Sickness is a problem that has not escaped any society and thus is on the agenda of every culture. Since time immemorial cultures have searched for answers to the questions raised by the phenomenon of sickness but none have provided solutions, as it has become clear that sickness is part of our human existence. Many people have resorted to religion in search consolation in times of affliction and the Roman Catholic Church is not immune to this expectation, as we see many leaving the church in search of healing in the African Traditional Religions and other Christian churches because they feel that the church is inadequately dealing with the problem. In this study the author undertakes a research journey within the Diocese of Witbank of the RCC to investigate as to why the church’s healing ministry is not effective. Through engagement with participants in the research field and relevant literature the author discovered that the RCC is seen to be suspicious of the African worldview and consequently does not take its members’ fears and frustrations around the phenomenon of sickness serious as it judges them to be superstitious. This suggests that there is nothing that Western Christianity can learn from African cultures maintaining its superior attitude and further alienating indigenous communities. The author suggests that in order for the RCC to responds with relevance to this problem it needs to reconcile the Christian worldview, which is western, with the African worldview. He puts high on the agenda of Christian theology the urgent call to African theologians to develop an African theology that will give birth to a genuine African Christianity. In conclusion as a solution the author proposes an integrated and intercultural healing ministry for the Diocese of Witbank. This model is aimed at appropriating African values, idioms and language in the RCC to create an atmosphere where the church is seen as a welcome guest who comes bearing gifts but at the same time expects to be taken care of by its host. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Pastoral Therapy)

Parish clergy and religious change in Prague's diocese from Council of Trent till the end of the 17th century The religious change that happens in Bohemia in the 17th century has no equivalent in the Europe at this time: the whole country, where Catholics were in a very minority, comes back to the roman Church. This evolution is here seen from a very prosaic point of view: how lay people live this change, and so how acts the parish clergy in this matter. Conversion's strategy, at the end of the Council of Trent, was to permit the use of the chalice to the laity. The consequence of this permission was a very hazy situation in the parishes, but Holy See did nothing before the battle of White Mountain, and after the battle, he suppressed chalice, mainly for pastoral reasons. During the Thirty years War, the kingdom is the place of a general reform, which has its origins in the catholic missionary movement of the beginning of the century and in the political theories of this time. Bohemia is strongly marked by the war that acts as a catalyst; at the same time political and religious authorities were lacking. The inhabitants, usually just formal Catholics at the beginning, convert themselves more and more deeply during the 17th century. The eldest, who remembered the non-Catholics services, died during the...

Cette thèse vise à analyser dans la contemporanéité (1980-2013) la trajectoire du catholicisme, dans le sillage de la microhistoire, par l’étude de ses acteurs, de ses territoires et de ses communautés, des modes de gouvernement ecclésial. Nous mettrons en lumière le paradoxe du tissu de l’Eglise locale qui se dilate et se morcelle, mais aussi se contracte et se polarise, obligeant l’Ordinaire, dans son gouvernement, à penser un changement de paradigme : passer du défi de la proximité à celui de l’unité, compte tenu de la pluralité des communautés et des territoires associés. Nous étudierons, pour appuyer nos analyses, les diocèses de Rennes, Autun et Fréjus-Toulon. Un glissement de la logique d’enclos à la dynamique de pôles centralisateurs sera appréhendé, parfois en tensions, par les acteurs d’Eglise, à la lumière de quatre enjeux structurant l’argumentation : le « biotope » (rural/urbain), la diversité communautaire, le militantisme et la question de l’identité (statuts des clercs, coresponsabilité, modalités de l’évangélisation, communautarisme…).L’histoire et la géographie sociale permettront de renouveler les problématiques de l’appartenance spatiale et religieuse en partant d’interrogations sur le territoire selon des indicateurs précis : réseaux de fidèles et des militants, apport des nouvelles communautés (effectifs, choix pastoraux, gouvernement), options épiscopales en faveur de tel territoire ou tel groupe ecclésial… Pour l’historien, l’espace peut être considéré comme un outil heuristique, dans lequel des changements d’échelle se sont imposés dans le temps court. En délimitant nos recherches (1980-2013), nous voulons nous attarder à l’intérieur d’espaces qui ne possèdent plus la relative homogénéité que l’histoire leur prêtait avant le XXème siècle.Nos recherches s’inscrivent dans une structure en trois parties. La première partie se veut avant tout contextuelle, à la lumière de la postmodernité et de la sécularisation qui modifient les modes d’appartenance à une religion déclarée par beaucoup en soins palliatifs. Nous analyserons les liens étroits entre le catholicisme et ses modes d’insertion territoriale (rural/urbain) à partir de nos diocèses de référence. Nous présenterons les dé/recompositions des formes de militantisme dans le diocèse de Rennes, terreau d’Action catholique de plus en plus stérile et laissant la place à une militance