The New Man’s Post

On this day in Christian history, Edward Mote, an English cabinetmaker and hymn writer died. He is widely known for penning the lines to the popular hymn “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less.” Read more about today in our Christian History Series here https://lnkd.in/eUPmFnAC Please share❤️ #thenewmanng #christianhistory #christianblogger

📜 Ecclesiastical Reform in the Eleventh Century: A Turning Point in Church History The eleventh century marked a significant period in the history of the Church and Europe. This era witnessed a profound transformation in the ecclesiastical landscape, beginning with monastic reform and extending to the papacy and Church government. 🔸 The reform movement initially aimed to improve the moral conduct of the clergy, both regular and secular. However, it gradually evolved into a political motive to separate the clergy from the laity, thereby increasing the power of the former. 🔸 The clergy, due to their miraculous powers associated with the sacraments, held significant influence over the spiritual fate of individuals. This power was further solidified with the doctrine of transubstantiation becoming an article of faith in 1079. 🔸 The reform movement also tackled two major issues - simony and clerical celibacy. Simony, the practice of buying and selling ecclesiastical preferment, was rampant and led to a focus on wealth rather than merit. Clerical celibacy, on the other hand, was a more complex issue. While monks were bound by their vow of chastity, there was no clear prohibition of marriage for the secular clergy. 🔸 The reform of the papacy was initially the work of the Emperor. However, the relations between the Emperor and the Pope became less friendly over time. The Pope, having acquired moral authority with the help of the Emperor, claimed independence from the Emperor and then superiority to him. This period of reform had profound implications for the Church and its relationship with the laity, shaping the course of ecclesiastical history. #ChurchHistory #EcclesiasticalReform #EleventhCentury

The Great Schism, also known as the East-West Schism, was the break in communion between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox churches that occured in July 1054. Read the story here. #historyofreligion #history #otd #thisday #catholicchurch

John Schweiker Shelton evaluates the history and impact of parachurch organizations, the need for church campus ministries, and analysis from the recent book The Great Dechurching alongside the context of early American Christian missionaries. Read more from our latest Issue 37: Church in "Praying Towns, Parachurch Ministries, and the Need for Sodality" https://lnkd.in/giYDRU-R #theotherjournal #tellitslant #parachurch #churchcampusministry

A more globalised Catholic Church seemed to be the animating story today from the Rome Synod. You might have thought the CHurch was already the biggest multi-national phenomenon of them all: I certainly did. But the Pope clearly wants much more of it, emphasising the "universality" of the Church. Accordingly his new 27 cardinals announced this week exemplify this desire. And this was on display at the daily 1.30pm Vatican press conference rooms adjacent to St Peter's, when three new Cardinals-elect---from Ivory Coast, Japan and Brazil---presented their wares and were up for questioning. Nanding the politics likely around the choice of the next Pope (always is a bit of a maze and which I can't predict) I thought the Archbishop of Tokyo, Tarcisio Kikuchi, was impressive---real Papabile material. We'll see: how long away that prospect is of course we don't know. But together with his big recent visit to our region, we realise now that Francis has been on a determined mission: to ensure that the next voting bunch to elect the Pope will NOT be just Europeans or Westerners but a broader group. 141 will be eligible to vote out of the 256 Cardinals and he's appointed 80% of them. He's also in tune with the prevailing story-of-the-moment: the rise of the Global South. It makes sense though I wonder whether the Church's centre of gravity will actually move away from the northern hemisphere. According to the soon-to-be Cardinal Kikuchi: "The centre of the missionary Church is shifting from Europe to the GLobal South...but I (also) think the peripheries are moving: maybe moving towards Europe." Mmm. And there's the question of money. Can the Church afford to sideline the funds that routinely flow from the established centres: reports say the Vatican runs at an 60-80 million euro deficit each year and simply has to trim its sails. More to come in this story. But definitely new personalities will emerge. They already are.

