Francis-Vincent Anthony

Pope Francis articulated the dynamic of an Ecclesiae in exitu, translated as Church that “goes forth”, in the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium (Pope Francis 2017, no

Overcoming its self-referential preoccupations, theology today is urged to exit into the public square characterized by multiple types of diversity. One of the crucial public domains in which religions have played a significant role is education. In the contemporary multireligious Indian context, the question that arises is whether we can consider Salesian pedagogy as public religious pedagogy, that is, if educators affiliated to neighbour religions can share the Salesian/religious pedagogy in Salesian educational institutions. It is our contention that the prism of public theology can shed some light on such a possibility. With this intent, we first elucidate the configuration of public theology amidst religious pluralism focusing successively on public practical theology of education, public religious education, and public religious pedagogy. This is then followed by a synthesis of Salesian pedagogy and the research design of a qualitative study on its lived experience among Hindu and Muslim educators, namely, professors in Salesian colleges, teachers in Salesian schools, and social collaborators in Salesian study centres of Tamil Nadu, India. Lastly, based on the emerging findings we highlight the relevance and advancement of Salesian pedagogy as public religious pedagogy.

Starting his university career as professor of Ecclesiology, Mario Midali groomed himself gradually into an acclaimed practical theologian in Italy, Europe and beyond. The five volumes of Teologia Pratica (Practical Theology) and the one on Spiritualità Apostolica (Apostolic Spirituality) attest to the vast knowledge and complexity of perspectives with which Midali configured and fostered the development of the theological discipline, making his own original contribution: by refining the epistemology, perfecting the methodology and enhancing the areas of concern. The paper seeks to trace the making of the practical theologian embedded in his own (unpublished) life history and academic research and publications. In this way, the present contribution hopes to shed light not only on the complex and innovative production of Midali in the field of Practical Theology, but also evince the advancement made possible with regard to contextual empirical approach to “youth practical-public theology” in my own research and publication, as Midali’s disciple and successor in the chair of Fundamental Practical Theology.

"Religion, Ecology and Human Flourishing: Institutional and Personal Dimensions of Religiosity and Current Societal Challenges" published on 03 Nov 2023 by Brill.

During the past six decades, there has been an ever-growing awareness of the global ecological crisis threatening human survival. Concern for the future of human life has led to the necessity of upholding environmental rights and sustainable development. As in the case of other human rights, obligations of the state that derive from these need to be complemented by civic engagements, and sustained by shared values in the societal sphere. The question that we raise is if religions can play a significant role in favouring environmental rights, civil engagements and environmental care, given that in varied ways religious traditions appeal to the interdependence of divine-human-cosmic realities. The empirical research that we undertook in the multi-religious context of Tamil Nadu, India, seeks to verify if the religious identity of the senior secondary school students and college students has some influence on their attitude towards environmental obligations, engagements and care. The results show that senior school students are highly sensitive to state’s obligations and civil engagements, but their religious affiliation does not seem to influence it. Instead, college students manifest strong agreement to environmental care, with Hindus displaying higher sensitivity. Besides, variables such as transformative function of religion, religious pluralism, human dignity, and empathy have favourable association with environmental care for Christians, Muslims and Hindus. We conclude with a discussion on the implications of the predictors for eco-education.

Religious traditions with their universal intent on human salvation or well-being have de-territorialized themselves or migrated from the place of their origin along trade routes in the company of merchants, invaders, and colonizers

The current synodal process (2021–2024) engaging the worldwide Catholic Church at the micro, meso and macro levels involves bringing Christians from across cultures, ethnic communities, linguistic groups and nationalities to interact and shape their journey as people of God. Without wanting to reproduce the intense debate that is in progress, we limit ourselves to examining the crucial issue—to a great extent ignored—of the intercultural lived ecclesiology associated with the inter gentes synodal praxis of communion, participation and mission. Although the synodal journey appears to be promising, the endogenous and exogenous ecclesial and societal differences implied in the inter gentes discernment can render it a complex transformative endeavor, entailing reciprocal enrichment and mutual critique. Taking up ideas that emerged in the various episcopal conferences in Asia in dialogue with some key themes in one of the European, namely, the German Episcopal Conference, we trace the intercultural challenges and prospects of communio, partecipatio et missio inter gentes, with a view to transforming the Church’s way of being and functioning.