Church as Contested Terrain: Voice of the Faithful and Religious Agency
The Catholic clergy sexual abuse scandal provides fertile ground for timely study of the emergence of new ways of claiming religious identity through analysis of how lay and clerical Catholics negotiate this crisis. While one might expect to see a number of Catholics withdraw their allegiance, a sur...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2006
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| In: |
Review of religious research
Year: 2006, Volume: 48, Issue: 1, Pages: 56-71 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | The Catholic clergy sexual abuse scandal provides fertile ground for timely study of the emergence of new ways of claiming religious identity through analysis of how lay and clerical Catholics negotiate this crisis. While one might expect to see a number of Catholics withdraw their allegiance, a surprising development is the concentrated effort by some lay Catholics to assert leadership and ownership in their local contexts. This study identifies this dynamic as an exercise of religious agency. Documenting the emergence of a Midwest affiliate of Voice of the Faithful, a Catholic pro-change organization, it interprets its efforts to influence church leaders towards more accountability and greater lay participation as a form of religious agency. The methodology combines participant observation in local group meetings and sponsored events, interviews with pro-change group members, their leaders, and Catholic clergy, and artifact collection, over an 18 month period. Documenting a critical time in Catholic church history, the article provides empirical data on how lived Catholicism evolves and changes through the religious agency of its members and a window on emerging forms of lay protest and lay leadership. |
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| ISSN: | 2211-4866 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Review of religious research
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