The Promotion and Cultivation of Priestly Vocations in American Dioceses: Doctrinal and Canonical Foundations for Future Development

Esteban Carrillo, Juan Pablo The Catholic University of America ProQuest Disser 2024 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

This thesis will explore the doctrinal and canonical foundations of promoting and cultivating priestly vocations in the Catholic Church within the United States. The promotion of priestly vocations has been a relevant aspect of the church’s life since the church continually needs priests for the realization of the tasks of the sacred ministry. Over the last decades, the American church has witnessed a decline in the number of priestly vocations, especially after the Second Vatican Council. This phenomenon obliges the American church not to be indifferent to the work of vocational promotion and to foster a responsible and pastoral work of promoting priestly vocations by all the faithful. From this perspective, it is essential to reflect on how the church has approached and implemented this type of work. Thus, the first chapter will involve a historical-canonical analysis of the promotion of priestly vocations prior to the 1983 code. It will also considere the canonical guidelines provided by the Second Vatican Council and its influence on the American church. The second chapter will examine the current legislation of the 1983 code and consider the previous Ratio issued by the then-Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education and the current Ratio Fundamentalis issued by the Dicastery for the Clergy. It will also reflect on two post-conciliar documents that contributed to the development of priestly vocations: Christifideles Laici and Pastores Dabo Vobis. The last and final chapter will present a historical analysis of the evolution of priestly vocations in the United States after the Second Vatican Council and the current canonical guidelines of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops for promoting priestly vocations. Furthermore, it will present some examples of how American dioceses foster the pastoral work of promoting priestly vocations and a culture of vocations. .

Towards an Understanding of the Place of Professional Lay Parish Ministers in the Structure of Ecclesial Ministry

Budney, Linda The Catholic University of America ProQuest Disser 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

In the United States, parish communities are becoming more dependent on laypersons to provide the pastoral care once provided by priests. Pastors, responsible under canon law for the care of souls of those entrusted to them, now rely more and more on lay men and women to assist them in carrying out their responsibilities. In many cases these lay ecclesial parish ministers take on responsibilities once given by the pastor to parochial vicars, those priests assigned to the parish by the diocesan bishop to assist the pastor in providing pastoral care to the parish community. Universal law has a great deal to say about the office of parochial vicar and the formation of priest candidates, as does particular law in the United States, but little about those laypersons who dedicate themselves to service to the Church by providing pastoral care within a parish community. This dissertation examines the history of the office of parochial vicar and the development of formation requirements for priests to determine how this history might suggest ways to incorporate lay ecclesial ministry into universal and/or particular law.This dissertation first observes how the parish has become the usual place where faithful experience the pastoral care of the Church and also how leadership responsibility for providing this care changed over time. Second, this dissertation reviews how the office of parochial vicar developed. This trajectory provides a helpful benchmark for understanding the way parochial ministries develop. Third, the dissertation reviews the involvement of lay persons in the Catholic Church in the United States from pre-colonial times to the present, and presents in some detail the growth of lay ministry in the United States after the Second Vatican Council. Fourth, this study examines the development of the directives and national programs which guide the formation, education and oversight of priests and deacons in the United States, and presents the law on incardination. Fifth, the study looks at existing guidelines which address the formation of lay ecclesial ministers, and also those canons which speak to the employment of lay persons by the Church. The pattern of development of lay ministry in the United States follows closely that of the development of assistant priests (referred to in present-day canon law as parochial vicars) in the early Church. The pastor, or in some cases perhaps the diocesan curia, determines what if any formation is required for pastoral care in a specific circumstance. Unlike the mandatory norms for the formation for priestly and diaconal ministry, there are only guidelines for the formation of lay ministers. To ensure adequate pastoral care in parish communities throughout the country, the bishops of the United States should devote time and attention to the formation and retention of lay ecclesial ministers in parish communities.

