Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Be Opened: The Deaf Catholic Archives, Archives & Distinctive Collections, Abby Stambach, Lisa Villa

Exhibits

This exhibit briefly describes the origin and curation of the Deaf Catholic Archives and includes images of selected items.

This unique collection was founded by Rev. Joseph Bruce, S.J. in the 1970s and is housed in the Archives & Distinctive Collections Department at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

The Performance Of The Christian Faith Under A Populist President: The Case Of The Philippine Church Under Duterte, Ruben C. Mendoza

Theology Department Faculty Publications

President Rodrigo Duterte has been consistent in his attacks against the Catholic Church. True to his campaign promise, he has unleashed his brutal "war on drugs" which has resulted to the deaths of thousands of suspected drug dependents and pushers. In response to his criticisms and the excesses of his anti-illegal drugs program, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines has issued various pastoral statements in faithfulness to its mission.Nevertheless, the majority of Filipinos continue to support Duterte and his anti-illegal drugs stance. In this context, the call of Pope Francis for the church to become a "field hospital" becomes …

Morality Politics: Drug Use And The Catholic Church In The Philippines, Jayeel Cornelio, Gideon Lasco

Development Studies Faculty Publications

This article traces the trajectory of the Catholic Church’s discourses on drug use in the Philippines since the first time a statement was made in the 1970s. By drawing on official statements by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), it argues that shifts in emphasis have taken place through the years: the destruction of the youth, attack on human dignity, and then social moral decay. Collectively, they emanate from an institutional concern for peace and order. But they also reflect the moral panic around drug use that has been around for decades, which, on several …

Clergy Sexual Abuse In The Roman Catholic Church: Dispelling Eleven Myths And Separating Facts From Fiction, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

The sexual abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church has made headline news across the country and world for years. Yet, even with such remarkable publicity, so much misinformation and myths about the problem persist. It is important for psychologists, as well as other mental health professionals, to be better informed about these myths and misinformation in order to better serve their clients who may be impacted by the story. Those impacted include not only clerical abuse victims, their families, and clerics themselves but also Catholics in general, who may be troubled and demoralized by the ongoing and unfolding crisis …

Sanders, William Willard "Whitey," 1930-2021 (Mss 659), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 659. Correspondence, articles and miscellaneous material documenting the career of newspaper editorial cartoonist Bill “Whitey” Sanders. Includes letters from readers, public figures and fellow cartoonists, video of programs and appearances, and material related to Sanders’ books and his participation in professional organizations.

Paper Presented At The National Council Of Preservation Education Conference, Samuel E. Sisneros

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Historic preservation’s principles and practices directly correlate and support the charge of librarians and archivists to provide resources for the public and contribute to scholarship and community building. This paper, presented at the National Council of Preservation Education conference in Denver, Colorado (Oct. 10-12, 2019), will discuss the research methodologies, historical context and preservation issues of a recovery project of an historic site in New Mexico.

Faith, Works, And Praxis: Emergent Post-Colonialism And The Catholic Church In North America, Alexander Odicino

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The personal papers of American Jesuit priest, Wilfrid Parsons, evince an international information war concerned with the praxis of "facts" pertaining to Mexico’s Church and state conflicts of 1925 to 1939. While editor-in-chief of the Jesuit weekly magazine, "America", (1925-1936) Parsons transformed the publication into the pre-eminent Catholic source of information about the "Mexican situation", consequently enabling him to coordinate the publication of "facts" with several other New York based Catholic publications. However, rather than speaking to strictly Catholic interests in the Mexican conflict, research has shown that, when analyzed as a focal point of information processing, the sources in …

Catholic Claims Stretch The First Amendment, Ellis M. West

Political Science Faculty Publications

The Obama administration recently issued a regulation requiring all employers except religious organizations to include contraceptives in their employees' health insurance. The Catholic Church and various politicians have accused the administration of violating the church's religious freedom. Although the administration has modified its original regulation, it continues to be attacked for "waging war" on religious freedom.

Mitchell, Eleonore Beck (Fa 71), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 71. “Pre-Lent Celebrations: Shrovetide and Carnival. An Annotated Bibliography.” This collection consists of an annotated bibliography complied by Eleonore Beck Mitchell for a folklore genres class at Western Kentucky University. The collection offers a brief historical account of Shrovetide and Carnival and their connection to Catholicism. The bibliography contains a total of 168 bibliographic entries and annotations for 97 of those entries.

Framing Racism Post Vatican Ii: Critical Race Theory And The Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Amanda Moras

Presidential Seminar on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition

Over the past century, the Catholic Church as an institutional entity has had a complex, and often contentious, relationship to racial politics. Given its history in colonialism, role in domestic slavery and the widely publicized complicity during the Holocaust, racism is something that has deep seated roots within the Church hierarchy.

That said, over the past fifty years, the Catholic Church, both internationally and in the U.S., has begun to confront racism as a moral issue.

A New Paradigm: Brazilian Catholic Eco-Justice Activism In The Neoliberal Age, Lena R. Connor

Environmental Analysis Program Mellon Student Summer Research Reports

This paper analyzes how traditional liberation theology in Brazil has been adapted in the neoliberal age to encompass ecological goals and rhetoric. In this research report, I first examine the work of prominent Brazilian ecotheologians, Ivone Gebara and Leonardo Boff. I then look into the applications of such ecological liberation theology in Catholic activism in Brazil, focusing on the role of religious advocacy in dam controversies, land reform, and mining.

A Secure Border: In Canada Religion & Politics Don't Mix, Michael W. Higgins

Mission Integration & Ministry Publications

The article focuses on the separation of religion and politics in Canada. It cites that Canadian politicians are collectively nervous about introducing religious issues in the political arena. It notes that reelected Prime Minister Stephen Harper has an affirmed intellectual attachment to religion. It states that religion, particularly Catholicism, surfaced at several points during the election, around the editorial table, or in caucus.

