This research has been conducted against the backdrop of the Second Vatican Council's "People of God" motif. The term "ecclesial" in the title embraces both lay faithful and clergy, although the lens through which their views are gauged is that of the deacon. The empirical findings of the research have been derived from fifty-three deacons of Southwark Province who completed narrative questionnaires about their collective six hundred years of experience in ordained ministry. The research methodology was mainly qualitative, using an adapted grounded theory approach to explore the themes which emerged from the respondents' own testimonies. These included discernment of their vocations, their formation programmes, what helped or hindered them in their early days of ministry and how they were received by their parish priests and their communities. As a theological consideration of the permanent diaconate, the project points to : * a richer scriptural interpretation of diakonia than a simplistic reading of Acts 6 * an understanding of the episcopate as the "fullness of order" from which are extended the two "arms" of the bishop's pastoral oversight - diaconate and presbyterate * a praxis which reflects the diaconate as a unique and full order The chief findings of the research are as follows: * Whilst formation for deacons has become theologically more robust over the past decade, there remain gaps in ongoing formation, both theologically and pastorally and an underdeveloped structure for the deacon to be properly supervised in his ministry. * The pastoral role of the deacon's wife remains unclear. Although, in the main, she is an animator of her husband's witness and compensates for his lack of time with the family, there is little evidence that the concept of "diaconal marriage", as a basis for joint ministry, is devloping. * The discipline of celibacy for widower deacons reflects a limited and sacerdotal understanding of what it means to be a sacred minister in Holy Orders. Although dispensations for remarriage are possible, these exceptional concessions may restrict the theological unfolding of the concept of diaconal marriage. * The continued exclusion of women from ordained ministry remains problematical for some. However, Pope Benedict's recent moto proprio "Omnium in Mentem" may signal future opportunities for a more diverse ordained diaconal ministry.

The musical and spiritual life of Mary Lou Williams (1910 - 1981) came together in her later years in the writing of Mary Lou's Mass. Being both Roman Catholic and a jazz pianist and composer, it was inevitable that Williams would be the first jazz composer to write a setting of the mass. The degree of success resulting from the combination of jazz and the traditional forms of Western art music has always been controversial. Because of Williams's personal faith and aesthetics of music, however, she had little choice but to attempt the union of jazz and liturgical worship. After a biography of Williams, discussed in the context of her musical aesthetics, this thesis investigates the elements of conventional mass settings and oral tradition found in Mary Lou's Mass.

Estuda-se a formação do clero católico considerando valores de futuros sacerdotes. Os valores são analisados levando-se em conta seus elementos de amplitude, exigência e escolha. Emprega-se a distinção de Rokeach entre valores terminais e instrumentais. As transformações sociais atribuídas à pós-modernidade são consideradas à luz das teorias propostas por Jean-François Lyotard e Anthony Giddens (modernidade tardia). Os sujeitos são cinco seminaristas, concluintes do curso de Teologia e próximos da ordenação sacerdotal. Utiliza-se entrevista semi-estruturada composta de sete itens (Igreja universal- Igreja local;ecumenismo-diálogo interreligioso; verdade; missão; mulher; pessoa do sacerdote; meios de comunicação) referentes a três temas da pós-modernidade(metanarrativa; subjetividade; simulação-realidade virtual). Constata-se que os valores terminais permanecem os mesmos, ao passo que os instrumentais alteram-se, o que permite aos sujeitos manter sua adesão aos primeiros. Os resultados apontam o modelo de Giddens (modernidade tardia) como mais adequado à compreensão das transformações socioculturais do fim do milênio do que aquele sugerido por Lyotard. / This work studies the education of the Catholic clergy considering values of future priests. The values are analyzed taking their elements of amplitude; requiredness and choice. Rokeach's distinction is used between terminal and instrumental values. The social changes attributed to the postmodernity are considered according to the theories proposed by Jean-François Lyotard and Anthony Giddens (late modernity). The subjects are five seminarians of the course of Theology and next to the priestly ordination. It is used semi-structured interviews composed of seven items (universal Church/local Church; ecumenism/interfaith dialogue; truth; mission; woman; person of the priest; media) referring to the three themes of postmodernity (metanarrative, subjectivity; simulation-virtual reality). It is evidenced that the terminal values remain the same, while the instrumental ones change. It allows the subjects to keep their adhesion to terminal values. The results point to the model of Giddens (late modernity) as more adjusted to the understanding of the sociocultural changes of the end of the millennium than the one suggested by Lyotard.

Estuda-se a formação do clero católico considerando valores de futuros sacerdotes. Os valores são analisados levando-se em conta seus elementos de amplitude, exigência e escolha. Emprega-se a distinção de Rokeach entre valores terminais e instrumentais. As transformações sociais atribuídas à pós-modernidade são consideradas à luz das teorias propostas por Jean-François Lyotard e Anthony Giddens (modernidade tardia). Os sujeitos são cinco seminaristas, concluintes do curso de Teologia e próximos da ordenação sacerdotal. Utiliza-se entrevista semi-estruturada composta de sete itens (Igreja universal- Igreja local;ecumenismo-diálogo interreligioso; verdade; missão; mulher; pessoa do sacerdote; meios de comunicação) referentes a três temas da pós-modernidade(metanarrativa; subjetividade; simulação-realidade virtual). Constata-se que os valores terminais permanecem os mesmos, ao passo que os instrumentais alteram-se, o que permite aos sujeitos manter sua adesão aos primeiros. Os resultados apontam o modelo de Giddens (modernidade tardia) como mais adequado à compreensão das transformações socioculturais do fim do milênio do que aquele sugerido por Lyotard. / This work studies the education of the Catholic clergy considering values of future priests. The values are analyzed taking their elements of amplitude; requiredness and choice. Rokeach's distinction is used between terminal and instrumental values. The social changes attributed to the postmodernity are considered according to the theories proposed by Jean-François Lyotard and Anthony Giddens (late modernity). The subjects are five seminarians of the course of Theology and next to the priestly ordination. It is used semi-structured interviews composed of seven items (universal Church/local Church; ecumenism/interfaith dialogue; truth; mission; woman; person of the priest; media) referring to the three themes of postmodernity (metanarrative, subjectivity; simulation-virtual reality). It is evidenced that the terminal values remain the same, while the instrumental ones change. It allows the subjects to keep their adhesion to terminal values. The results point to the model of Giddens (late modernity) as more adjusted to the understanding of the sociocultural changes of the end of the millennium than the one suggested by Lyotard.

