The Irish Times: Liberation Theology - Research Paper Example

GUIDE TO LIBERATION THEOLOGY “ CONTENTS PAGE Introduction to Calendar 3 2. Newspapers as historical sources 5 3. Introductory essay 6 4. Independent.ie. 1975-1985 10 5 The Irish Times 1975-1985 13 “Introduction to Calendar” This assignment was Irish newspapers and their sources, of the Irish reaction to liberation theology from 1975-1985 and to determine if there is a change in reaction during the decade especially after pope john Paul II pontificate in 1978. I will send you the gatherings and also examples of other pieces so you can get an idea of what is expected. Firstly there needs to be an explanation of liberation theology background etc. and the Pope’s response against the crusade. Secondly there needs to include an analysis of using newspapers as an historical source. The Irish Times and independent is the sources gathered other 4 calendar files are examples to follow. Aim This calendar offers a pathfinder to Irish newspapers like Independent and Irish times and their sources which pictured the Irish reaction to liberation theology from 1975-1985. This calendar will also examine and to determine if there is a change in response from 1975-1985 particularly after Pope John Paul II preaching in 1978.This research essay tries to explore how this concept of Church can be incorporated into an Irish context. This research essay will analyse about the Irish social activists who called for a fundamental new deviation for the Catholic Church in Ireland. Further, it will make ethnographic research among members of Base Christian Communities in Ireland, who have witnessed the appeal of this upcoming ecclesial enthusiasm. Format The calendar consists of two sections each devoted to a newspaper and its coverage about liberation theology from 1975-1985 in Ireland. Articles are appearing in chronological order along with the date and page numbers. There are useful articles like bishop condemns the IRAs elucidation of the just war, Vatican to conduct the enquiry against priest for his rebellious perceptions, Vatican criticises Geidi " Marxist" views, pope defends the poor, and so on. Content All the contents in the newspapers have been analysed from the period between 1975 and 1985. The Irish reaction to liberation theology from 1975-1985 has been chiefly dealt in these newspapers. This research essay has taken adequate care to cover all the significant news that have been appeared in the newspapers relating to the above. Irish newspaper widely covered various developments relating the Liberation Theology. For instances, under Liberation Theology, Church is somewhat energetic, something that involved in conjunctions with the requirements and creativities of the people. Irish newspaper illustrated the involvement of Christians in the process of liberation. Irish newspapers highlighted the actions of the UK Government which is carrying out in Ireland is vicious, unjust and degrading manner and were of the view that this impasse to be resolved by taking up arms by the Irish rebellion Christians. The Calendar was resourced in Belfast and Dublin. The Belfast Telegraph was resourced at the Central Library Belfast on microfilm and hard copies. The Irish Times was sourced at the National Library on hard copies and microfilm. Effectiveness of the Calendars The calendar was useful as crisp newspaper sources of Liberation Theology that happened in Ireland between 1975 and 1985. By pinpointing on a wider time frame of 10 years, the calendar gives very good ground for the future researchers to evaluate in detail media coverage of the Christian awareness from the church point of view, from society point of view and from the IRA point of view. Disadvantages of the calendar Due to size restraints, this research essay is not able to cover the entire rebellious activities of Sinn Fein, which as a political party which supported and justified the armed struggle of IRA. Further research on the subject could illustrate the picture of Sinn Fein and IRA in restoring rights to the downtrodden and poor people in Ireland. Again due to space and size constraints, this research essay could not concentrate more on Liberation theologian Cardinal Ratzinger view that a church should for the poor, with the poor and alongside the poor and why Vatican was hesitant to support the poor in their class struggle. Further, due to size limitations, this research essay could not deal exhaustively on why Vatican initiated sanctions against father Boff. However, these newspaper coverage could provide a substitute fundamental commentary on liberation theology in Ireland and perhaps a deeper insight into the motivations behind non-support from Vatican in addressing the oppression of downtrodden. “Newspapers as historical source” Newspapers are the commonly employed primary research sources on historical researches. It is being considered as one of the convenient forms of research source as it is readily available in microfilm, print and other online formats. Majority of the local libraries is having either microfilm copies, actual copies of newspapers published from the local areas. Further, historical newspapers are being warehoused by major research libraries. Majorities of the historical newspapers are online with the facility for searching for a specific news article or depicting the whole of the newspaper article. In spite of their widespread availability and usefulness, newspaper should be handled by entry-level researchers with utmost caution. Despite the fact that the newspaper sources offer a trendy view into a time period , the fact that newspaper frequently reports on incidents footed upon the corroboration which a reporter has gathered, which offers