Celebrating the Sickle Cell Disease World Day on June 19th after Two Years of Pandemic: My Life with Scd, Patients' Perspective

Background: After two years of COVID in which activities were reduced due to the pandemic and each one's life was affected by restrictions and limitations, the Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) Association in Padova teamed up with the Sickle Cell Group at the Pediatric Hematology Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant Unit to celebrate the Sickle Cell Disease world day by organizing an online meeting with children/youths and their families. Theme of the meeting was: "My Life with SCD: poems, pictures and writings express our view on disease and care". Aim(s): One of the goals of this meeting was to create an opportunity for individuals with SCD to meet and have a constructive discussion with each other about the disease and express their feelings after two years of pandemic. Method(s): One month before the meeting children, teenager and parents were asked to sharer with the organizing team any drawing, painting, poem, writing, that they felt could express their feelings or experience of the disease itself or how it affected their life, or their experience in the hospital. The materials received were organized in a power point presentation and At the meeting, families were able to see a PowerPoint presentation with the poems, drawings, writings. Each author had the choice to personally share their production or have it read out loud by a member of the team. Free time to comment or share experiences was given. Result(s): 20 children, teenagers and parents participated. Countries of origin (Nigeria, Ghana, Congo, Albania, Italy), religious background (catholic, muslim, no religion, other) were different as well as disease genotype (HbSS, HbSC, HbSBdegree), severity or treatment received (Hydroxyurea, transfusion, Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation -HSCT, none). Drawings and writings regarded experience with the disease (mechanism of action, admissions), feelings experienced (fear, hope, light at the end of the tunnel), aspirations (sports) and gratitude (to the social and medical team, to parents) (Figure 1). Surprisingly, families who had a child having undergone HSCT, reported on the need and importance to talk about this experience for years after the event and made a request of a support goup. Finally, all families underlined the need to meet again soon to discuss together issues related to personal experience with SCD, even via web. of discussion with each other and with the drepanocytosis group;and that throug the online telematics platform it is still possible to involve all families, listening and trying to comfort them on doubts and perplexities about the disease, In conclusion, it can be said that after two years of pandemic, in our setting, online meeting can help patients and families reconnect with each other and activities can be planned to aid experiences and feelings. Patients' associations and Health Care Teams can collaborate in this area.

A Comparison of Graduate University Perspectives of Online versus Face-to-Face during the Pandemic

Purpose: This study aims to compare graduate student perspectives of online versus face-to-face (FTF) education during the pandemic at two different universities. One university, the "International University", was physically located in Korea but served an international base of students, and the other was a Jesuit, Catholic University in the USA. Design/methodology/approach: An online Qualtrics survey was used to gather student perceptions on a five-point Likert scale on individual and program factors. Chi-square analysis using the contingency coefficient as the nominal value was performed to uncover significant differences. Findings: Significant differences between the two groups existed on motivation, discipline, self-directed, independence, cost investment, preference, happiness, difficulty, student-to-student interaction and student-to-instructor interaction. This research has implications for instructors and administrators in identifying shortcomings and highlighting the uniqueness of different practices around the world. Originality/value: Previous studies on student perceptions have been performed. However, this study is original in the fact that it directly compares two different graduate student populations perspectives of online versus FTF during the pandemic.

A Sociotheological Approach to Catholic Social Teaching: The Role of Religion in Moral Responsibility During COVID-19

This book introduces Catholic social teaching (CST) and its teaching on the common good to the reader and applies them in the realm of public health to critically analyze the major global issues of COVID-19 that undermine public interest. It uses the sociotheological approach that combines the moral principles of CST and the holistic analysis of modern sociology and also utilizes the secondary literature as the main source of textual data. Specifically, it investigates the corporate moral irresponsibility and some unethical business practices of Big Pharma in the sale and distribution of its anti-COVID vaccines and medicines, the injustice in the inequitable global vaccine distribution, the weakening of the United States Congress's legislative regulation against the pharmaceutical industry's overpricing and profiteering, the inadequacy of the World Health Organization's (WHO) law enforcement system against corruption, and the lack of social monitoring in the current public health surveillance system to safeguard the public good from corporate fraud and white-collar crime. This book highlights the contribution of sociology in providing the empirical foundation of CST's moral analysis and in crafting appropriate Catholic social action during the pandemic. It is hoped that through this book, secular scholars, social scientists, religious leaders, moral theologians, religious educators, and Catholic lay leaders would be more appreciative of the sociotheological approach to understanding religion and COVID-19. "This book brings into dialogue two bodies of literature: documents of Catholic social teaching, and modern sociology and its core thinkers and texts…The author does especially well to describe how taking ‘the sociotheological turn'…will benefit the credibility and dissemination of Catholic social thought.” - Rev. Fr. Thomas Massaro, S.J., Professor of Moral Theology, Jesuit School of Theology, Santa Clara University, Berkeley, California. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Women in the Catholic World Facing Pandemic. Gendered Activism

