The Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research ("Wijngaards Institute") is a British "progressive" think tank producing research on controversial issues within contemporary Roman Catholic theology. [1] It does so by coordinating an international network of academics, most of whom are Roman Catholic.
The institute was established by Dr John Wijngaards in 1983 as Housetop Centre for Adult Faith Formation ("Housetop"). Initially, it focused on producing resources for spirituality in the modern age.
Nationwide research in the UK produced material for a video course on the practice of meditation: "The Seven Circles of Prayer" (1987), winner of the award for "Creative Excellence" at the 1987 Video Festival in Elmhurst, Illinois, USA. [2]
It was followed by two other video courses: "Peace in your Home" (1988) on ways of fostering prayer in the family, and "Loaves of Thanksgiving" (1989) on re-vitalising the celebration of the weekly Eucharist.
The "Walking on Water" video courses for training community leaders were produced between 1990-1992 and have been translated into 14 languages. [3] They comprised three textbooks and nine 30-minute stories on accompanying videos. The stories were filmed in Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya and the UK. Several of those videos won awards.
In 1995 Housetop published "How To Make Sense of God". The course book received a prize from the Catholic Press Association (USA) for "best adult reading". The accompanying video film "Journey to the Centre of Love" comprises 5 episodes of approximately 45 minutes each, which are freely available online. [4] It won the Grand Prix at the Catholic International Film Festival at Warsaw in 1995 and the Columbus Award (the main award) at the International Film Fair of Columbus, Ohio, in 1996. [5]
Housetop's latest video course focused on Christian marriage. "For Better, For Worse" was produced in 2000 with academic advice from the International Academy for Marital Spirituality (INTAMS). It was broadcast on the Belgian Catholic television network KTRC in autumn 2000 under the title "Tussen Man & Vrouw" ("Between Husband & Wife"). It is being distributed in the UK and Ireland by Veritas Publications.
In 2007 Housetop founded the Catherine of Siena Virtual College ("CSVC"), which offered affordable university-level online courses on leadership and the role of women in society. Under its direction more than 1,100 students enrolled, mostly women (90%), and from developing countries. Such a rapid growth has meant that it became difficult for the institute to provide an adequate infra-structure to do justice to its potential. For this reason, in September 2014 Housetop, which by then had been renamed the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research, agreed to hand over ownership of CSVC to the University of Roehampton, which has renamed it the "Catherine of Siena College". [6]
Pope John-Paul II's Ordinatio sacerdotalis in 1994 which ruled out the ordination of women in the Catholic Church forced the question of women's equality within the Roman Catholic Church to the front. It was decided that the Institute would focus its research on the ordination of women and publish a website to present the academic evidence for and against. "Women Can Be Priests". The website has grown out to be the largest internet resource on women and holy orders, with extensive documentation in 25 languages. [7]
Subsequent research led to several declarations, statements, and reports being produced:
The online dissemination of the Statement before its official launch provoked the launch of a counter-statement at the Catholic University of America in Washington, titled "Affirmation of the Church’s Teaching on the Gift of Sexuality". [14]
Humanae vitae is an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI and dated 25 July 1968. The text was issued at a Vatican press conference on 29 July. Subtitled On the Regulation of Birth, it re-affirmed the teaching of the Catholic Church regarding married love, responsible parenthood, and the rejection of artificial contraception. In formulating his teaching he explained why he did not accept the conclusions of the Pontifical Commission on Birth Control established by his predecessor, Pope John XXIII, a commission he himself had expanded.
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.378 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2021. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization. The church consists of 24 sui iuris churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies located around the world. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the chief pastor of the church. The Diocese of Rome, known as the Holy See, is the central governing authority of the church. The administrative body of the Holy See, the Roman Curia, has its principal offices in Vatican City, a small independent city-state enclave within the Italian capital city of Rome, of which the pope is head of state.
Evangelium vitae translated in English as 'The Gospel of Life', is a papal encyclical published on 25 March 1995 by Pope John Paul II. It is a comprehensive document setting out the teaching of the Catholic Church on the sanctity of human life and related issues including murder, abortion, euthanasia, and capital punishment, reaffirming the Church's stances on these issues in a way generally considered consistent with previous church teachings.
Prior to the 20th century, three major branches of Christianity—Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism —generally held a critical perspective of birth control. Among Christian denominations today, however, there is a large variety of views regarding birth control that range from the acceptance of birth control to only allowing natural family planning to teaching Quiverfull doctrine, which disallows contraception and holds that Christians should have large families.