magazines and newspapers some of the features of a secondary source1. Many newspapers also highlight their point of view on a subject, which in some instances may be silenced, but in other places and times, this point of view is quite well-defined. For instance, in the United States during the nineteenth century, US newspapers were frequently known as mouthpieces of religious organisations, political parties or social movements. Thus, a historian must meticulously apply the identical critical assessment about the author of the news item, the audience, and the historical background employed for other sources. When employing a newspaper to comprehend an incident, it is best to correlate with the other primary sources on the same incident. Newspapers are particularly helpful in evaluating a specific point of view. For instance, any evaluation of the politics engulfing minimum unit price for alcohol in UK should be researched with an analysis of major policies of pro-Coalition government and pro-Opposition party should be reviewed. Further , a historical researcher should carefully examine an editorial from a specific time period and should be armed with a thorough knowledge of historical background , to recollect a significant and otherwise arduous -to-discern features an event or time2. Introductory Essay This research essay evaluated the work of various Irish activists who have been attracted by Liberation Theology. These are the researchers who represent the spirit of liberation theology as much through their initiations as through their writings and words and offer a unique Irish perspective on the applicability of the model of Base Chrisitian Communithy (BCC) well outside the place of genesis. Recognising and evaluating the principles that guide these researchers and the spirituality that buttresses their work which explained how through the effective ways of predicting the perspectives of the Church in Liberation Theology, which could be integrated into an Irish background. As per David Hall (1997), while everybody aware a great extent about the history of church , theology and the state , and as we aware next-to-nothing about religion as applied and aware nothing about the layman’s everyday doing and thinking. This research essay evaluates the model of Church assisted liberation theology with an aim to predicting the chances of these special ecclesial perspective offers to the Catholic Church in Ireland. Liberation theology had its origin from Latin America. It finds in Holy Scripture, the inspiration and cannons for striving to free citizens from unfair social structures and outlines. Its commencing point is frequently concerned with a concrete scenario of a nation’s mainly downtrodden people and how they comprehend the Holy Scriptures in relation to their fight for liberty from unfair social structures and from sin. This division of theology has its sources in the initiatives of poor societies across Latin America to break away from the monopoly of poverty and to establish more equitable social order that mirrors their requirements and ambitions. Liberation theology construes the repressive societal scenarios that the poor have to undergo in the background of power of the Gospel message and offers the motivation for those once belonged to the restrictions of society to become a communal force for transformation in the globe. Liberation Theology advocates a substitute model of Christian community that organises the people to bring their spirit and creativity to bear on the life of the Church. Came out of the resolute initiatives of the oppressed people of Latin America to liberate themselves from the monopoly of destitution and poverty , the Base Christian Communities (BCC) symbolise a crucial change from how the Church has customarily functioned in the world. Liberation ecclesiology regards the people as theological subjects in their own privilege and acknowledges the continuing worth of their initiatives to establish a more equitable and just social order for their communities3. Under Liberation Theology, Church is not a rigid, static entity aiming on disseminating its doctrine and its configurations in each new era. Instead, the Church is somewhat energetic, something that involved in conjunctions with the requirements and creativities of the people. Thus, this ecclesial doctrine results in the creation of the universal church4. Liberation Theology started to impact on Irish theological manifestation between 1975 and 1985. The Student Christian Movement organised the first conference in December 1976, which was led by Michael O Sullivan. In this conference, a Dublin based priest requested the Church to assume a political stand against deprivation and injustice witnessed by the Dublin slum-dwellers.5 This conference intended to promote a matching association in the Irish theological inquest to offer a motivation for Christians in Ireland to become a therapeutic force in Irish society. Ireland witnessed during this period the involvement of Christians in the process of liberation. This period witnessed the divergence that observed between the Irish people and the Church leadership within the existing hierarchical standards and expected a time when the majority of the customary functions of the Christian minister would fall on members of the local communities and local areas, establishing “the real panorama of an indigenous ministry for a home-grown community6. Liberation Theology influenced greatly on Irish theological discourse in the 1970s and 1980s and resulted in the growth of interest among theologians in Ireland in the special ecclesial perspective that was echoing in the poor communities of Latin America at that time. Further , many religious orders were