Church

“Three vectors forming an intimate unity: studies and natural intermediate steps for the apostolate; human relationships and friends as a form of the apostolate; spirituality and the apostolate. All of this is the legacy left to us by Ignatius, the pilgrim, during his stay of two years in Barcelona, a stay that had been prepared by a shorter one that lasted only three weeks. For that reason, it seems that this legacy is a call to be thankful to God for how he molded the Ignatian charism in this city, and a testimony for us who are called to live it in a society that is very different 500 years afterwards. The work that we are presenting is a modest aid to assimilating the Ignatian legacy: to become more aware of the significance for Iñigo the pilgrim of his stay in the city and so to extend it into our lives.” (From the Prologue by Josep Mª. Rambla, SJ)

The synodal Church calls us to a deep change as an institution, but especially as persons. Change, personal conversion, is not going to affect only our way of being Church, but rather it will affect more directly and personally our way of living Christianity, or, if we want to be more precise, our way of being Christians. Synodality is an ecclesial reality, but it has a human sense that we often tend to pass over. Cristina Inoges talks to us about that. She is a lay theologian, who has experienced from the inside, with her voice and a right to vote, this Synod Assembly XVI, 2021-2024.

In 2017, shortly after the #MeToo Movement began denouncing violence against women in the secular world, the feminist movement became a prophetic voice also within the Church. Several ecclesiastical initiatives have been responding to the wound and the suffering produced by structural discrimination against women. By March 2020 there were already public demonstrations in the streets in support of the dignity and equality of women in the Church. Without pastoral intelligence, it is impossible to grasp the regenerative potential of women in the Church.

Why has it been so difficult for the Catholic church to reach out to LGBTQ people?  Why does the church lag so far behind secular organizations, and even other churches, who have made this community feel more welcome?  And why is the church so slow to try to help and protect a group of people who are often at risk of harassment, beatings and violence? Why is it so hard for Catholics to see LGBTQ people as beloved children of God? … Pastoral outreach to LGBTQ Catholics is not simply a fad, or a passing trend, or even something responding to “pressures” from the culture, but a constitutive work of the church and a mission that finds its ultimate roots the Gospels. (From the foreword by James Martin sj.)

The issue of women and the notion of the feminine has again come to the fore, both in the secular world as well as in the ecclesial sphere. Could this be why women are taking on leading roles in a turbulent, violent and changing world? Could this be why Pope Francis has brought up the issue time and time again? Whatever the reason, at this point in time, when the world as a whole finds itself immersed in violence, and facing so many economic, political and social problems, there is a widespread sense that women can play an important role in the process of change. The author of this booklet participated in the inauguration of this course in Cristianisme i Justícia 2017-2018. In this booklet, we have compiled some of the contents of the opening presentation of that course.

Given that the worldwide movement of migrants and refugees is a “sign of the times,” the situations that give rise to this reality cannot remain on the margins of theological reflection. Responding to this need is the theology of migrations, a new discipline grounded in biblical tradition and the magisterium. The author of the present booklet examines this pressing concern in depth, highlighting the five most important issues for our day and age: identity, dignity, justice, hospitality, and integration.

We cannot understand modern-day Europe without understanding the role played by Luther in the Reformation of the 16th century. That event went far beyond the religious realm and revealed the existence of two cultures, two models of social relations, two manners of understanding political power, and even two economic systems. Many of the topics debated during the Reformation and the early Renaissance period are still being debated in our contemporary European society, which is as perplexed and perplexing today as it was in those days.