Ryzyko teo-logiki globalnej solidarności

Author(s): Jerzy Cuda / Language(s): Polish Issue: _/2012

Zahlreiche Krisen der Solidarität und die Angst vor der Zukunft begleiten untrennbar die Menschheit des XXI. Jahrhunderts (Ecclesia in Europa, 8). Sowohl in der Umgangssprache wie auch in den wissenschaftlichen Diskussionen erscheint die Sorge um das künftige Zusammenleben, das ökologisch, ökonomisch, sozial-politisch usw. gefährdet ist. Erreichen diese Krisen einen globalen Ausmaß, so muss das eine globale Rettungsaktion veranlassen. In diesem Zusammenhang wird die Herausforderung der globalen Solidarität betont, die universell und nachhaltig sein soll. Die Verwirklichung solcher Solidarität setzt die Möglichkeit voraus, den Sinn der Ganzheit der Geschichte und damit auch die Identität des Menschen zu verstehen. Diese Möglichkeit steht nicht zur Verfügung dem innergeschichtlichen Wissen (Naturwissenschaft, Philosophie, Religion) Erst in geoffenbarten Wissen kann der Mensch die Antworten auf seine fundamentalen Fragen finden: („Wer bin ich?“ – „Warum soll ich solidarisch leben?“) Die geschichtlich „unfertige“ Identität des Menschen soll im Geheimnis der Dreieinigkeit der göttlichen Solidarität seines Schöpfers vollendet werden. Um dieses Ziel erreichen zu können, muss der Mensch alltäglich das Risiko der Liebe auf sich nehmen (das Leben „verlieren“ um es zu „gewinnen“: Mt 10,93; Lk 17,33). Die Anthropo-genese, die mit der Eklesio-genese gleichzusetzen ist, wird also zum Geheimnis des Liebesdialogs. Der Gedankengang des vorliegenden Artikels wäre also folgendermassen zusammenzufassen: Die gegenwärtige Krise der globalen Solidarität, die mit der Krise des Liebesdialogs gleichzusetzen ist, soll, im Grunde genommen, für eine Krise des Erkennens und der Verwirklichung der Menschenidentität gehalten werden.

Confronting Modernity: Some Ecclesiastical Perspectives on the Leisure Activities of Romanians in Late 19th Century Transylvania

Author(s): Maria Tătar-Dan / Language(s): English Issue: 18/2015

The secular, liberal and individualist society of modern times has suggested a secondary role for the church and religion in the life of people. However for a population which remained by the end of the 19th century in its majority a rural one such as the Romanians in Transylvania, the tutelage of the Church was still very present and powerful: the Church provided the only framework for community life and the priest represented a life model both for family relationships and for the relationship with political power and state institutions. The present paper is part of a broader research study into how Romanians experienced modernity from the perspective of daily life and leisure, and analyses the manner in which the Church addressed these issues.

Fikcije identiteta

Author(s): Saeid Abedpour / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 68-69/2015

Here is the question: are religious and political dialogues in danger or are we trapped by identity fiction? The identity fiction is as equally dangerous as identity crisis. Nationalism, chauvinism and ethnicism are emotional and identity fictions that negate the power of productive thoughts and which, in confronting power, are used as means for inducing crises and tensions. By creating fiction and wrong perception more than earlier we depart from our essential identity thus creating interspace and void between ourselves and our essential identity. In this confusion of thoughts, we cannot clearly tell our nationality, history, religion or politics. We see religion as rites and traditional values and hence we actually part with religion and its values and subsequently with essential religious beliefs and experience. Or as Dariush Shayegan would say: “We are children of intervals of time, found in interspace of inter-presence of gods and their imminent death.

Socially Engaged Buddhism in Latvia: “Latvia for Tibet”

Author(s): Marika Laudere / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

In recent years there has been growing academic acknowledgement of a contemporary Buddhist phenomenon described as Engaged or Socially Engaged Buddhism (SEB). Finding its roots in Vietnam through the Zen Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) who opposed Vietnam War in 1960s, Engaged Buddhism has grown in popularity in the West and at present this movement cuts across the lay-monastic divide. In general, this term refers to contemporary movements that develop Buddhist solutions to political, social and ecological problems. Except Buddhists from traditional Buddhism areas, it also includes Western converts . Inspired by Buddhist values and united by a commonality to reduce suffering in the world, such individuals and groups are socially engaged in many forms of social and environmental protests, social service and analyses. In this way Buddhists try to cultivate inner peace and compassion both introspectively and socially.

