Laity

For decades even hundreds years since human society and different ideologies have been formed, there are two invisible walls separating people from each other, one in philosophy between materialism and mentalism, who have differences in substance of matter and consciousness; the other one between natural science and religion, who disagree with each other on the genesis of the world; the latter is more serious and obvious to be discussed among the history. In the centuries of despotism by…

In September 2015, Pope Francis urged the United States to abolish the death penalty during an address to Congress. Similar to the previous pope, Pope Francis advocated abolition because “every life is sacred, every human person is endowed with an inalienable dignity, and society can only benefit from the rehabilitation of those convicted of crimes” (“Address of the Holy Father”). Although the Roman Catholic Church now opposes capital punishment, their strong stance for abolition is fairly…

“Ah, I see you are ready to go, Nightingale Sapienti,” Action Andy said to Virgil, dressed in the ceremonial uniform of his all-boy Catholic high school in Wilmington, Delaware. He then smiled, “I hope your time in my outfit would be fruitful one for you.” Virgil returned the favor. “How nice of you, Action Andy,” he told him in a polite one. “What are my orders regarding the Remnants and the South American Catholic school students?” The leader of the Nightingales informed him by saying:…

God and the Beloved: A Journey in Understanding Love In renaissance poetry, one of the major themes is found in the correlation of god and love. The religious tradition states that these two idols are one in the same, but four poets show that the beloved can quickly steal this spotlight. Starting with Emmanuel Petrarch, we can see his painful devotion to his beloved Laura, was one of the spark’s of the renaissance era; only to be somewhat mocked by Sir Philip Sidney’s humorous remarks about…

Buddhism is a religion based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. Siddhartha Gautama lived about 2500 years ago in what is now Nepal and northern India. After undergoing a profound realization of the nature of life, death, and existence, Gautama became known as "the Buddha," which means "awakened one.” The Buddha taught people how to realize enlightenment for themselves through direct experiences, not through beliefs and dogmas like in other religions. Although Buddhism was founded in…

Orientation Identification: The terms “Hispanic” and “Latina/o” are normally interchangeable, even though most governmental and scholarly documents have a preference for the use of “Hispanic”, while religious affiliations and grassroots incline to the latter one[ Suzanne Oboler, Ethnic Labels, Latino Lives: Identity and the Politics of (Re)Presentation in the United States (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995), 3.]. In the past decades, those terms have come into general use in the…

Catholic Loyalty Essay by Cian Montague, 14470288 (Ivar McGrath’s class) I do agree that the question of Catholic loyalty to the state was the key question in Ireland in the 1750s and 1760s. This had been an issue for some time, but now it seemed that the avenues to change had been opened. In 1756 Britain went to war with France and what was to be the Seven Years’ War gave rise to a pressing need for troops. Many leading Catholics saw this as an opportunity to negotiate the repeal of the Penal…

In spite of the great disparity between Jewish and Islamic beliefs, both religions share a reciprocal relationship that is rooted in the universal endeavour to achieve unparalleled, intrinsic and extrinsic peace. Islam is an amalgam of the dual concepts of submission to the will of Allah; a God-centred lifestyle, or sirat al mustaqeem which is achieved by the continuity of spiritual obedience, and possessing spiritual peace; as is encapsulated in the Arabic greeting Salaam (peace). Thus the…

The Black Death is one of the common names for the horrendous plague that swept through most of Europe in the 14th century AD. It is a common belief that this disease was carried by rats and was transmitted by even coming into close proximity with an individual who was infected by this deadly plague. This troublesome time affected many of the people in Europe, and left it drastically changed. The Black Death had a lasting effect on the Western world and created difficulties for the people who…

The Purpose of the Church The purpose of the church is a question that arises for many Christians today. Why should I go to church? Many may go to church so they can appear to be a “good Christian,” but do they really understand why they are there? In Matthew, the church is said to be “the kingdom.” Hebrews 10:25 says “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—all the more as you see the Day approaching.” This verse not only gives the…