Anthropocentrism: the assumption that humankind constitutes the essential purpose and meaning of the whole universe. It includes the notion that the world was created primarily for human beings and that all other species are subservient to us.
Apologetics: the technique of defensive argumentation on behalf of religious belief. Within the Catholic context it refers specifically to that part of theology which explains what Catholics believe and why they believe it.
Apostasy/apostate: the total and deliberate abandonment of one’s religion. Technically, it refers to a person who has publicly and completely rejected the faith into which they were baptised.
Aristotelian–Thomistic synthesis: the attempt by the great medieval theologians, particularly St Thomas Aquinas (1225–74), to integrate their theology with the philosophy of Aristotle (384–22 BC).
Base communities: in Spanish, communidad de base. These are small groups of usually poor Christians, mainly in Latin America, who gather together to reflect on their experience of life in the light of the Bible and Church teaching. They are usually lay-led and it is from this matrix that liberation theology has developed.
Burghers: a term of presumably Dutch origin, used to describe people of mixed-race origin in Sri Lanka.
Catechetics/catechist: the process of formation of a person in Christian faith. It is related to the word ‘catechism’, but nowadays refers to the systematic study of the belief of the Church and to basic initiation into the Christian community.
Christology: the theology of Christ. The word refers to critical theological reflection on a series of interconnected questions about the relationship between Jesus of Nazareth and Christ, and the relationship between Christ and God.
Collegiality: the word refers to the worldwide college of bishops in their cooperation with the Bishop of Rome in the government of the Catholic church. It re-emphasises the traditional notion that a bishop by his ordination is not just responsible for his own diocese, but also shares in a universal responsibility with the pope for the whole church.
Congregation: the term refers to the most important bureaucratic departments of the Roman Curia, the central government of the church. The word is derived from the Latin congregatio, meaning committee.
Consequentialism: a theory of ethical reasoning that is generally derived from utilitarianism. It emphasises that the morality of an action – that is, the rightness or wrongness of the action – is primarily constituted by the results or consequences of the action.
Delation/delate: derived from a Latin legal term referring to the action of reporting, accusing or denouncing someone to a legal authority for a presumed crime or misdemeanour. In the ecclesiastical sense it refers to reporting someone to the CDF for presumed unorthodoxy.
Diaconal: derived from the word ‘deacon’, it refers to the act of service or ministry.
Dicastery: the technical term used to describe a bureaucratic subdivision of the Roman curia.
Dominican: a member of the Order of Preachers (OP) founded by St Dominic Guzman in 1216.
Ecclesiology/ecclesiologist: that part of theological reflection which focuses on the nature of the Church, its structure and constitution.
Encyclical: a formal letter, usually concerned with a theological or pastoral topic, addressed by the pope to all the bishops of the world.
Episcopate: this word refers to the office and dignity of a bishop.
Faculties: authorisation granted to a priest which is derived from either canon law itself or through explicit delegation from a bishop or his approved delegate (e.g. his chancellor) to preach, celebrate the sacraments publicly and hear confessions in a specific diocese. These faculties are good until they are explicitly revoked.
Fascicle: a part of a printed work bound together as an instalment to facilitate publication.
Formation: the word refers generically to the training given to a person in a religious order. Fundamental formation is given in the novitiate. The person then advances to further studies in theology and other areas of expertise.
Habilitation: in Germany, the post-doctoral lecturing qualification, usually required before a person can become a lecturer in a university.
Homunculus: literally, ‘little human being’. It refers here to the ancient medical belief that sperm contained tiny fully formed humans that only needed a womb in which to develop.
Infallible/infallibility: the gift of the Spirit that ensures that official church teaching is immune from error. It is the pope who normally gives voice to the accepted universal belief of the bishops and the church community.
Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary: a religious order of sisters, also some times known as the ‘English Ladies’ (Englische Fraulein) founded in 1609 by Mary Ward. The order was modelled on the Jesuits. Nowadays the sisters are engaged largely in education in the broadest sense of the word.
Jansenism/Jansenist: a religious reform movement in the Catholic church which originated with Cornelius Jansen (1585–1638). Its influence spread across Europe. Deeply pessimistic about human nature, it demanded a strict asceticism and moral rigorism. It was opposed to the centralising tendencies of the papacy and the absolutism of the French monarchy.
Jesuit (SJ): The Jesuit order of priests and brothers is the most well known in the Catholic church. Its proper title is the Society of Jesus. Founded by the Spaniard Ignatius Loyola in 1540, the Jesuits undertake an extraordinarily wide variety of ministeries and the order is found in many countries of the world.
Liberation theology: a theological reflection that emerges from an oppressed group’s attempts to articulate Christian faith from within the context of injustice and political and economic exploitation. It is intimately related to the base community movement.