Czy uzasadnione jest wiązanie wojny z religią?

Author(s): Konrad Szocik / Language(s): Polish Issue: 39/2015

This article describes the issue of religious wars and conflicts. The author highlights the problem of political instrumentalization of religious systems. He focuses on the hidden causes of the political use of religions and their social and cultural importance. He points to the underestimated role of both the concept of religious tolerance developed by Paweł Włodkowic and the political project carried out by contemporary Polish authorities. The author concludes that the assimilation of the Polish concept of religious tolerance, which was an exception in Europe, could be used to avoid religious wars in the past and also today.

Around the Bloc: Czech President Ridicules UN Refugee Project

Author(s): TOL TOL / Language(s): English Issue: 02/02/2016

Project aimed at teaching schoolchildren about refugees is ‘idiotic’ and ‘naive,’ says Milos Zeman, likening it to Bolshevik propaganda.

Church Teaching on Marriage and Family as an Instruction for the State Legislator in the Context of Poland

Author(s): Piotr Kroczek / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

The Church has the right and duty “always and everywhere to proclaim moral principles, even in respect of the social order” (can. 747 § 2), and the faithful are “to ensure that their actions are permeated with the spirit of the Gospel, and they are to heed the teaching of the Church proposed by the magisterium” (can. 227). The 20th anniversary of the publication of the Letter to Families from Pope John Paul II Gratissimam Sane is a great opportunity to recall the document and to bring to light some thoughts on family that would be useful instructions for those who, in the context of Poland, are bearing the legislative power. The paper presents five important ideas on marriage and family that must be, from catholic point of view, in some way present in state law. The ideas concern: marriage as sovereign society, marriage as heterosexual union, the threats of gender ideology for the family, the proper relations between the parents and children, and the professional work and the work within the family unit.

Rodzina i polityka

Author(s): Jacek Szczot / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

review of: ----------------- Rodzina i polityka, Ed. Elżbieta Szczot, 160 pp. Lublin: Wydawnictwo KUL, 2015

Around the Bloc: Serbia Takes Lead on Jewish Restitution

Author(s): TOL TOL / Language(s): English Issue: 04/05/2016

Law providing for return of property whose owners are long dead could set a precedent for former communist countries.

UNGARN: Von Phrasen haben wir genug!

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): German Issue: 06/1981

The fact that the Hungarian Catholic Church is only an advance organization of the Communist Party has been proved many times. As well recently, when the two Budapest pastors László Kovács and András Gromon were suspended from service. Kovács was close to the "grassroots communities", which hold positions not only on the issue of conscientious objection, but also in theologically much more central questions that are inconsistent with the official views of the church. Cardinal László Lékai said that if grassroots understanding prevailed and a large number of young Hungarians actually refused military service, then "Hungary would be without military protection." Kaplan Kovács had been suspended so that he could no longer spread his "theological error" - so Lékai - among the youth: Kovács had risen in a youth pilgrimage with massive criticism of the Hungarian bishops and insisted that the young Christians should refuse military service. While the church hierarchy thus relieves the burden on the state security authorities and assumes their functions, the opposition makes it more difficult for the regime: in a memorial service on 18 October, 300 participants of a "Flying University" event remembered the 25th anniversary of October in Hungary. A few days before, Dr. Tibor Pakh, a political prisoner until 1970, went on a hunger strike at the Budapest University Church for banning his departure for Poland. The means of the hunger strike were denounced more or less as the act of a "madman." Dr. Pakh was admitted to the psychiatric hospital and released on the basis of a letter of protest signed by more than 100 intellectuals. The student István Enyedi, co-signer of this letter has now been relegated from the university.

