Catholic Identity or Identities?: Refounding Ministries in Chaotic Times

How can Catholic leaders effectively train and form members of our institutions in the Gospel values that are the ultimate foundation of Catholic identities?

Internationally recognized author, educator, and facilitator Gerald A. Arbuckle argues that it is time to acknowledge that the programs and processes used in the past are inadequate to our postmodern age. The systems previously used to educate the staffs of our hospitals, universities, schools, and other institutions rarely succeed today. Although didactic teaching and discursive learning have their place, they cannot be the primary method for forming identities.

Catholic Identity or Identities? will assist a wide range of people- bishops, theologians, pastoral workers, institutional leaders and staffs, and more-in their various ministries. Arbuckle draws on several disciplines, including Scripture, theology, and history, but in particular cultural anthropology, to explain the importance of refounding adult formation for Catholic ministries and the practical ways to achieve it.

Gerald A. Arbuckle, SM, is codirector of Refounding and Pastoral Development, a research ministry, in Sydney, Australia. An award-winning author, he is internationally known for his expertise in helping church leaders minister effectively in a postmodern world. In 2011 he presented the Martin D’Arcy, SJ, Lectures at Oxford University. His many books include Healthcare Ministry; Violence, Society, and the Church; Laughing with God; Culture, Inculturation, and Theologians; and Catholic Identity or Identities?, all from Liturgical Press.