Forming God’s Family: Building and Mentoring the Domestic Church Using the Six Tasks of Catechesis in the General Directory for Catechesis

Drennan, Martha Jean The Catholic University of America ProQuest Disser 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

The family is a domestic church. Since Vatican II, this term has returned to magisterial and theological discussion; however, its pastoral application is still wanting. Parents, the first, best, and primary educators of the faith are not able to delegate this role totally to others. Parents who lack understanding of how to form their family, will struggle to teach the faith to their children. Families not fully living their faith, often fall away from the practice of their faith. Parents must assume their God-given responsibility to teach their children and form their family as a domestic church.The Catholic Church teaches six integrated tasks to her children: To know the revelation of God, to worship him in the liturgy, to live the Christian life, to seek God in prayer, all within the context of a family community, while never failing to share this good news with others. The parent formation in this project is structured upon these areas, summarized in the General Directory for Catechesis. These six tasks, abbreviated as: creed, cult, code, contemplation, community, and call, are the six dimensions of formation of the domestic church, which give parents a structure and enable them to apply a particular approach in the formation of their family. Secondarily, the project seeks to identify parents who feel capable and willing to mentor other parents to do the same. Parents learned about forming their family as a domestic church during six, two-hour in length sessions, followed by four months of follow-up newsletters. The methodology employed was directed at conversion to Jesus Christ, helping parents to understand the faith as revealed by God, and leading to transformation in their lives as they responded to God’s grace. Parents who are better evangelized, catechized, and living as disciples, are best suited to apply the faith in the formation of their family as a domestic church. For young parents, or those attempting this familial formation, mentor parents are greatly needed to support them. Marriage and family, as revealed in God’s plan, are attacked in today’s culture. Well-formed families will overcome this attack and strengthen the Catholic Church.

The Final Answer to God: The Fate of the Unevangelized in Catholic and Mormon Thought

Cranney, Carl J The Catholic University of America ProQuest Disser 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Roman Catholics and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are both inclusivist religions, holding that theirs is Christ’s true church while acknowledging ways for those outside their institutional boundaries to still be saved. The largest group of those outside institutional boundaries are the unevangelized, people who never had the opportunity to hear the gospel message. One way to understand the possibility of salvation for the unevangelized revolves around issues about one’s final response to God. Karl Rahner’s (Roman Catholic) theology of death, or theology of humanity’s fundamental option, Ladislaus Boros’ (Roman Catholic) hypothesis of a final decision, and Terryl L. Givens’ (Latter-day Saint) discussion of a perfect decision all have significant similarities to each other in creating possibilities for the salvation of the unevangelized. Observing these three scholars in conversation on this issue also helps illuminate the differences between the underlying theological assumptions of Roman Catholicism and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Image of the Church as the Family of God: A Systematic Study in the Igbo Catholic Church of Nigeria

Ekeocha, John O The Catholic University of America ProQuest Disser 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

The Catholic Church in Africa is in need of renewal. The 1994 Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for Africa endorsed the image of the Church as the family of God as the most appropriate image for Africans. The present study examines the image within the context of the Igbo Catholic Church of Nigeria. Successive chapters contain: first, a discussion of Igbo people and the Igbo family; second, an examination of the advent and influence of Christianity in Igboland; third, a consideration of some essential aspects of the Catholic Church, the wider context of the present study; fourth, a critical assessment of Igbo traditional religion and culture in light of the image; fifth, a critical analysis of the image; and sixth, an examination of the prospects and challenges the image holds for the Igbo Church in the 21st century. Scholarly research, and the life and experience of the present writer as an Igbo Catholic priest, were both valuable resources for the writing of this dissertation. The main conclusions of the research are as follows: First, the Igbo understanding of the family is under threat today from the forces of contemporary culture. Second, plural belonging is an unfortunate feature of present-day Igbo Catholicism. Third, Igbo traditional religion and Igbo culture have semina veritatis (seeds of truth) that could potentially contribute to an understanding of the Church as the family of God for Igbo people, though significant corrections to the Igbo understanding of the family must also be made if that image is to be a satisfactory one for the Church. Fourth, the image complements, and needs to be complemented by, other scriptural and theological images of the Church. The present study concludes that a proper understanding of the Church as the family of God can be crucial for addressing the needs of the Igbo Church in the twenty-first century, with particular reference to evangelization, aggiornamento (the bringing-up-to-date of the Church), and the construction of an authentic and indigenous Catholic Church in Igboland.