Magisterium: teaching authority in the Church. It is exercised by the pope and the bishops. There is also a sense in which theologians also have a magisterium.
Manualist: one who writes textbooks. In this context one of the writers of moral theology textbooks, produced largely from the late seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries which were used in seminaries in the days before the Vatican Council II (1962–5).
Mariology: the theology of the role and function of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC): a religious order of priests and brothers founded in France in 1854. Nowadays they carry on a wide range of ministries, especially in developing countries.
Monsignor: an ecclesiastical title given by the pope to a senior priest. It is purely honorary.
Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI): a religious order of priests and brothers founded in 1816 in France. Nowadays they conduct missions in parishes and retreats and are involved with the poor and the most disadvantaged.
Obsequium religiosum: a Latin term which can mean either ‘religious respect’ or ‘religious submission’. It specifically refers to the attitude that a theologian or Catholic ought take to teachings of the ordinary, non-definitive papal magisterium. It connotes willingness to submit loyally to the teachings of the magisterium.
Opus Dei: literally ‘the work of God’. Here it refers to an organisation of lay people and priests founded in 1928 in Madrid, Spain by the priest Jose Maria Escriva de Balaguer (1902–75). Its lay and priestly members work largely is educational ministries, and the organisation is characterised by alleged secrecy, theological conservatism and rigorous spirituality.
Patristics: the study of the fathers or ancient theologians of the Church.
Physicalism: the identification of a moral act with the physical structure of the act.
Plentiudo potestatem: a Latin tag meaning ‘the fullness of power’. It comes from Roman Law and in the medieval period became gradually identified with papal primacy. Thus the pope is seen as exercising the fullness of power and authority in the church.
Popular religion: characterises the peripheral but often colourful beliefs, rites and practices that almost always accompany mainstream religion.
Praxis: literally ‘practice’ as opposed to theory. In theology it refers to the expression of discipleship through ministry.
Primacy (papal): the jurisdictional authority of the pope over the whole Church and every person in the Church. It was defined at Vatican Council I (1870) and further clarified at Vatican Council II (1962–5).
Proportionalism: strictly speaking it is the moral theory that says that you can commit a physical evil if there is a proportionate reason. In more general terms it refers to the fact that no moral judgment can be made about an action without taking into consideration all of the circumstances that constitute and are part of that action. It is only by weighing all of these circumstances that one is able to make an ethical judgment about that act.
Proselytism: seeking to make converts; persuading people to change from one religion to another.
Provincial: religious orders are divided into geographical areas called provinces. A provincial-superior is the person in charge of the province.
Redemptorists (CSsR): the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, a religious order of priests and brothers, commonly known as the Redemptorists. Founded in Naples in 1732 by St Alphonsus Liguori, their main ministries are retreats, parish missions and education.
Rigorism: the theory in moral theology that the ethical law must always be applied in the fullness of its rigour. It is based on a notion of God as a severe judge who demands total obedience.
Roman Curia: the central bureaucracy of the Catholic Church.
Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB): a religious order of priests and brothers founded by St John Bosco in Turin, Italy in 1859. Today numerically one of the largest orders in the Church. Their primary ministry is helping poor youth and offering them education.
Salvatorians (SDS): The Society of the Divine Saviour, a religious order of priests and brothers founded in Rome in 1881. They minister through education, parishes and give retreats.
Schism/schismatic: a formal breach of church unity when a group breaks off from a Church or religious body over doctrinal or disciplinary differences.
School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND): a religious order of sisters founded in Munich, Germany, in 1833. They came to the United States in 1847 with German immigrants. They are now spread across the world with over 6000 sisters, mainly engaged in the ministry of education.
Silentium obsequiosem: a Latin tag meaning respectful or submissive silence. It refers to the attitude that should be taken by a theologian who does not accept a teaching of the ordinary and non-definitive magisterium.
Superior: a person who exercises leadership in religious order.
Superior-general: Sometimes referred to as general-superior. A person who exercises the highest level of leadership in a religious order.
Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre (1881–1955): French Jesuit priest and scientist whose theories on biological and human evolution have had tremendous influence on contemporary theology.
Thomism: the theology of St Thomas Aquinas (1225–74).
Ultramontanism: the word is derived from ultra montes (beyond the mountains) and it refers to the tendency of Catholics to look beyond the Alps to papal Rome as the source and fountain of all theological wisdom, power and teaching in the church. Generically, it means an attitude of papo-centrism.
Young Christian Workers (YCW): a lay movement of young Catholics founded in Belgium after WWI by the priest (later cardinal) Joseph Cardijn. They are also known as ‘Jocists’. They tried to incorporate their Catholic values into their work environment.