familialiste très urbaine.La seconde partie de la thèse abordera les enjeux de la gouvernance ecclésiale dans les trois diocèses d’étude. Nous étudierons, dans le temps court, l’évolution du « munus regendi » des évêques et des prêtres avec le croisement des générations, avec le principe de coresponsabilité et le développement différencié selon les diocèses du diaconat permanent et des laïcs en mission ecclésiale. Nous développerons tout particulièrement le cas toulonnais pour lequel peu d’études approfondies ont été réalisées.Enfin, la troisième partie mettra l’accent sur la problématique du développement croissant d’un catholicisme attestataire polarisé en quête de visibilité. Nous analyserons la genèse du Renouveau et sa trajectoire dans le diocèse de Rennes. Nous nous pencherons particulièrement sur la communauté de l’Emmanuel, sur sa promotion de la nouvelle évangélisation et l’intégralisme de ses modes pastoraux. Ensuite, fort d’une certaine fécondité sacerdotale et d’un dialogue chaotique avec Rome (Motu proprio en 1988 et 2007), la galaxie traditionaliste très hétéroclite reste le cadre de mutations contemporaines que nous étudierons dans les diocèses de Rennes et d’Autun. Enfin, nous changerons d’échelle en nous focalisant sur la ville-sanctuaire de Paray-le-Monial, pôle militant et laboratoire incubateur d’un « nouveau catholicisme », sur l’articulation entre les différents territoires (ville, sanctuaire, paroisse) et les acteurs en place. / This thesis aims at analysing, in the contemporary world (1980-2013), the trajectory of catholicism, in the wake of microhistory, through the study of its actors, its territories and its communities, the modes of ecclesial government. We will highlight the paradox of the fabric of the local Church which expands and fragments, but also contracts and polarizes, forcing the Ordinary, in his government, to think of a paradigm shift: from the challenge of proximity to the one of unity, taking into account the plurality of communities and associated territories. To support our analyses, we will study the dioceses of Rennes, Autun and Frejus-Toulon. A shift from the logic of enclosures to the dynamics of a centralizing pole will be apprehended, sometimes in tension, by Church actors, in the light of four issues structuring the argument: « biotope » (rural/urban), community diversity, activism and the question of identity (status of clerics, co-responsibility, modalities of evangelization, communautarism...).History and social geography will enable us to renew the problems of spatial and religious belonging by starting from questions about the territory according to precise indicators: networks of the faithful and militants, the contribution of new communities (numbers, pastoral strategies, government), episcopal options in favour of a particular territory or ecclesial group... For the historian, space can be considered as a heuristic tool, in which changes of scale have been imposed in short time. By delimiting our research (1980-2013), we want to focus on the interior of aeras that no longer possess the relative homogeneity that history lent them before the 20th century.Our research are presented in a three-part structure. The first part is intended above all to be contextual, in the light of postmodernity and secularization, which modify the modes of belonging to a religion declared by many in palliative care. We will analyse the close links between Catholicism and its modes of territorial integration (rural/urban) from our dioceses of reference. We will present the recompositions of the forms of militancy in the diocese of Rennes, a breeding ground for Catholic Action that is increasingly sterile and leaving room for very urban familyist militancy.The second part of this thesis will address the issues of ecclesial governance in our three dioceses of study. We will study, in the short time, the evolution of the « munus regendi » of bishops and priests with the crossing of generations; with the principle of co-responsibility and the differentiated development according to the dioceses of the permanent diaconate and of the laity in ecclesial mission. We will particularly develop the Toulon case for which few in-depth studies have been carried out.Finally, the third part will focus on the problem of the growing development of a polarized Catholic witness in search of visibility. We will analyze the genesis of the Renewal and its trajectory in the diocese of Rennes. We will look particularly at the Emmanuel community, its promotion of the new evangelization and the fundamentalism of its pastoral modes. Then, with a certain priestly fruitfulness and a chaotic dialogue with Rome (Motu proprio in 1988 and 2007), the very heterogeneous traditionalist galaxy remains the framework of contemporary mutations that we will study in the dioceses of Rennes and Autun. Finally, we will change scale by focusing on the city-sanctuary of Paray-le-Monial, militant pole and laboratory incubator of a « new Catholicism », on the articulation between the various territories (city, sanctuary, parish) and the actors in place. / La modernidad desafía "parroquia civilización". Los cambios en espacial e institucional llevada a cabo por la Iglesia católica, entre ellos diócesis, son simples adaptaciones renovadas o por el contrario, inauguran un proceso de desarrollo en el centro de nuevas áreas de distribución, en particular con el creciente impacto de los nuevos jugadores? Las iglesias se vacían todas partes en Francia, pero las comunidades y diócesis han recuperado algunos lugares para hacer los pilares de las nuevas formas de práctica religiosa, si es posible, la supervivencia no sólo de la institución, sino también la transmisión de la fe. ¿Cuál es el proceso? ¿Es sostenible en el tiempo? ¿Con qué herramientas?