Polityczny wymiar dyskusji teologicznych we współczesnym Iranie

Author(s): Magdalena Zaborowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2009

Kilka uwag z okazji 13. rocznicy podpisania konkordatu pomiędzy Stolicą Apostolską a Polską

Author(s): Hanna Suchocka / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2006

Umiarkowany islamizm. Niedoceniana siła arabskiego Bliskiego Wschodu

Author(s): Jerzy Zdanowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2005

Szyici w Al-Ahsie. Stosunki religijno-polityczne w Arabii Saudyjskiej

Author(s): Jerzy Zdanowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2004

Wpływ kwestii prześladowań religijnych w komunistycznej Polsce na relacje polsko-hiszpańskie w latach 1944–1957

Author(s): Mateusz Gajda / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2024

During the period of the most severe persecution by the communist authorities, the Polish Catholic Church was supported by the Catholic community worldwide. The Church in Spain, which had a stabilised position in its state after the victory of General Franco, took a strong interest in the relationship between the Warsaw government and the Church in Poland. Between 1944 and 1957, the diplomatic reports of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs devoted much space to questions concerning the fate of the Polish Church.

Okoliczności utworzenia, pozycja ustrojowa i działalność Komisji Majątkowej w latach 1989–2011 – wybrane aspekty

Author(s): Konrad Żurek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 44/2024

The Property Commission operated in the years 1989–2011. Its abolition was the result of the unanimous will to end the commission’s work, expressed both by representatives of the government administration and representatives of the Secretariat of the Polish Episcopal Conference. The aim of this study is to discuss the circumstances of its establishment, political foundations and selected aspects of its activities. For this purpose, the following research methods were used: analysis of legal provisions and literature.

Borba za patrijarhovo nasleđe

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 047/2009

The funeral of Patriarch Pavle was more than a burial of a church dignitary. The entire obsequial scenario – including memorial ceremonies – was above all designed to demonstrate national unity and show that the entire Serb nation was mourning as one.

Struggle over Patriarch’s Legacy

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): English Issue: 047/2009

The funeral of Patriarch Pavle was more than a burial of a church dignitary. The entire obsequial scenario – including memorial ceremonies – was above all designed to demonstrate national unity and show that the entire Serb nation was mourning as one.

The State and Catholics in Vietnam

Author(s): Małgorzata Pietrasiak / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2024

The article falls within the political science of religion, a “transactional” perspective. A critical point at stake here is preserving the political system, which officially draws on socialist ideas, and Hochiminhism, which consists of the deferring of liberal democracy. A historical background of the emergence of Catholicism in Vietnam has been shown, which proves that Catholics operated under the shadow of anti-national and anti-patriotic accusations. This narrative was additionally strengthened during Indochina’s war when the ruling Communist Party required consolidation around nationalist and communist ideas. The change brought by the reform of Doi Moi, which on the first plan put up economic liberalization followed by greater tolerance and openness, but without changing the party system. Catholics enjoy greater freedom; they can also join the Communist Party, which, in return, expects stabilization and support for the political system. New forms of cooperation with religious groups have been developed. However, some of them are still criticized, including limitations related to the registration of religious groups and control by the state apparatus.

KOMUNIKOWANIE POLITYCZNE KONFERENCJI EPISKOPATU POLSKI PODCZAS KAMPANII PARLAMENTARNEJ W 2023 ROKU

Author(s): Rafał Leśniczak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2024

The aim of the research undertaken was to analyze the institutional communication ofthe Polish Episcopal Conference during the 2023 parliamentary campaign. The analysis coveredbishops’ communications posted on the official website episkopat.pl and published in the periodfrom January 1, 2023 to October 13, 2023, as well as nationwide Catholic weekly magazines “Nie-dziela” and “Gość Niedzielny” from August 8, 2023 to October 13, 2023. Moreover, the positionof the so-called Toruń media (Radio Maryja, Telewizja Trwam) was also taken into account. Theauthor used the methods of discourse analysis, content analysis and literature review. During the2023 parliamentary campaign, Polish bishops were uninvolved political actors at the level of insti-tutional communication. The hierarchs did not support the United Right government and distancedthemselves from it politically. In turn, the nationwide Catholic media approved of the politicalactivities of the United Right candidates. The article increases the cognitive value in the area ofpolitical communication of the Polish Episcopal Conference.