Radio and the Church - a historical glance

Radio is a very powerful mass communication medium. In radio broadcasting, one can hear the echo of Christ’s words to his apostles in the missionary discourse: “You received without charge, give without charge…What you hear in whispers, proclaim from the house tops” (Mt 10,8b.27). Although the Church uses radio as a means to transmit the Good News of salvation, and we as human beings receive radio transmissions as a part of our daily life, we barely stop to think and reflect upon the underlying aspects of radio as a means of communication. In this paper, the Author endeavours to give a historical overview of what makes radio an important medium for evangelisation according to four key documents of the Church, while also studying the underlying theological positions found in these documents. These documents enable us to study radio as a broadcasting medium, highlighting the possible reactions of the Church to radio and how the Church changed its stance on radio over the years. The reason for focussing specifically on radio is for two particular reasons: from the very beginning, the Church has considered radio as a means for evangelising the masses. Notwithstanding this, what is going to be discussing in the paper can be equally applied to Television as a mass communication medium. Secondly, the Church took an active role in radio broadcasting by asking Guglielmo Marconi himself to construct the Vatican Radio in 1931. The documents of the Church also offer us a theology of radio as a mass communication medium, with unity, progress and evangelisation being the fundamental aspects. Church documents posit that not everything should be broadcasted over radio but only messages which bring about peace and unity.peer-reviewe

Oxygen Cost of Recreational Horse-Riding in Females

Version: as accepted for publication.BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to characterize the physiological demands of a riding session comprising different types of recreational horse riding in females. METHODS: Sixteen female recreational riders (aged 17 to 54 years) completed an incremental cycle ergometer exercise test to determine peak oxygen consumption (VO₂peak) and a 45-minute riding session based upon a British Horse Society Stage 2 riding lesson (including walking, trotting, cantering and work without stirrups). Oxygen consumption (VO₂), from which metabolic equivalent (MET) and energy expenditure values were derived, was measured throughout. RESULTS: The mean VO₂ requirement for trotting/cantering (18.4 ± 5.1 ml·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹; 52 ± 12% VO₂peak; 5.3 ± 1.1 METs) was similar to walking/trotting (17.4 ± 5.1 ml·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹; 48 ± 13% VO₂peak; 5.0 ± 1.5 METs) and significantly higher than for work without stirrups (14.2 ± 2.9 ml·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹; 41 ± 12% VO₂peak; 4.2 ± 0.8 METs) (P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: The oxygen cost of different activities typically performed in a recreational horse riding session meets the criteria for moderate intensity exercise (3-6 METs) in females, and trotting combined with cantering imposes the highest metabolic demand. Regular riding could contribute to the achievement of the public health recommendations for physical activity in this population

Organizational control & the Catholic Church: a case study

This paper presents an analysis of the problem of child-abusing priests in the Catholic Church using data from the USA, UK and Ireland. The apparent scale of this issue raises crucial theoretical as well as policy issues. This paper explores various organizational explanations, linking it to traditional methods of ‘confessional control’ of organizational members. This is a novel concept which brings the issue into a wider organizational lens. Confessional control creates a series of guilt-laden identities that serve to maintain hierarchical control as well as social inclusion. Thus the process of recycling priests was part of a long-persisting pattern applied to child abuse cases. The theoretical implications of this are explored. The data consists of a series of cases across the three countries, partly drawn from a data-base of 4,000 alleged cases

Lifestyle sports delivery and sustainability: clubs, communities and user-managers.

Lifestyle and informal sports have been recognised by policy makers as offering opportunities to increase participation in physical activity, particularly amongst hard to reach groups. Lifestyle sports are, however, double edged in their potential to achieve these goals. Their playful and non-traditional features may attract new participants less interested in traditional sports but the very liquidity of these activities may mean that the engagement of participants is fragmented and not sustained beyond a particular period in their lives. This article presents the perspective of mountain biking user-managers; those involved in the delivery, clubs and communities of mountain bikers across the United Kingdom. Findings suggest that whilst lifestyle sport communities are dependent on the work of formalised clubs to gain access to the funding and resources they need to sustain their activities, core participants will not always want to have to liaise or become involved formally within a club structure. In addition, clubs will not succeed in delivering sustained activities in line with sport policy to increase and maintain participation by relying on individual grants and without the support of an active informal user community. Accounts highlight the importance of engaging informal user communities with a sense of ownership such as locals to ensure new participants are integrated and the community is able to replenish

Psychological type profile of a church : a case study

This study responds to the challenge offered by Meunier (2012) to explore how psychological type theory and measurement may assist churches in the search for an appropriate leader (rector) by taking into account the psychological type characteristics of the church. A case study is provided from one Anglican congregation in England (N = 76), the members of which completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales during the course of a normal Sunday service. The overall profile of these 76 individuals demonstrated preferences for extraversion, sensing, feeling, and judging (ESFJ). The implications of this ESFJ profile are discussed for leadership expectations

Ethnic Identity Maintenance within the Latino-American Church: a Structuration Perspective

The Latino ethnic/immigrant church plays a significant role in maintaining the ethnic identity of its congregants. Through the perspective of structuration theory, this qualitative analysis investigates how the activities of the church impact its members and how an individual might contribute to the cultural structure of the Latino church (i.e., duality of structure). Interviews of 25 pastors from Spanish-speaking congregations in both urban and rural settings in Oregon resulted in several themes including the initial planting of the church, the denominational structure, the emergence of a new multiethnic cultural identity, generational differences, and the influence of Spanish

Christ’s Presence in the Poor and the Church: A Traditionalist Liberation Theology

This paper argues that central claims about the poor in liberation theology do not displace traditional claims about the centrality of the Church but are a natural outworking of them. Christ is present in the poor first in the sense that Christ is present prior to and as preparation for justification, working to overcome our infirmities; Christ is present second in the sense that the poor are God’s special instrument of salvation. Neither manner of being present relies on the rethinking of nature and grace in the 20th century that is sometimes made foundational to liberation theology, suggesting that at least some of its central claims could survive translation to other conceptions

Two Principles Toward Ecumenical Liturgy

In this essay, I want to discuss two essential principles of Christian ecumenical liturgy, especially for the Asian American church: a) the principle of other-wise liturgy and b) the principle of culturally-conscious worship.1 These two principles will escort the way we approach different Christian traditions of worship and eventually the way we design and practice ecumenical worship. I owe much to works of John McClure and Kathy Back in figuring out and applying these two principles