the struggle of Mexican Americans to achieve equal civil rights and humane working conditions. Although much ink has been spilled on the struggle of African-Americans to achieve civil rights and throw off the yoke of racial oppression, little attention is paid to the similar struggle carried out by Mexican Americans and the similarities and differences between them. It has been my desire to shed light on this forgotten story, because it is still relevant in the current political climate, given the explosive growth of Latinos in the United States today (50 million), their increasingly important role in presidential elections, and given their struggle for comprehensive immigration reform. What Mexican Americans have contributed to America is present in almost every facet of American life. Their presence in this country pre-dates the expansion of the United States from the Atlantic (Florida) to the Pacific (California) and is evident in national holidays, festivals, and our favorite restaurants. However, I have to admit that I was completely unaware of Mexican American history and the Chicano Movement of the 1960s prior to taking on this project. The only things that I knew about Mexican Americans ended around the Texas Revolution in 1836 and the little I learned about my Chávez in my American Religious History class. This thesis has succeeded in correcting stereotypes that I previously held about not only the Mexican American community, but also the critical role that religion played in one of its most important and iconic figures. Religion has been always been an important component of life in America. Christianity has contributed to the way that government in the United States was formed and in the moral values that Americans consider important in leadership. Religion has been the driving force behind many of the most groundbreaking and momentous shifts in this nation from the abolition of slavery to the African American Civil Rights Movement. The Farm Worker’s struggle and larger Chicano Civil Rights Movement are no exception. César Chávez stood out not only as the leader of a secular movement, but a moral guiding light for Mexican Americans within this movement. Chávez's popular legacy within the Mexican American community exalts him as a moral and political leader, but scholarship has until recently painted him and the movement he championed in a secular light. This thesis hopes to help correct this imbalance.

The purpose of this essay is to examine how Irish people on a rural location practice their faith in everyday life. The intention is also to find out what strategies my interviewees use to negotiate the abuse scandal and what their thoughts on the Catholic Church are. The material mainly consists of interviews with seven people part of a rural parish in Ireland. My research also entails smaller observations and conversations in the homes of the participants. The results indicate that they all consider themselves religious, however not all Catholic. All of the participants integrate their religion in everyday life. It also showed that almost all of them used a certain strategy when negotiating the knowledge of the abuse scandal leaving just one participant saying it negatively affected his faith. My results show that all of them are asking for changes within the Catholic Church when it comes to celibacy, ordaining women and same sex marriages. The results of my study are analyzed with Meredith McGuire’s theory on lived religion and Peter Berger’s theory on socialization and secularization. Religious activity is occurring in my participants’ everyday life and church-based practices such as Mass or Confessions are not as important for them as for instance prayer and humility. It also shows that my participants are socialized into Catholicism but that the Church no longer can serve as a sole legitimating power and is being severely questioned. I would also argue that today’s modern society with different religions and expressions has led to my participants questioning of the Church. In the location I have studied the results show that individuals let religion into their everyday lives and create their own version of it. With these results I would argue that my participants allow religion to influence their everyday tasks and create their own religious practice. The results suggest that my participants are indeed part of a secularization process, the objective secularization which separates the Church and state. However, religion is still alive within the subjectivity of my participants.