Studies on religion in Italy at the time of Covid-19 have investigated the influence of the pandemic on the trend of religiosity in the country, both in its traditional and new forms. But the study of the life of Italian Catholic women during the most acute phase of the health emergency was completely neglected. This absence also reflects a lacuna in the contemporary sociological debate : the scarcity of research that investigates both the religiosity of Italian women and the female Catholic protagonism. The article aims to help fill this gap by investigating how Catholic activists have reacted to the pandemic. To this end, the experience of << Women for the Church >>, a group founded in 2017 by Paola Lazzarini, a sociology and journalist, will be examined. This lens will allow us to extend our gaze beyond the experience of these activists, to start a broader reasoning on how practicing Catholic women have faced the absence of public rites, finding alternative solutions for themselves and their families.

Symposium on Principles of Dissidence: Europe and Beyond

This symposium includes essays that examine the nature of dissident activity against totalitarian regimes in both a Western and non-Western context.[1] The essays cover dissident activity in eastern Europe, Venezuela, and China. Liu compares especially with Vaclav Havel, the playwright whose leadership of Charter '77 inspired Liu to lead a similar effort with Charter '08. John McNerney focuses on Liu's anamnestic recovery and conversion of the person in his dissidence against the Chinese totalitarianism: "Xiaobo's odyssey can be understood in this way. [Extracted from the article] Copyright of Perspectives on Political Science is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Fostering the Global Common Good: The Relevance of Catholic Social Teaching to Public Health Debates

Given the scope and intensity of its impact, the COVID-19 pandemic proves instructive as an example of the shortfall in regnant legal and policy approaches to global health issues. Secular discussions of such issues tend to rely on a perspective best described as "policy realism”, with current international arrangements and institutions viewed as the acceptable context for future reform. Much of recent Catholic social teaching (hereinafter, CST) has challenged such realism in fundamental ways. While CST is often dismissed as merely prophetic in its tone, I defend its salience by assessing several aspects of its distinctive perspective: (1) the broad theological and anthropological vision reflected in the Catholic framework of basic norms, especially the norm of solidarity;(2) issues that arise in identifying different modes of moral discourse in modern CST;and (3) an effort to resolve such apparent tensions that unifies a distinctively Catholic approach to global health even as it suggests a series of "talking points” between the Catholic theological vision and various secular philosophical and political perspectives.

Australian Catholics' Lived Experiences of COVID-19 Church Closures.

In 2020, Australian Catholic churches closed due to COVID-19 restrictions, but there has been little qualitative data published on the lived experience of churchgoing Catholics in this period. Data from 175 Australian churchgoing Catholic survey participants who left responses describing their COVID-19 worship experiences as part of a larger project revealed five major themes: 'Church and State', 'Blessings in disguise', 'Polarisation', 'Future proofing', and 'Loss'. Respondents expressed a diverse range of views about the church leadership, lockdowns, conspiracy theories, the merits and deficits of online worship, and their own thriving or suffering during church closures.

Analysis of the phenomenon of changes in faith and the practice of Poles on the basis of the CBOS research report in reference to S. Hjarvard's theory of mediatization of religion

The aim of the article is to analyze the phenomenon of change in the process of faith and practices of Poles on the basis of the CBOS Research Communication Religiousness of young people against the background of the general public, published in November 2021 in relation to the process of mediatization of religion. The analytical-synthetic method and the non-media-centric approach were used. The analysis of the CBOS report on changes in the process of faith and practices of Poles made it possible to notice unprecedented changes in this area in the two youngest age cohorts. The main reasons for the decline in religious beliefs and practices, especially of the youngest Poles, go beyond the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2022, University of Economy. All rights reserved.

Religious Orientation and Motivations in a Sample of Italian Catholic Volunteers

The aim of the research was to study motivations to volunteer, and their relationship with religious orientation in a sample of volunteers working in a Catholic organization. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 190 volunteers working in a Catholic organization based in a large city in northern Italy and devoted to ending poverty and situations of marginalization through the promotion of social justice. Of these, 160 (90 females, 70 males) agreed to participate. The main result was that all motivations, except Career, increased with the intrinsic religious orientation. The Social and Career functions increased with the extrinsic-social religious orientation. The Protective and Enhancement functions increased with all religious orientations. The result concerning gender differences showed that the creation of a social network through volunteering and the opportunities to create and maintain a positive relationship with others are more important to women than men. Managers could benefit from these findings to improve the recruitment and retaining of volunteers and to think strategically about the mission and the cultural/religious belief of the organization. The impact of two and a half years of Covid-19 policies, however, remains unclear. © Equinox Publishing Ltd 2023