I often come here to have a good rant, so why change? 🤷♀️ Except I won't be ranting on this occasion. On this occasion, my system is still overwhelmed with rage for any coherent articulations to be possible. So I'll just leave this ⬇️ here: '[...] The ‘doctrine of discovery’ from which modern intellectual property rights take their cue, was first formulated by the Catholic Church in the 1450s. The Doctrine declared that any land which had not yet been colonized was open to ‘discovery’ (Miller 2019). Such land was considered vacant, and colonizers made use of the term Terra Nullius (literally empty earth or empty land) to describe it. Contrast this to how indigenous peoples such as the Nahua in central Mexico consider the land to be alive: ‘The people say that the soil is the earth’s flesh, the stones its bones, and the water its blood’ (Sandstrom 1991, 238). Terra Nullius became a significant element of the International Judicial System in 1493 when it was used in Spain and Portugal, where ‘the Catholic Church possessed the authority to grant Christian kings a form of title and sovereignty over Indigenous peoples and their lands’ (Miller 2011, 17). Legitimized through the Catholic Church whose interest in Christianization was helped by European colonial powers such as Portugal and Britain, it granted these states the power to ‘discover’ lands not in Christian hands.' (Hauskeller, et. al., 2022. DOI: 10.1080/03080188.2022.2122788) A question for silent reflection: how does this relate to the 'current' (in inverted commas because it is far from just 'current'; it's been forever ongoing, even when we didn't know about it) affairs? Another question for silent reflection: what degree of discomfort (in whatever emotion it manifests itself in) are you feeling? (Image description: yellow lettering on a dark grey background that reads, 'Can you describe the discomfort? Or the discomfort of resisting the discomfort?')

This article explores the contemporary wars facing the Christian church in America amid increasing cultural and moral challenges. #Christianity #CultureWar #MoralIssues #AmericanChurch #SpiritualRevival

🤍“This study guide to Pope John Paul II’s 2003 encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia helps the reader understand and digest its rich fare. It offers concrete suggestions on how it should be used and supplies pertinent reflection questions on how, like Our Blessed Mother, we too can foster a Eucharistic attitude in our minds and hearts.” – Fr. Dennis J. Billy, C.Ss.R., author of The Meaning of the Eucharist and The Wonder of the Eucharist. (Testimonials) 💥📣You’ll be able to apply it to your everyday life in today’s world. You’ll discover how to develop a more personal relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist. You’ll learn why Catholicism teaches that the Eucharist as the “source and summit of the Christian life.” You’ll find out—with clarity—what Catholics believe and do not believe about the Eucharist. And you’ll gain a deep appreciation for the reason why only Catholic priests can consecrate the communion elements alongside the important role you have, with the whole community, in the Eucharistic celebration. Get it now 👉 https://lnkd.in/e4Z28bpU

🤍“This study guide to Pope John Paul II’s 2003 encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia helps the reader understand and digest its rich fare. It offers concrete suggestions on how it should be used and supplies pertinent reflection questions on how, like Our Blessed Mother, we too can foster a Eucharistic attitude in our minds and hearts.” – Fr. Dennis J. Billy, C.Ss.R., author of The Meaning of the Eucharist and The Wonder of the Eucharist. (Testimonials) 💥📣You’ll be able to apply it to your everyday life in today’s world. You’ll discover how to develop a more personal relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist. You’ll learn why Catholicism teaches that the Eucharist as the “source and summit of the Christian life.” You’ll find out—with clarity—what Catholics believe and do not believe about the Eucharist. And you’ll gain a deep appreciation for the reason why only Catholic priests can consecrate the communion elements alongside the important role you have, with the whole community, in the Eucharistic celebration. Get it now 👉 https://lnkd.in/egZKZuvq

On this day in history 06/12/24. In 1553 English King Edward VI accepted Archbishop Thomas Cranmer’s (pictured) “Forty-two Articles” on church reformation. The Forty-two Articles were the official doctrinal statement of the Church of England for a brief period in 1553. Written by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and published by King Edward VI’s privy council along with a requirement for clergy to subscribe to it, it represented the height of official church reformation prior to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It staked out a position among Protestant movements of the day, opposing Anabaptist claims and disagreeing with Zwinglian positions without taking an explicitly Calvinist or Lutheran approach. The Forty-two Articles were part of a larger project of moving the Church of England in a more Protestant direction. This effort included the First Book of Homilies published in 1547 and the 1549 Book of Common Prayer (followed by its 1552 revision). However, shortly after their proclamation in 1553, the Catholic Queen Mary ascended to the throne and promulgation of the articles ceased. After the 1558 accession of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I, the Convocation of 1563 reintroduced the articles (with revisions, particularly on the eucharist) as the Thirty-nine Articles. These articles have remained part of editions of the Book of Common Prayer and as doctrinal standards for the Church of England and the Anglican Communion (though their status varies within the Communion). Their influence is felt in Methodism as well through John Wesley’s Arminian revision of them as the Articles of Religion. Now you know. Abstracted from On This Day & Wikipedia. #onthisdayinhistory #thomascranmer #42articles #churchreformation #year1553