The Hell of One’s Own Making: A Critique of Choice Models of Damnation

Bardou, David The Catholic University of America ProQuest Disser 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Regarding the nature of damnation, substantial tension exists in the exegetical and creedal data. The attempts of theologians to resolve these tensions has resulted in many distinct and contradictory portrayals of the nature of damnation as a whole. Among these portrayals are what some have called a choice-model of damnation, wherein the damned themselves are the primary executors of their own punishments in the afterlife. However, to understand damnation in this way creates a problem in that God’s agency is not directly involved in damnation. God’s way of addressing the problem of sin is to not address it. This is unacceptable. To find a way around this difficulty, a model of damnation which incorporates choice-model elements whilst including a retributive and vindicative element in divine agency. Such a model must then be tested against what is acceptable for a Catholic eschatological model. After determining the exact nature of those Catholic outer limits via an examination of relevant historical and magisterial texts in the first chapter, the author distinguishes the possible variables involved in damnation: these being a one-time judgment and then a subsequent perpetual punishment. Distinguishing between these two component parts of what the author calls an economy of damnation forms the basis of the subsequent investigation of the exegetical material about Hell, as well as the survey of the last century of literature on choice-models of damnation. The author then puts forward his own suggestion for a comprehensive economy of damnation unifying the strengths of the choice-models whilst preserving God’s agency in damnation. This hybrid model of damnation is based upon scholastic and Thomistic categories, and shows theological continuity and compatibility between traditional Catholic eschatologies and contemporary theological insights.

Effectiveness of a Brief Text-Message Enhanced Self-Compassion Intervention for College Students

Anderson, Natalie K The Catholic University of America ProQuest Disser 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Despite the high levels of emotional distress in college populations, it is estimated that less than 25% of those affected are receiving treatment. Research suggests that interventions to enhance self-compassion-- an open, gentle, and accepting attitude toward oneself in the midst of difficult experiences (Neff, 2003)-- could be particularly effective for enhancing well-being (e.g., life satisfaction) and reducing distress (e.g., anxiety). However, more research is needed to better understand how to foster self-compassion in undergraduates, ideally, through interventions that are effective, easily disseminated, time- and cost- efficient. One promising way to enhance the effectiveness of brief programs is to incorporate between-session text messages. The primary purpose of the present study was to evaluate effectiveness of a 3-week, text-message enhanced self-compassion intervention in college students. Further, this study was the first to examine the hypothesis that between-session text messages would strengthen the effectiveness of an in-person group psychological intervention in undergraduates. N = 80 participants were recruited and randomized to a text-enhanced self-compassion intervention, a no-text self-compassion intervention, or a wait-list control group; participants in each condition completed self-report questionnaires assessing well-being and distress at baseline, post-intervention, and at one-month follow up. Multivariate and univariate analyses of variances supported hypotheses that participants in both self-compassion interventions improved on the majority of well-being measures compared to wait-list control, which were sustained one month following the intervention. Results indicated that when the two treatment groups were compared directly, the text-enhanced self-compassion program did not significantly improve students’ psychological well-being over time compared to the non-text enhanced program. However, the overall pattern of improvements in outcomes relative to waitlist controls was somewhat more favorable for the text-enhanced intervention. This study contributes to the literature on effective interventions for improving well-being in this at-risk population. It is recommended that future researchers primarily focus on standardizing brief self-compassion interventions and measures of effectiveness, further enhancing the text-message component of this program, and including samples with more individuals of color with the continued objective of creating feasible and effective interventions for all college students.