The medicine of mercy: Preaching on addiction in the field hospital Parish

In the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, statistics related to the ongoing crisis of addiction in the United States hit record levels. Those statistics include drug overdose deaths, rates of substance use and misuse, and alcohol-related fatalities. Some Christian denominations and individual congregations, including a handful of Roman Catholic parishes, have sought to respond to the suffering experienced by those in active addiction through intentional ministries of care, support, and community. Yet preaching on the topic of addiction-and the hope found in recovery-remains rare in churches on Sunday morning. This thesis explores the complex and confounding realities of addiction, its causes, and multiple pathways to recovery, while articulating an urgent and salient call for Roman Catholic priests and deacons to address the crisis of addiction in their midst. The primary ministerial intervention for the thesis consisted of a one-day workshop for Roman Catholic priests and permanent deacons in Minnesota. Pre-workshop interviews were conducted with two cohorts: ten priests and permanent deacons in active ministry (Cohort One), and ten practicing Catholics in recovery from addiction (Cohort Two). The interviews considered whether preaching on the topic of addiction and recovery was taking place in Roman Catholic parishes around the country and what might be most helpful or harmful for people in recovery or in active addiction to hear from preaching in their parishes. Chapter 1 introduces the thesis project overall.Chapter 2 considers addiction theologically, focusing on three areas of study: sacramentality;sin, grace, and the unconditional love of God;and trauma-informed or trauma-sensitive theology. Chapter 3 explores the importance of story, specifically in the salvific and life-giving tradition of twelve-step storytelling and in the inductive practice of narrative preaching in the style of the New Homiletic. Chapter 4 provides a detailed exploration of addiction, considering clinical diagnostic criteria, neurological and sociological research, and current trends regarding the prevalence of stigma and challenges to achieving recovery for many. The chapter also considers multiple pathways to recovery, including twelve-step programs focused on abstinence, harm reduction strategies, and natural recovery methods. Chapter 5 reports on the ministerial intervention and provides key findings from the research conducted. Chapter 6 considers next steps and offers final conclusions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Religious freedom and pandemics: towards a new paradigm of relations between the State and religious denominations?

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted on all aspects of our lives, affecting various freedoms and rights, including religious freedom. The fundamental core of this freedom, namely the individual, public and collective exercise of worship, which was indeed likened to attending a theatre or cinema performance, was eroded, first by preventing and then restricting religious celebrations. In the absence of a framework law on religious freedom that could constitute the legal basis for an agreed discipline, the stipulation of memoranda of understanding between the Italian government and six religious denominations, following a collective online meeting, appears to suggest a different way of understanding the bilateral system in our pluralist and multicultural society. © 2023, Societa Editoriale Federalismi s.r.l. All rights reserved.

Catholic Universities in an Increasingly Competitive Environment

Pope Francis' vision for a global compact on education, including the role that Catholic universities should play, is in sharp contrast to the vision that dominates the higher education sector: that of producing graduates for gainful employment. Can Catholic colleges and universities rise to the challenge? This article provides a partial answer to that question by first considering four trends affecting higher education globally: (i) the impact of Covid;(ii) the technologization of higher education;(iii) the promise of employability;and (iv) the great unbundling towards micro-credentials. Thereafter, using data for the United States, the article provides a brief assessment of whether Catholic universities may be losing ground, while nevertheless keeping some sources of comparative advantage. The analysis remains explorative and tentative. What seems clear is that there is a lot of heterogeneity between institutions, with some struggling and others finding ways to maintain their comparative advantages.

Lockdown worship in the Church of England: predicting affect responses to leading or accessing online and in-church services: Studies in Religion & Education

This study draws on data provided to the Covid-19 & Church-21 Survey by 2,017 Anglicans (clergy and laity) living in England to explore the experiences of those leading and those accessing online (pre-recorded and live-streamed) and in-church services within the Church of England between January and July 2021. The data demonstrated that for both those leading services and those accessing services, online worship was less rewarding than in-church worship, even as expressed within the context of Covid restrictions. Moreover, pre-recorded online services were less rewarding than live-streamed services both for those leading and for those accessing services. Among leaders, the return to in-church services was most rewarding for older leaders, lay ministers, Anglo-Catholics, those working in rural churches, extraverts and the emotionally stable.

