Roman Catholic Church
Catholicism on Tristan
The world’s most remote Roman Catholic parish, located on Tristan da Cunha, has no priest and only 42 members but it appears to be thriving anyway. At least that is one of the conclusions in an article published on November 6 on the website of the prominent American Catholic news analysis and opinion magazine, America. […]
Catholics Flourishing on Tristan
If the Tristan Islanders live on the remotest inhabited island on earth as they claim, than the Roman Catholic Church there must serve the world’s most remote parish. At least that’s the reasoning expressed in a recent article about the Catholic community on the island by Hugh Allan, the administrator of the Roman Catholic diocese […]
Respecting the Value of Respect [journal article review]
The famous maxim “respect for the rights of others is peace” is an essential value for the Zapotec in Oaxaca’s Sierra Juárez region, as well as a defining concept for peaceful living everywhere. In a recent journal article, Estonian anthropologist Toomas Gross explores the impact the belief has on the region where Mexican President Benito […]
The Catholic Church and the Politicians
About 130 years ago, Roman Catholic priests from Germany moved into southwestern Tanzania and started converting the Fipa to Christianity, a process that began to change their culture, though they still retained their peacefulness when Willis did his field work in the 1960s. When Smythe was doing her field work in Ufipa between 1994 and […]
Open Minded L.A. Priests Encourage Zapotec Festivals
Every year, a church in Santa Monica, California, hosts celebrations by immigrants from different Zapotec communities who seek to preserve the customs of their original villages. The Los Angeles Times ran an interesting story last Thursday about the changes in the church, St. Anne’s Church and Shrine, and the ways the Zapotec people from all […]
Dissident Catholic Cult Simmers in Fipa Territory
A faith healer who has gained a significant following in East Africa over the past 20 years won an important court victory last week in Sumbawanga, the major city of the Rukwa Region of Tanzania. Roman Catholic evangelization in the Rukwa Region and the surrounding areas of southwestern Tanzania have had a major impact on […]
Catholic Beliefs, Fipa Adaptations [book review]
The Catholic Church in the Tanzanian village of Chala is healthy and prosperous—but so are many traditional Fipa beliefs and practices that the church dislikes. Kathleen R. Smythe, an Associate Professor of history at Xavier University in Cincinnati, did field work in Chala between 1994 and 1996. She observed a flourishing congregation, Roman Catholic funds […]