motivated by retuning missionaries to extend out the relative sanctuary of their customary base and to make an obvious and unequivocal choice for the downtrodden in Irish society. Kealy explained how majority of these missionaries tried to establish a dynamic in their local parish communities that echoed the vibrancy of the Church they had seen in Latin America. Thus , Irish missionaries learned , received and to incorporate in the home to a frequently attempted Church which has much to learn from fresher , younger Churches from Latin America7. O’ Sullivan recalled how the speakers in the first theology conference in Ireland in 1977 retorted to the claim that “ theology in Ireland was witnessing a Babylonian captivity. Thus , Irish theology no longer ventilated the real human needs of the citizens and was continued on in the fabulous separation of seminary ivory towers. As per O’ Sullivan , many of the customary functions of the Christian minister will decentralise on members of local areas and communities. Such communities should even be emboldened to choose their own ministers who would then be imparted adequate knowledge transfer for their tasks. In this manner, there would present the very real opportunity of an indigenous ministry for indigenous community8. As per Fagan , one of the speakers of 1977 conference felt that “ experience of liberation “ as theologians here started to incorporate an analogous movement in Irish theological inquiry focussed at elucidating the transforming whimsies of society in the background of the continuing importance of the Chiristian story to each new place and time. “ If theology is Christian reflection on Christian knowledge --- the agenda of their study and the meetings which is written by the world in which they reside, a world that witnesses a process of continual change9. O’Leary picturised the significance of anchoring he Irish theological thinking on the uniqueness to Irish society in the belief that “ once the cultural background has been decided, real theology must be outlined in terms of that culture , if it is to demonstrate to anyone10. Kealy cautioned that the task of theology is not to simply disseminate the well-founded formulas of the past but to unravel the importance of these formulas for each and every new generation , demonstrating that there is “ no such thing as a Christian nation , a Christian people , but each generation¸ each individual has to search Christ for himself and to plan their own pilgrimage through its own ocean of issues. O’Sullivan found a major shift in focus in theological inquiry in Ireland at this juncture that mirrored the resloution of issues of the theologians in Ireland to elucidate the catholicity of the Gospel message without losing sight of the specific background wherein the message was spread out. Further , O’ Sullivan accepted the part played by the theologians of liberation, which have played in broadening the scope of theology so that it bonds the notions of the Gospel with the everyday life which is special to each new cultural background and in offering an incitement for theologians in Ireland to exert a transforming pressure in Irish society11. " Liberation Theology: An Irish Dialogue" was the theme of the three-day conference organised by the Irish Theological Association which was held in January 1977, which echoed the need for the Church to turn to be more determined in its censure of social injustice and to find out morat e reliable ways of living as per the message of Gospel. As per Claver, the crucial issue witnessed by the Church today in its assignment of evangelisation and in its general lack of r eliability as a witness to the Gospel12 As per Kirby (1982), The Work of Justice and Christian Liberation held in April 1982 stressed the theologians to offer rehabilitated hope and meaning to downtrodden communities in Ireland in their fight for more impartial social conditions13. As per McDonagh (1977), Irish theological inquiry in the period between 1975 and 1985 started to mirror the historical struggles of the people , in the background of their faith and their probable for change and as such, resulted in more liberating hypothesis of Church to develop14. As per Fr.Joe McVeigh, Church must support the social, radical and political transformation and the “the spitting image of the bourgeoisie clergy cannot be justified. As per him, the Christian retort to the Northern Ireland conflict should be along the lines indicated by Liberation Theology, and he supported a “consciousness-raising “class of education instead of gun and bomb as the manner to accomplish the new society15. Fr. Des Wilson, supported Sinn Fein, as the political party which backed and justified the armed struggle of IRA as he supported Sinn Fein as the party of rational choice of a distinguished people. Wilson also concurred with the views of Archbishop Helder Camara in declining to censure those Christians who embraced arms in the fight for justice16. Wilson was of the view that what the UK Government is carrying out in Ireland is vicious, unjust and degrading and was of the view that this impasse to be resolved by taking up arms. Thus, Wilson supported a non-violent direct action and thus, some radical action has to be carried over at the earliest17. Tissa Balasuriya from Sri Lanka and Sergio Torres from Chile18, were the two liberation theologians delivered their speech in “the Work of Justice and Christian Liberation” conference in April, 1982 and invited the theologians to extend renewed hope and meaning to improvised communities in Ireland in their fight for more justifiable social conditions19. Kirby explained how this conference was special in nature that it established an atmosphere of dialogue