The Catholic Theology (Essay Sample)

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The Catholic Theology
Religion is one of the avenues that link people together from different parts of the world through common symbols. Over the past few years, the context of religion and most of the symbolism of the Judaism and Christianity have been rural. When you look at the imagery in the Christian bible, both the old and the New Testament describes most of the things being done in the rural settings. For example, the story of Moses unfolded in the vast desert, where together with his wife Sarah and other nomads roamed. It is the same case with the New Testament where Jesus employed images which people were familiar with like lilies of the field and the sheep. The imagery reflects the lifestyle of the people during that time. However, in today’s society such images have faded since the world has been greatly urbanized. The urban church has failed to envision a new world view and to create a new metaphoric language, which will be easily understood by its dwellers. In other words, the modern church is known to do things differently from how they were initially done.
The modern church is more concerned with evangelism and welcoming people into church, rather than teaching them the statutes and they ways in which they should live. On the other hand, the Catholic ministers are uncertain about what evangelism means and instead view the role of the church as a catalyst for creating a Christian society. The current literature in the urban theology has originated from the protestant circles. There is no coherently formulated theology in the urban areas. The Catholic response to ministry in large cities, such as those in North America, during the last century has changed. During the early 20th century the sacramental and traditional education ministries were dominant in the Catholic parish life. Most if the activities done during that time were directed towards spiritual and cultural life. They did not view transformation of the society as their principle task. Many social programs have been embraced by the Catholic Church like the Campaign for Human Development that addresses issues like availability of food and fair housing. Many dioceses have been closed in the inner city parishes because of the change in demography and instability in the economy. There is also a shortage of priests in the urban centers to fit the several churches located there.
Jesuit community
Jesuits is a community of apostolic religion, which is referred to as the Society of Jesus. It is a religion grounded in the love of Christ, whose founder was St. Ignatius. His spiritual vision for the religion was to help others and to seek God in all things. It is a religion committed to the service of faith and promotion of justice for the less privileged. According to Jesuit perspective, the Catholic traditions hold that God created all aspects of reality and that all human values are a reflection of God, who is the creator. The Jesuit tradition tries to find out the God’s grandeur through academic disciplines and through all the activities carried out in the university. It takes personal faith and religion very seriously (DiDomizio, 2006).
Once you are Santa Clara people are encouraged to work together in order to develop into a community regardless of your background. For Jesuit University to remain fully Catholic, every academic discipline is usually represented. Jesuit is concerned with freeing itself from anything that may prevent response from God’s invitation into one’s life. In other words, people in this religion strive to find God in everything they do. Good decision making are encouraged with prayer, in order to remain faithful and true to God. Jesuits are not theologians, since theologians seek spiritual truths in church writings and texts. On the other hand, Jesuits seek to examine all life experiences for all possible revelation.
The traditions of the Jesuit insist that faith should be reflected in everyday life. When God gives you gifts, it is a way of inviting you to a place of knowledge, skills and talent in order to serve others, and especially the poor. The current Jesuits have explained the intrinsic connection between the promotion of justice and the pursuit of faith. All institutions that follow the Jesuit traditions have sought different ways of promoting a more humane and just world, which is their main mission. It is clear that this tradition seeks to follow what is exactly stated in the bible and everything they do, they have God in mind. Their main focus is to cultivate a human world where people will be able to exercise justice in full. They are also concerned with the poor and those who are discriminated in the society. It is an act of love and putting into practice what God has entrusted on you.
All Jesuits are Catholic, although not all Jesuits are priests. Jesuits are an important part in the history of the modern church. They offer education, which is a form of modernization. When Jesuit was beginning, they realized that most of the people were rooted in their traditions and their lives could be improved through education that was to be rooted both in human and gospel values. Later they opened up schools and students from all over Europe were able to attend these schools. It is a practice that contributed to modernization and urbanization. Upto date, schools and universities that were set up by Jesuits, like Georgetown University, have continued to offer distinctive education to its students. The schools mainly strive to provide students with skills and knowledge in order to excel in every field, contribute to the education of both men and women, and affirm a Christian understanding and the purpose of God in creating human beings. By doing this, they have been able to maintain their traditions and values amongst the students who attend these schools.
Burchard Villiger as the founding member of the faculty of Saint Joseph’s University is a very important character in the history of the Jesuits. First, by opening up the university, he accomplished one of the Jesuits mission of providing education to the less privileged and improving their lives. He also contributed to the modernization of the Jes...