{"title":"“Places of Memory”: Working with Roman Catholic Archives","authors":"Nicholas Schofield","doi":"10.1111/1467-9809.13077","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Roman Catholic Church has always been aware of its history and has developed a theology of the past. A document produced by the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Patrimony of the Church in 1997, <i>The Pastoral Function of Church Archives</i>, brought together some of its central principles. Nevertheless, in practice, the Catholic community has followed these ideals to different degrees of success. This short article presents several case studies in the United Kingdom and Rome, and surveys the challenges facing Catholic archives. If religious archives are “places of memory,” the “memory” is often only occasionally tapped. There is always a real danger of historical amnesia. Religious archives should be confident in demonstrating that valuing the past means illuminating the present and believing in the future.</p>","PeriodicalId":44035,"journal":{"name":"JOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY","volume":"48 3","pages":"311-316"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1467-9809.13077","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"JOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9809.13077","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"HISTORY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The Roman Catholic Church has always been aware of its history and has developed a theology of the past. A document produced by the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Patrimony of the Church in 1997, The Pastoral Function of Church Archives, brought together some of its central principles. Nevertheless, in practice, the Catholic community has followed these ideals to different degrees of success. This short article presents several case studies in the United Kingdom and Rome, and surveys the challenges facing Catholic archives. If religious archives are “places of memory,” the “memory” is often only occasionally tapped. There is always a real danger of historical amnesia. Religious archives should be confident in demonstrating that valuing the past means illuminating the present and believing in the future.
期刊介绍:
Journal of Religious History is a vital source of high quality information for all those interested in the place of religion in history. The Journal reviews current work on the history of religions and their relationship with all aspects of human experience. With high quality international contributors, the journal explores religion and its related subjects, along with debates on comparative method and theory in religious history.