between oppressed minorities and theologians in Ireland and gestured a climate when theologians here started to “hear to the downtrodden and place theology at the service of their emancipation20. McDonagh debated that Irish theological inquiry at this juncture started to mirror the historical fights of the people, in the background of their faith and their potential for change, and, hence, directed the way for a more liberating paradigm of Church to evolve21. O’ Hanlon argued that the disenchantment that is visible in the Church in Ireland today establishes an opening for a more authority and more meaningful ecclesial paradigm to crop up in Ireland. O’ Hanlon maintained that this time of trial can offer the incentive for the people to “re-examine” what it connotes to be the church, to envisage a new vision, and to start to initiate the steps to introduce this vision22. The Irish National Liberation Army (IRA) was comprised of Protestant members, and some of its famous heroes like Emmet and Tone were Protestants. Further, the IRA often denounced the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. Thus, each and every issue of the Provisional Sinn Fein weekly newspaper, “A Phoblacht (The Republic) always contained the hostility between the Irish Hierarchy and IRA23. Independent.ie 1975-1985 “January 3 1977” Page 16 Rev. Dr Cathal Daly censured IRA’s claim that they are waging a just war. As per Daly, IRA overlooked the whole cannons of theology of the just war, and IRA’s violence, in fact, separated the two communities in the North. “August 4 1981” Page 7 Orange chief Joseph power demanded that all the Irish churches and Christians should come clean on the terrorists, strikers and revolutionaries. He also warned that Christians should not entertain the guerrilla fighters and should not encourage them to make the Christ as the patron saint of them. “August 14 1984” Page 3 Boff, a leading Brazilian follower of liberation theology was to be tried in Brazil for his rebellious perspectives. However, Vatican declined to accept that there was a widening gap between the church of Brazil, and the holy see. August 23,1984 Page 18 Pop criticised “class struggle” to help the poor and this can be termed as Vatican’s initiatives to control leftists’ priests in the Third World. “September 4 ,1984” Vatican censured liberation theology as a peril to Catholicism. Vatican also started to promote against mixing theology with political ideology. September 6,1984 Vatican issued warning against ideas preached by Rev Leonardo Boff as it thinks that it is a peril to the Catholic faith. “September 8, 1984” Page 22 Liberation theologian Cardinal Ratzinger stressed that a church should for the poor, with the poor and alongside the poor. September 19,1984 Page 20 Pope cautioned that the poor should rate those who constructed an “imperialistic domination of political and economic supremacy at the cost of the others. He was also of the view that “economic prejudice was rather the greatest risk to world peace instead of the arm’s race. December 22,1984 Pope supported his earlier perspectives on liberation theology and urged that it is our duty to safeguard the poor from “precarious and deceptive “paths. The above signifies that Catholic Church is ready to use the gospel to rationalise action because of oppressed and poor, particularly in Third-World nations often employing the notion of class struggle to evaluate social issues. “January 21 1985 “ Page 10 As per Maurice Manning, in 1980s, in Ireland, there were two contradictory movements with the church. One movement was concentrating on the influence of liberation theology, which committed to usher greater social justice and awareness both in Ireland and in Third countries. On the other hand, Pope John Paul II was to have a histrionic determination and to have an assertive approach on both the political and theological issues. As far as papacy was concerned, conservative orthodoxy was in and the liberation theology was out, and a precise attempt was initiated to make sure the unique pontifical positions were maintained by antedates close to the thinking of the pope. “March 21 ,1985” Page 2 Vatican heavily came down on Rev Leonardo Boff for his views that “jeopardised the sound doctrine of the Faith.” “May 22 , 1985” Page 22 One Polish student posed the Pope that some of his stand on liberation theology shocked the student community. Pope responded to it by stressing that teachers should divulge the obvious statements of the Church in the issues of morals and faith to their students. “June 18, 1985” Recent sanctions initiated against father Boff by Vatican was condemned by the Irish theologians. It expressed its concern at the atmosphere of suspicion as regards to theologians by the Roman Catholic church in recent days. “December 1, 1985” In Bishops synod, there was a wide fissure over liberation theology and how Catholicism should protect the interests of the downtrodden people in the Third World. Cardinal Dario Castrillian Hoyos of Columbia vehemently came down on armed movement supported by Church. Nonetheless, Jose Ivo Lorscheiter, the Brazilian Bishop commented that liberation theology as the essence of the entirety of Latin America’s church’s life. He asserted that liberation theology is not either a theology that supports Marxist ideology or theology of violence. The Irish Times, 1975-1985 “January 1, 1977” Page 3 Three-day conference in Ireland discussed the Christian demeanour to the reorganisation of society and the employment of violence to accomplish political liberation. “November 24, 1977” Page 9 The novel socio-political character played by famous bishops’ priest were condemned for being too political activists and were branded