The political concept of corporatism is used to analyze Catholic-sponsored organizations as providers of US welfare-state services. Corporatism nowadays characterizes a political arrangement by which professional and industrial sectors acquire state-like powers in order to coordinate social productivity. Though corporatism usually refers to nongovernmental fields which acquire government-like status, this dissertation takes a somewhat reverse perspective by focusing on the welfare state, an area which by definition already is governmental, yet by 1996 US welfare reform legislation is slated to increase its delegation of welfare delivery services to non-government practitioners. Much of early twentieth century corporatist thought was founded on the papal encyclicals Rerum Novarum (1891) and Quadragesimo Anno (1931), but the Church cut Its involvement with corporatism after disastrous coöptations by fascism. This study presents a revised formulation of Catholic corporatism by tracing its origins to the eleventh century canon law concept of the Mystical Body of Christ, whereby sacred imagery was invoked to protect religious vocations from encroachments by the newly evolving sovereign state. Today, as the devolution of the welfare state includes faith-based organizations, the largest of which are Catholic, a more complete genealogical look at Catholic corporatism provides a framework to evaluate a welfare industry increasingly run by a semi-public aggregation of professional institutions invested with the duties and resources of the state. The study uses a conjectural hypothesis, “Catholic Welfare Corporatism,” defined by three traits—organicism (unity), subsidiarity (localism), and multimodality (performance across business, government and community forums). By this measure, Catholic-sponsored organizations in the welfare service industry are found to demonstrate a “social-corporatist” orientation at odds with the “state-corporatist” authoritarian category into which Catholic corporatism is typically placed. But the public warrant of Church-sponsored operations in the US have been contingent on their adaptation to American democratic pluralist values. The balance struck between a Catholic corporate identity and its responsiveness to the culture which it serves is key to its survival. Prewar Catholic corporatist inclinations toward monopolism, institutional hubris and political naiveté must be resisted for corporatist innovations to progress.

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The present study was calculated to determine whether or not a congregation with a good percentage increase in membership from a specific date in 1956 to a corresponding date in 1957 would also experience any percentage increase in attendance of members and visitors at the Sunday morning worship services. Likewise, would such a congregation have a large percentage of its assembly in attendance at its Bible classes and at its midweek services?

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This thesis is an inquiry into how a 'consulting approach' can be used by a church helping organisation in the Seventh-day Adventist Church system to assist local church congregations. This inquiry will focus specially on the service providers known as Conference Departments and how a consulting approach can improve the service they provide. The exploration of the methodology and relationship between department personnel and churches will inform this inquiry. Consultancy within the Australian Seventh-day Adventist church is in its infancy. For the majority of churches the concept of using an external consultant to assist them on an ongoing basis would be a radical thought. The Seventh-day Adventist church system has traditionally provided resources and training to church parishes via their Conference departments youths, Bible school, outreach, health, welfare etc. However, few of these departments have offered a true constructive service where diagnostic assessment and long term problem-solving occurs. This thesis aims to develop a methodology by which consultants can gain entrance into churches and offer ongoing assistance to them. The study attempts to establish a model and identifies the issues that relate to using such an approach. / Master of Science (Hon) (Social Ecology)

The purpose of this study was to explore and delineate leadership practices, which could facilitate the transition of Catholic religious institutes into the world of the third millennium, within groups facing the diminishment, and even death, of current forms of religious life. Hermeneutical phenomenology, particularly as developed by Ricoeur, provided the philosophical base for an analysis of the multiple hermeneutical dimensions of culture, human sciences, spirituality and religion. Elements of postmodernism and feminism were also found to be useful starting points. Qualitative research provided the mechanisms out of which meaningful data was elicited and text and context explored. An extensive literature review and individual interviews with thirty women and men in leadership positions in religious institutes formed the basis of the research. Initial findings were tested against the insights of a focus group of religious involved and interested in the future of religious life and its leadership. Additionally, the responses of the leaders of religious congregations in NSW at their annual conference provided a valuable sounding board for the research findings. Core to the study, respondents believed, was a changing concept of God, described in the interviews as ‘the larger God’, and named as the foundation of contemporary religious commitment. A second fundamental call was pinpointed as that of radical commitment to ‘the other’. ‘Commitment to, and relationship with, the other’ was seen as a critical focus for religious organisations in an increasingly divided and polarised world. For women and men currently in the midst of religious life transition, identity, mission and community were identified as specific orientations from which unfamiliar and emerging forms of ‘the larger God’ and ‘relationship with the other’ were examined. Authenticating leadership was used to describe the form of leadership believed to be necessary during this time of transition to endorse and authenticate the tentative sparks of new life. This leadership was depicted as stimulated by a sense of spiritual dynamism and an outward focus, activating the motivation of the congregation towards ‘the larger God’ and ‘the other’. Energising, empowering and challenging the group were described as intrinsic to these orientations. Demonstrating authenticity, embracing diversity, accepting suffering as the inevitable price of effective contemporary leadership, and ‘holding leadership lightly’, were also highlighted as essential elements for a leadership aimed at authenticating diverse expressions of new forms of religious life. Two clear leadership practices were named as essential for effective transition during this period of decisive transformation. Consciously managing the disintegration and death of current expressions of religious life, while simultaneously mobilising the energies of small emergent groups to explore and attempt new and diverse forms, were seen as the most difficult, but probably the most critical, challenges for leadership at this time.