St. Ephrem the Syrian’s Spiritual Guidance: A Study of the Verse Homilies on Reproof

Scott, Colby A The Catholic University of America ProQuest Disser 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Statement of the Problem and BackgroundEphrem the Syrian (c. 306-373) is one of the most well-known of Syriac writers. He is celebrated in the Eastern Churches not only for his theology and biblical commentary, but also for his achieved popularity as a proto-monastic figure. After Ephrem’s lifetime, his reputation as an esteemed theological teacher (mallpānā) continued to spread among the Syriac-speaking churches. As his reputation spread westward, he became known primarily as an anchorite living in the desert in the environs of Edessa, who would on occasion enter the city to give spiritual guidance. A large Greek corpus of texts began to be transmitted under Ephrem’s name. Two different images of Ephrem emerged, classed under the titles of Ephrem Syrus and Ephrem Byzantinus. The image of Ephrem Syrus depicts Ephrem as primarily a teacher in the Syriac tradition and a deacon in the service of the bishops in Nisibis and Edessa during his lifetime. The image of Ephrem Byzantinus shows him as a monastic writer. Ephrem’s works preserved in Greek are primarily ascetic in character with only a little relationship to works preserved in Syriac, which serve as evidence of his role as a teacher. Little attention has been paid to Ephrem’s role as spiritual guide in the Syriac tradition. It is striking that few of his ascetical texts have been studied other than those transmitted in Greek under his name. His Syriac ascetical works, namely the Verse Homilies on Reproof (mēmrē d-makksanūta), have gone largely unstudied.In the eighteenth century Joseph Assemani published in six volumes both the Syriac and Greek texts attributed to Ephrem along with Latin translations. This monumental publication became the foundation for nearly all Ephrem scholarship until the middle of the twentieth century when Dom Edmund Beck began publishing editions and German translations of the Syriac corpus. Kees den Biesen’s Annotated Bibliography of Ephrem the Syrian indicates that only a handful of these Greek works published by Assemani correspond to an extant Syriac text and only two of these texts are considered to be authentic works of Ephrem the Syrian, namely the Sermo Asceticus and De Morbo Linguae et Pravis Affectibus. These two Greek texts discuss topics similar to the first two Verse Homilies on Reproof published by Beck in Des Heiligen Ephraem Des Syrers Sermones I. In addition to these two Verse Homilies on Reproof, Beck published two other memre bearing the same title, which are considered to be genuine works of Ephrem (Sermones I mēmrē 3 and Sermones II mēmrē 2). The relationship between content and form in Ephrem’s memre remains understudied. More work needs to be done to address the connection between the image of Ephrem Graecus and the historical Ephrem. In particular, a thorough study is required of the two authentic Syriac texts which became a part of the Greek corpus. Thus, a close reading with English translation of the four Verse Homilies on Reproof judged authentic by Beck remains a scholarly desideratum. PurposeThe purpose of this dissertation is to examine the image of Ephrem as an ascetical spiritual guide within the context of the four reliably authentic Verse Homilies on Reproof. Special emphasis will be given to the formal structure of the mēmra since this ubiquitous Syriac genre has so far only elicited cursory scholarly attention. This dissertation will provide the first annotated English translation and close study of the four mēmrē.MethodologyThis dissertation will situate the central themes within an analysis of the overall structure of each text. Special attention will be given to how Ephrem utilizes poetic techniques to persuade and guide his audience. The translation and analysis will be informed by previous non-English translations and relevant passages in Ephrem’s Syriac corpus. This structural analysis will, in turn, become the foundation for a study of Ephrem the Syrian’s spiritual guidance. This will be situated into a discussion of the reception of that guidance in the Ephrem Graecus corpus and later Syriac tradition.Contribution and OriginalityThis dissertation will provide the first summary and analysis of the content and form of these homilies. It will provide an analysis of Ephrem as spiritual guide using a set of evidence, which has yet to be considered by modern scholars.