as communists and many have killed by rightist terrorist groups. October 18,1978 Pope John Paul II was inducted as new Pope, and this Pope was considered to be not a progressive in the perspectives of the Western nations. They also viewed his theology as conservative and his close relationship with Marxist branded him as Pope communist. January 29,1979 Page4 Be aware of the “new church” was the warning given by the Pope. The Christian communities of the poor established the church of the poor which spread the whole of Latin American in the last decade. This establishment was an endeavour by clergy dedicated to the liberation of the poor to establish devoted Christian groups. The obligations of these communities both to the class struggle and Christianity which had resulted in acute oppression and has accomplished little obvious outcome. Though “church of the people” was still very much in its initial stages as it symbolised a tiny portion of the Christian population. “February 1, 1979” Delegates of the Latin American Bishop conference held in Puebla, Mexico stressed for more church activity on social issues. It appeared that there was a division among the South American church as conservatives were of the opinion that they should acknowledge governmental authority and restrain itself to its religious activities only and to bar any social actions. However, the modernists were of the view that they should follow Vatican II documents as the fundamental obligations of the Church, which was to support the oppressed and the poor. It was observed that the Brazilian bishops who constituted the major national delegation were anticipated to have a liberal influence at the conference. February 2,1979 An Argentine journalist questioned when Pope censured liberation theology, why Bishop did not censure those who embraced it and why they had not censured many nuns and priests who turned to be Marxist guerrillas. February 13,1979 Page 6 The strict reality of the Catholic church’s fight in Latin America was described as the new liberation theology and its role in challenging the authorities of military dictatorships. February 4,1980 Page 6 As per Tom Fawthrop, the Bishops in Philippines were practicing a theology of liberation, exhibiting their antagonism to President Marcos’ martial law regime. January 19,1983 Page 4 As per Peader Kirby in Geneva, famous theologians reconfirmed their assurance to the theology of the oppressed. They were of the opinion that the whole world was ensnared by arm race, neo-colonialism, racism and sexism, which were also recognised as elements of oppression. March 11,1983 Page 12 Pope John Paul II was of the view that Church’s social preaching could offer a resolution to Central America’s issues. “Apri1 20 , 1983” Pope John Paul II during his visit to Nicaragua appreciated the huge engagement of Christians in the Nicaraguan revolution. April 14,1984 The Latin American bishops deliberated about the emergence of the liberation theology and popular church and consented solidly that they must safeguard Catholic principle. As per Cardinal Ratzinger, Catholic doctrine and Marxist analysis won’t mix. June 5,1984 Page 6 The absence of Catholic Bishops during the visit of President Reagan’s visit to Ireland indicated the boycott of the political leader from the Western world by religious leaders. The Irish theological Association while attempting to establish unique Irish theology that would follow the Latin American liberation theology which would be footed upon in retort to sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. June 21,1984 Page 5 Leading Catholic theologians in Ireland opposed Vatican for its attack on the liberation theologians. “August 23 ,1984” Page 6 Pope John Paul II said that Catholic church vehemently supported the poor but could never censure class struggle to support their cause. September 8,1984 Page 5 Father Boff was blamed of employing Marxist concepts –alike class struggle in his books about liberation theology, which supported revolutionary change to help the poor. December 22,1984 Page 5 Pope John Paul II appealed to the Catholic church leaders that they must safeguard the poor from the “perilous and dangerous ideological perspectives” of Marxists leaning liberation theology. Further, he attacked of dangers of associating the class struggle to religion and Marxist principles. February 8,1985 Page 10 Vatican was accused by a Belfast priest that it deceived the Roman Catholics of Northern Ireland and placing finances and diplomacy ahead of human destiny. May 10,1985 Page 1 Condemnation of father Boff by Vatican came as a surprise to everyone. Boff was restrained by Vatican to preach, deliver speeches at conferences, editing or writing a religious journal in Brazil. “May 15 ,1985” Page 4 Pope was more concerned that Franciscans in Latin America, especially in Brazil, who had been associated in action for social justice. May 21,1985 Page 11 Missionary priest of Archdiocese of Dublin, Peter Lemass criticised the rulers of Chile, Salvador, Brazil, and Guatemala who were responsible for all forms’ of human rights violation in the name of national security. People who sided with the poor or supported for human rights were branded as Marxist. May 22,1985 Page 5 A student leader at the Catholic University of Louvain-La-Neuve criticised the Pope’s hard-line demeanour to liberation theology. “September 16, 1985” Page 5 Cardinal Agostino Casaroli speech in Ireland criticised Pope John Paul II indirectly and admonished Cardinal Ratzinger for his remark on liberation theology in which communist regimes were explained as the shame of our contemporary period. mber 16, 1985nour to liberation theology.ised the Pope , or writing a religiu Read More