Pope John Paul II was criticised for, amongst other things, an alleged lack of response to child sex abuse in the Catholic Church.
Natural family planning (NFP) comprises the family planning methods approved by the Catholic Church and some Protestant denominations for both achieving and postponing or avoiding pregnancy. In accordance with the Church's teachings regarding sexual behavior, NFP excludes the use of other methods of birth control, which it refers to as "artificial contraception".
Thomas J. Reese, is an American Catholic Jesuit priest, author, and journalist. He is a senior analyst at Religion News Service, a former columnist at National Catholic Reporter, and a former editor-in-chief of the weekly Catholic magazine America.
Carlo Maria Martini was an Italian Jesuit, cardinal of the Catholic Church and a Biblical scholar. He was Archbishop of Milan from 1980 to 2004 and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1983. A towering intellectual figure of the Roman Catholic Church, Martini was the liberal contender for the Papacy in the 2005 conclave, following the death of Pope John Paul II. According to highly placed Vatican sources, Martini received more votes in the first round than Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the conservative candidate: 40 to 38. Ratzinger ended up with more votes in subsequent rounds and was elected Pope Benedict XVI.
Priests for Life (PFL) is an anti-abortion organization based in Titusville, Florida. PFL functions as a network to promote and coordinate anti-abortion activism, especially among Roman Catholic priests and laymen, with the primary strategic goal of ending abortion and euthanasia and to spread the message of the Evangelium vitae encyclical, written by Pope John Paul II.
The Winnipeg Statement is the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops' statement on the papal encyclical Humanae vitae from a plenary assembly held at Saint Boniface in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Published on September 27, 1968, it is the Canadian bishops' document about rejecting Pope Paul VI's July 1968 encyclical on human life and the regulation of birth.
Religious adherents vary widely in their views on birth control. This can be true even between different branches of one faith, as in the case of Judaism and Christianity. Some religious believers find that their own opinions of the use of birth control differ from the beliefs espoused by the leaders of their faith, and many grapple with the ethical dilemma of what is conceived as "correct action" according to their faith, versus personal circumstance, reason, and choice. This article will discuss various views on birth control of the major world religions Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Baha'i.
Catholic theology of sexuality, like Catholic theology in general, is drawn from "natural law", canonical scripture, divine revelation, and sacred tradition, as interpreted authoritatively by the magisterium of the Catholic Church. Sexual morality evaluates sexual behavior according to standards laid out by Catholic moral theology, and often provides general principles by which Catholics can evaluate whether specific actions meet these standards.
The Heralds of the Gospel is a Catholic International Association of Pontifical Right founded by Msgr. João Scognamiglio Clá Dias. It is active in 78 countries.
The post–Vatican II history of the Catholic Church is the recent history of the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965).
Tina Beattie is a British Christian theologian, writer and broadcaster.
In the liturgical traditions of the Catholic Church, the term ordination refers to the means by which a person is included in one of the holy orders of bishops, priests or deacons. The teaching of the Catholic Church on ordination, as expressed in the 1983 Code of Canon Law, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the apostolic letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis, is that only a Catholic male validly receives ordination, and "that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful." In other words, the male priesthood is not considered by the church a matter of policy but an unalterable requirement of God. As with priests and bishops, the church ordains only men as deacons.
The National Coalition of American Nuns (NCAN) was founded in 1969 by Margaret Traxler and Audrey Kopp. The organization is known for its advocacy for women's rights, support for the Equal Rights Amendment, opposition to the Catholic Church hierarchy, including Pope Francis, as well as its positions on abortion, LGBT rights, and women's ordination.
Women play significant roles in the life of the Catholic Church, although excluded from the Catholic hierarchy of bishops, priests, and deacons. In the history of the Catholic Church, the church often influenced social attitudes toward women. Influential Catholic women have included theologians, abbesses, monarchs, missionaries, mystics, martyrs, scientists, nurses, hospital administrators, educationalists, religious sisters, Doctors of the Church, and canonised saints. Women constitute the majority of members of consecrated life in the Catholic Church: in 2010, there were around 721,935 professed women religious. Motherhood and family are given an exalted status in Catholicism, with The Blessed Virgin Mary holding a special place of veneration.
Johannes Nicolaas Maria Wijngaards is a Catholic scripture scholar and a laicized priest.
In 2012, more than 200 theologians from the Catholic Church made a declaration titled Catholic Scholars' Declaration on Authority in the Church with proposals for changes in church governance. They demanded a redefining of papal authority with more latitude for bishops in Synods and Bishops' Conferences, and more power to selected groups of clergy and privileged laity in diocesan and parochial councils.