Catholic missions and missionaries in Maine, 1611-1724

Typewritten sheets in cover. Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University Bibliography: p. 70-76

Les missions catholiques françaises et le développement des études igbo dans l’Est du Nigeria, 1885 - 1930

Partly based on archives, this description of the progression of French Catholic missions from Senegal to Igboland emphasizes the crucial roles played by the Congrégation des Pères du Saint Esprit (Spiritains) and the Société des Missions Africaines (SMA) from Lyon in collecting folklore, diffusing the Onitsha dialect throughout Igboland, and developing a system of writing for the language. By comparison with their predecessors (the British Church Missionary Society), these two missionary organizations, through their prublications, opened the way for progress in Igbo studies. These authors can be considered to be harbingers of the current cooperation between France and Igboland in the context of Franco-Nigerian relation

Stones and Bones: Catholic Responses to the 1812 Collapse of the Mission Church of Capistrano

This essay delves into the 1812 collapse of the Great Stone Church at California’s Mission of San Juan Capistrano and its aftermath to consider how early modern Catholics in the greater Iberian world approached the material remains of ruined churches that contained human victims. Questions explored include how Franciscan missionaries reported and reacted to the calamity, why the casualties were disproportionately Indian and female, and what survivors did with the physical remnants of broken churches. Churches that collapsed on worshippers in Arequipa, Cuzco, Lima and Lisbon prior to 1812 are mustered for comparison. Overall, a pattern emerges of Catholics separating stone from bone in these tragic situations

Caddo Ceramics from an Early 18th Century Spanish Mission in East Texas: Mission San Jose de los Nasonis (41RK200)

Mission San Jose de los Nasonis (4JRK200) and two contemporaneous Nasoni Caddo sites (41RK191 and 41RK197) were located by Mr. Bill Young more than 25 years ago in the southern part of Rusk County, Texas after the general area of the site had been cleared of timber. The mission site covers ca. 6.6 acres of an upland ridge along a small tributary to the Angelina River; the ridge projects into the Angelina River floodplain. The topographic setting of Mission San Jose conforms in all particulars to the settings of other known mission sites established among the Caddo: small hills adjacent to a floodplain, next to a stream, with the hills lower extensions of more extensive upland areas. Corbin also notes that these missions were located within the area of the local dispersed Caddoan village, none of the locations are places suited to support the Indian-based community that the Spanish hoped to entice to the location. This mission was established as one of six different missions by the Spanish in 1716 during their second attempt (the first being in 1690-1691) to establish a religious and political presence among the Caddo peoples in East Texas, specifically to minister to the Nasoni Caddo living in the area. Mission San Jose de los Nasonis ·was formally established on July 10, 1716. Father Espinosa and Captain Don Domingo Ramon, the leader of the expedition, had noted that there were many Hasinai Caddo ranchos in the general area along with arroyos of water and good places for settlement. Both Nasoni and Nacono Caddo were then living in this area of the Angelina river. Mr. Young made those collections available for study in 2006, and this article is a summary of the Caddo ceramics in the Mission Nasonis collections. In 1990, Dr. James E. Corbin of Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) and Dr. Kathleen Gilmore of the University of North Texas conducted limited excavations in Area A at the mission site, but these excavations have never been published. More than 930 Caddo ceramic sherds were recovered in that work, and are curated at SFASU; the separate analysis of these ceramic artifacts is underway

Alessandro Valignano and the Restructuring of the Jesuit Mission in Japan, 1579-1582

When Alessandro Valignano arrived in Japan in 1579, the Society of Jesus had been working in the country for thirty years. However, despite impressive numbers and considerable influence with the feudal lords, the mission was struggling. The few Jesuit workers were exhausted and growing increasingly frustrated by the leadership of Francisco Cabral, who refused to cater to Japanese sensibilities or respect the Japanese people. When Valignano arrived, he saw the harm Cabral was doing and forcibly changed the direction of the mission, pursuing policies of Jesuit accommodation to Japanese culture and respect for the Japanese converts who were training to become priests. These policies were based in respect for Japan’s culture and love for its people. Under three years of Valignano’s leadership the fortunes of the Jesuit mission changed and the Society’s work in Japan began to flourish once again. Indeed, Valignano set the course for the next thirty years of the Japanese mission

A New Project in Systematic Theology

The article explores the possibility of a new collaborative venture in systematic theology based in the work of Bernard Lonergan and Robert Doran. A prospectus is offered of five volumes intended as texts to be used at the level of MA and MDiv students