This dissertation focuses on Archbishop Alonso de Montúfar OP (ca. 1489-1572). It seeks to explore two decades of sixteenth century Mexican Church History mainly through the study of documents found in Spanish and Mexican archives. Born outside Granada in Southern Spain, just after the conquest from the Muslims, Alonso de Montúfar assumed teaching and leading positions within the Dominican order. After more than forty years as a friar, Montúfar was elected archbishop of Mexico and resided there from 1554 until his death eighteen years later. From the 1520s onwards, many missionaries went from Spain to Mexico in order to christianise the native inhabitants and to administer the church’s sacraments to them. Many of the missionaries were members of three mendicant orders: the Franciscans, the Dominicans, and the Augustinians. Alonso de Montúfar’s time as archbishop can be seen as a period of transition and a time that was filled with disputes on how the church in Mexico should be organised in the future. Montúfar wanted to strengthen the role of the bishops in the church organisation. He also wanted to improve the finances of the diocesan church and promote a large number of secular clerics to work in the Indian ministry. All this meant that he became involved in prolonged and very animated disputes with the friars, the members of the cathedral chapter, and the viceroy of Mexico. One chapter of this dissertation is devoted to a detailed study of Archbishop Montúfar’s role in the early cult of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Tepeyac, which today has become of the most important Marian devotions in the world.

This thesis tries to historize the phenomenon of teaching religion in the Czech lands, especially in the period 1950-1956. In the first part of the thesis, the subject of interest is the analysis of the relationship between the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPCZ) and the Roman Catholic Church in order to create an appropriate framework for the empirical part. The second part of the thesis describes both the CPCZ strategy in the field of religious education and the concrete social practice associated with their implementation. As a result, the study maps a certain imaginary space between the ideological claim and the daily practice that is created in communication between communist elites, church secretaries, local officials, teachers and directors, church representatives, and believers themselves. The thesis concludes that in socialist education there was a certain effort to use religious teaching in the sense of socialist upbringing. However, since the end of the first half of the 1950s, this effort has been gradually reduced and all signs of the normality of teaching religion should have been reduced to a minimum, but the study shows that local practice has not always achieved this claim. It has always been limited by an effort not to go beyond the "legality" framework that could jeopardize...

Thesis captures the life of doc. RNDR. J. P. Ondok, Th.D. since his childhood, troughout his studies, being in prison, working at the Botanical Institute and at the University of South Bohemia until the day of his death. It shows his wide activity in the world of science, in the spiritual world and in the purely human world.

This diploma thesis is focused on the analysis of the current relationship of Christianity and the European Union, namely the positions of political fractions in the European Parliament to the values derived from the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. In the work there are analyzed the political programs of the four major parties of the European Parliament (EPP, S&D, ALDE, Greens)and examined level of representation of Christian values. The work is divided into five main chapters. The first chapter is a theoretical part, which forms the theoretical basis, in which the whole work is further conceived. In the second chapter, there are characterized the relations between Christianity and the European Union, respectively, the influence of Christianity on the formation of the European Union. The third chapter delas with the cooperation between the Roman Catholic Church and the European Union. The fourth chapter deals with the determination of Christian values. There are defined and characterized the basic Christian values as contained in the Compendium of the social doctrine of the Church. In the final chapter there ate analyzed the actual political programs four largest parties of the European Parliament. Programs are analyzed in terms of their relation to the defined Christian values.

This dissertation offers an insight into the couple Alena and František Falerski, whose lives were considerably marked by totalitarian regimes. It examines in detail the dynamism of the changes to their spiritual lives within the context of the political, social and ecclesiastical transformations after 1918, with an emphasis on the periods 1939-1945 and 1948-1989. This work presents the spirituality of two intellectuals and church laity from the point of view of the respective development, external appearance, identity, opinions, genders and the reactions to oppression. This study combines a predominantly biographical approach with historical anthropology, where the standard work based on written sources has been expanded by the use of the oral history method. Key words Totalitarian, spirituality, Roman Catholic Church, political prisoner, marriage.

Racism, White supremacy, and Whiteness are deeply ingrained in U.S. society and in our U.S. Catholic Church. White U.S. Catholics are infected with these sins, even our prayer can be tainted. We, who continue to benefit from White privilege and who are descendants of those who created White supremacy, are responsible for bringing an end to its reign with God’s help. In order to heal, we must recognize our sin and repent. Repentance is deeply rooted in our tradition and is a necessary spiritual practice for White U.S. Catholics to prepare the soil for individual, communal, and systemic changes to create the Beloved Community and advance the reign of God.