Ambiguous Legitimation
Grassroots Roman Catholic Communities in Italy and Ecclesiastical Hierarchies
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12039627 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stefania Palmisano (0000-0002-4489-9519, University of Turin, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2011-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Temenos - Nordic Journal for the Study of Religion (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0497-1817 • E-ISSN: 2342-7256 |
| Publisher | Temenos (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.33356/temenos.4616 |
| OpenAlex | W1934278612 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 17 |
The article deals with the complex and multifaceted relationships arising between the ecclesiastical hierarchy and grassroots Roman Catholic communities, the so-called New Catholic Communities (NCCs), founded in Italy in the wake of the Second Vatican Council and variously inspired by it. Two issues of particular importance in the sociological literature are addressed. The first concerns the criteria with which to construct a typology which can embrace the extreme variety of NCCs in existence today. Adapting a classic distinction drawn by Weber, the paper introduces and discusses a model which distinguishes among communities according to the twofold criteria of ascetic vs. mystical and this-worldly vs. other-worldly. The second issue concerns the recognition that the NCCs are able to obtain from the Catholic Church. It is argued that the negotiations entailed by such recognition are often rendered lengthy and tortuous, both by the controversial nature of the institutional, organizational and liturgical innovations adopted by the Communities and by the existence within the Church of several sources of legitimating authority. Torn between the duty to disavow excessively radical innovations and the desire to prevent open confl ict, the ecclesiastical bureaucracy often resorts to forms of ambiguous legitimation, where it is not clear whether the Church’s silence amounts to tacit condemnation or tacit approval of the new communities. The paper concludes by exploring the advantages that the NCCs can bring to the Church, and the consequent reasons that induce the relevant authority to abandon its proverbial prudence and grant rapid recognition
Bureaucracy · Duty · Grassroots · Legitimation · Mores · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Law · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development · Religious Tourism and Spaces
Religion As a Chain of Memory
Religions in the Modern World
Vatican II
Toward an Explication of the Legitimation Process
Economy and Society
Charisma and Community
Conflict and Change in the Catholic Church
The Revitalization Movement in the Catholic Church
Ritual Conflict as Social Conflict
The Devotes
Legitimation, Endorsement, and Stability
The Assemblies of God at the Cross-Roads
Should the 'Dynamic Autonomy' of Ideas Matter to Sociologists
The Role of Religion in Legitimating the Modern Structuration of Society 1
Legitimacy as a Social Process
| Highly cited | No |
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