II. "New Paths as We Journey toward the Future”: Reflections on Anglican/Episcopal-Roman Catholic Dialogue since Ut Unum Sint

"Today, our world is experiencing a tragic famine of hope. How much pain is all around us, how much emptiness, how much inconsolable grief. Let us, then, become messengers of the comfort bestowed by the Spirit. Let us radiate hope, and the Lord will open new paths as we journey toward the future.” These challenging and uplifting words by His Holiness Pope Francis were part of an ecumenical service with the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and the Coptic Archbishop of London this year. Preaching during the impact of COVID-19 worldwide, Pope Francis' message also frames the challenges and hopes of Anglican/Episcopal-Roman Catholic dialogue in the twenty-five years since Pope John Paul II's encyclical Ut Unum Sint (UUS), "That They May Be One.”

Change Management Of Patient Associations In Italy: From Emergency Response To Organizational Learning

Introduction. The role of associations dedicated to patient advocacy has assumed strategic importance within the most advanced health systems, including the Italian NHS. In this period of strong national and international emergency, the associations of citizens and patients have also changed their actions and have implemented others to alleviate the discomforts of sick people in Italy, collaborating with institutions and health services. Methods. Data were collected using a semi-structured survey, with both yes / no and open questions, developed and administered by the Patient Advocacy LAB (ALTEMS- Catholic University of Sacred Heart) to 150 patient advocacy associations. The organizational changes and the initiatives adopted by patient associations during the COVID-19 emergency was investigated. Results. The majority of the initiatives adopted by patient advocacy associations during the COVID-19 pandemic have been introduced during the first wave (March- June 2020), and that most of them have been maintained to (December 2020). These initiatives included improvements and updating of the communication tools aimed at reaching the higher number of patients. Thanks to these new approaches, the empathy and the assistance to patients have been increased. In addition, a number of training initiatives have been developed online and they have been followed by a large number of patients and caregivers. At an operative level, during the pandemic, many patient advocacy associations have provided their support to distribute masks, gloves, and therapies to patients. Unfortunately the fundraising activities suffered due to the lockdown, and the main problems were related to social distancing and lack of public campaigns. The institutional relationships have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and they mainly regarded the participation in legislative interventions. Among the initiatives adopted, our sampled associations affirmed that they would like to maintain the social support provided to patients experienced during the pandemic. Finally we calculated a resiliency score and we discovered that the majority of the sampled associations developed an intermediate level of resiliency and that it is positively correlated with their tenure. Conclusions. Our results provide a fresh view about the role of patient advocacy associations during the pandemic indicate their important role within the NHS.

Profiting from Crisis? Catholic Traditionalism during the COVID-19 Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, traditionalist Catholic communities have been able to draw worshippers from mainstream parishes that restricted services, thereby profiting from the crisis. In addition, they have used pandemic conditions to advance an ultraconservative strain of Christian theology that foregrounds the role of believers in the Ecclesia militans or "militant Church"by rejecting (in part) state-imposed measures against the pandemic and propagating a critique of vaccination in line with decades of mobilization against abortion and secularism. The paper focuses on the largest of these communities, the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. Focusing mainly on Austria, it details how these communities have sought to leverage the crisis to court worshipers from mainstream parishes and advance their long-term strategic ambitions to destabilize the post-Second Vatican Council status quo within the Roman Catholic Church. © 2022 Thomas Schmidinger.

Becoming a People of Greater Hospitality Catholic Practices in Pandemic-Striken Philippines

Unlike some religious traditions elsewhere, Philippine Catholicism readily recognized the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic as described by medical science and public health protocols. Given this general perspective, it promoted communal worship online and inclusive feeding programs – practices integral to Catholicism and rooted in the local religious ethos. The defining characteristics of these practices during the pandemic invite critical inquiry on its theological foundations. The first provides greater accessibility to the ekklesia and interrogates therefore the traditional notion of Catholic belonging and identity. The second exemplifies a more inclusive framework for social ministry on account of the wide diversity of roles among those involved and its integration of charitable services with structural change. Thus both practices challenge Philippine Catholicism to become a people of greater hospitality. © KONINKLIJKE BRILL NV, LEIDEN, 2022.

Philippine Catholic Festivals during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Performing Live in the 'New' Normal

On 16 March 2020, then Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte imposed the Enhanced Community Quarantine putting the main island of Luzon – where Manila, the National Capital Region, is located – on a total lockdown to protect the spread of COVID-19. The lockdown restricted mobility, social gatherings were prohibited, and everyone was mandated to stay inside their homes. Moreover, there was a temporary closure of what were considered as non-essential establishments, including religious institutions. Being a predominantly Roman Catholic nation, religious rituals and festivals were heavily affected by the lockdown. Many of its ritualistic and festive performances involve human contact, which serves as the faithful's direct and intimate relationship to the heavens. This essay interrogates how cultural festivals in the Philippines, mostly organised by the Church, adapted to the global health crisis. It reflects how the adaptations challenged and recontextualised the understanding of the live vis-àvis the context of the digital or the virtual. Finally, a preliminary speculation on the future of the religious festivals in the Philippines is provided as a concluding reflection.