Heighway, David (Fa 322), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 322. Paper: "Medicine and the Catholic Church" written by David Heighway for a Western Kentucky University folk studies class.

Opposing The Lottery In The U.S.: The Forces Behind Individual Attitudes Towards Legalization In 1975, Andrew J. Economopoulos

Business and Economics Faculty Publications

In the 1970s, opposition to the lottery started to fracture in the US. This study examines causes of the fracture and historical factors that contributed to changes in individual attitudes towards legalization. The opponents at the time held to traditional arguments against legalized lotteries—negative economic effects, costs to others and increased crime. Unlike in the past, however, there was weak religious institutional opposition to lotteries. Individuals with a strong commitment to their religious affiliation were more resistant to pro-lottery arguments, but in most cases could be convinced to support the lottery. The pre-World War II generation remained steadfast against the …

Race, Nation, And Religion In The Americas, Edited By Henry Goldschmidt And Elizabeth Mcalister, R. Bryan Bademan

History Faculty Publications

Book review by R. Bryan Bademan.

Goldschmidt, Henry and Elizabeth McAlister, eds. Race, Nation, and Religion in the Americas. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

ISBN 978-0195149197

The Influence Of Issue Management Upon Public Relationships In A Changing Environment: How John Charles Mcquaid, Roman Catholic Archbishop Of Dublin (1940-72) Managed The Issue Of The Second Vatican Council From 1959 To 1972 And The Extent, If Any, To Which This Influenced Change In The Public Relationships Between Archbishop, Diocesan Priests And Laity, Francis Xavier Carty

Doctoral

This research examines the influence of issue management upon public relationships in a changing environment. The example chosen is the management of the Second Vatican Council, from 1959 to 1972 by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin and the public relationships are those between archbishop, diocesan priests and laity. Public relations theories on issue management, publics and relationship management are applied to a religious context, one where relationships may be distorted by the religious faith, authority and obedience on which they are based and which is different to the commercial business environment within which they were framed. The methodology is …

Evidence Of Sanctity: Record-Keeping And Canonization At The Turn Of The 13th Century, Michelle Light

Library Faculty Publications

In 1234, the papacy asserted an exclusive right to canonize saints. To gain control over the canonization process, popes required increasingly specific written evidence from communities about their saints and developed investigative procedures to authenticate the communities’ miraculous evidence. Gathering written testimony for review in Rome was an act of domination over local processes for sanctifying community members. Not only did papal record-keeping remove decision-making from local hands, but it also enabled review of correct belief, structured community responses to the sacred, and provided an effective display of papal rights. During the process of St. Gilbert of Sempringham in 1201–1203, …

The Sexual Abuse Crisis In The Roman Catholic Church: What Psychologists And Counselors Should Know, Thomas G. Plante, Courtney Daniels

Psychology

Recent events regarding child sexual abuse committed by Roman Catholic priests in the Archdiocese of Boston and elsewhere have yet again resulted in a tremendous amount of media attention and frenzy regarding this topic. During 2002 alone, approximately 300 American Catholic priests, including several bishops, were accused of child sexual abuse. Many were forced to resign their positions while others were prosecuted and went to prison. Curiously, there still exist many myths and misperceptions about priests who sexually abuse children and their victims. Since psychologists and other mental health professionals are likely to interact with many who have been impacted …

Clergy Sexual Abuse And The Catholic Church: What Do We Know And Where Do We Need To Go?, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

Few recent topics have received the kind of media attention, heated debate, and discussion than the topic of sex-offending clergy, their victims, and supervisors. It is a story about too many bishops (and priests) behaving badly when they are purported to be the moral, religious, and ethical leaders of society. It is a remarkable story. However, it is a complex story that has had little scholarship and discourse driven by thoughtfulness, civility, and reason.

Ad Experimentum: The Paradoxes Of Indian Catholic Inculturation, Mathew N. Schmalz

Religious Studies Faculty Scholarship

A discussion of the inculturation movement in Indian Catholicism that attempts to adapt Catholic liturgy and religious symbolism to Hindu culture. The article discusses the writings of Indian theologian D. S. Amalorpavadass, their reception, and reactions to them among Dalit (Untouchable) Catholics. The article focuses on the experimental Indian rite Mass as well as the overall relationship between theology and anthropology. The article was published as part of the annual volume of the College Theological Society.

Women-Church And Egalitarianism: Revisioning "In Christ There Are No More Distinctions Between Male And Female", Susan A. Farrell

Publications and Research

This chapter from The Power of Gender in Religion (eds G.A. Weatherby and S.A. Farrell) illustrates how women in the Roman Catholic Church are expanding the roles of women and challenging the patriarchal and hierarchical Roman Catholic Church practices. They are accomplishing this through an umbrella organization of feminist groups which maintain their catholic identty while critiquing the church from within.

"It's Our Church, Too!": Women's Position In The Roman Catholic Church Today, Susan A. Farrell

Publications and Research

This chapter from The Social Construction of Gender (eds J. Lorber and S. Farrell) explores the ways in which gender, particular women's roles are inscribed in the bureaucracy and institutional practices of the Roman Catholic Church.

Interview With Gwendolyn Johnston Regarding Her Life (Fa 154), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Oral Histories

Transcription of an interview with Gwendolyn Johnston conducted by Keith Smith for an oral history project titled "A Generation Remembers, 1900-1949." Johnston discusses her life and times, including information about growing up in West Louisville, Kentucky, education, games, a tornado that struck Louisville in the 1890s, automobiles, the Ku Klux Klan, Ronald Wilson Reagan, and parochial schools.