Res as Transcendental in the Metaphysics of Thomas Aquinas

Vidal, David M The Catholic University of America ProQuest Disser 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Among the transcendentals, the primary notion res (thing) has been very much neglected. In fact, Philip the Chancellor (1160–1236) did not include res in the first recorded list of the transcendentals. Afterward, studies of the transcendentals were very much reduced to considerations of being and the Neo-Platonic list of one, good, and true. Res entered the philosophical conversation between medieval Latin authors first with Albert the Great (ca. 1200–1280) and then with Thomas Aquinas’s studies of Avicenna’s Metaphysics. The proximate inspiration for this development was the distinction Avicenna (980–1037) drew between the notion of ‘thing (Sayʼ)’ and the notion of ‘being (Mawjud).’ Thomas Aquinas (1224/25–1274) took Avicenna’s distinction and placed it within the framework of his own metaphysics in which the distinction between essence and esse (actus essendi) plays a fundamental role. Thomas’s discovery of esse as the act of all acts guided his new understanding of being. Thus, Thomas was able to conclude that being signifies the act of being (actus essendi) and res signifies the essence. Thomas’s distinction was not adopted by other contemporary and later Scholastic thinkers. Henry of Ghent (ca. 1217–1293), John Duns Scotus (ca. 1266–1308), and Francisco Suarez (1548–1617) offered a different description of being by emphasizing the signification of essence, or quiddity. As a result, not only does the real distinction of essence-esse vanish, but also the conceptual distinction of being and res loses its foundation. Following this trend, even metaphysics, or the science of being, could mutate into tinology, or the science of thing. This dissertation analyzes the primary notion res in the context of Thomas’s metaphysics, and particularly, of Thomas’s understanding of the real distinction of essence-esse. In this context, Thomas affirms that being and res are identical in reality (in re), but different conceptually. In the same context, Thomas distinguishes conceptual being and conceptual res from the being or res that is outside of the mind. Furthermore, on the basis of his doctrine of analogy, Thomas is also able to ascend from created beings to the Uncreated Being and from created res to the Uncreated Res.

Understanding the Mechanisms of Graft Rejection and Tolerance Induction after Nonmyeloablative Haploidentical Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Sickle Cell Disease

Shaikh, Ahmad The Catholic University of America ProQuest Disser 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited red blood cell disorder that leads to significant morbidity and early mortality. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) remains the most widely available curative approach for SCD. However, <18 % of SCD patients have human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched sibling donors. HLA-haploidentical (haplo) HSCT expands the donor pool considerably and it is a practical alternative for these patients, but with an increased risk of allograft rejection. Identifying unique diagnostic biomarkers and also elucidating the mechanisms of engraftment and rejection in SCD patients who underwent haplo-HSCT could potentially be helpful not only in predicting HSCT outcome, but also treating the impending graft rejection at a reversible state. We performed a proteomic analysis using plasma samples from engrafted and rejected SCD patients who underwent haplo-HSCT and found that galectin-1 (Gal-1), thrombospondin-1(Tsp-1), and platelet factor 4 (Pf-4) levels were significantly higher in engrafted patients. Next, in order to verify whether these findings can be replicated in a rodent bone marrow transplantation setting and to understand the cellular mechanism, we employed our major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-mismatched allogeneic (allo)-HSCT murine model. Transplanted mice were classified into either rejected or engrafted groups based on the presence of donor chimerism. In rejected mice, we noted significantly higher frequencies of conventional CD4+ T cells, subset of CD4+ T helper (Th) 17 cells, CD8+ T cells, NK cells; and pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-a producing CD4+ T cells dendritic cells (DCs), macrophages, B cells, and CD8+ T cells, and IFN-g producing DCs and macrophages. Importantly cardinal features observed in engrafted mice include increased frequencies of Tregs, Tr1 cells, Th2 cells, and anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 positive CD4+ T cells, DCs and macrophages, and increased circulatory levels of Gal-1. Further, we delineated the association of circulatory levels of Gal-1 with enhanced proportions of Gal-1 producing CD4+ T cells, Th2 subset, Tregs, and Tr1 cells in engrafted mice. Elevated frequencies of Gal-1 positive Tregs contributed to increased Treg suppression activity, and the addition of Gal-1 siRNA resulted in attenuation of Treg suppression in engrafted mice. Additionally, our data indicated that Gal-1 positive CD4+CD25- effector T cells in engrafted mice are more susceptible to apoptosis. Here, we have shown for the first time that not only Gal-1 favors engraftment in SCD patients who underwent haplo-HSCT, but also Gal-1 contributes to bone marrow cell engraftment in our MHC-mismatched murine allo-HSCT model. Taken together, our results demonstrate that Gal-1 expressing Tregs, Tr1 and Th2 cells may play an essential role in inducing immune tolerance and stable mixed chimerism after HSCT.