Michael P. Hornsby-Smith – författare

This book provides the first in-depth case study of 'Renew' - a pastoral programme of religious revitalization. The programme originated in the United States in 1976 and has been widely adopted throughout the Roman Catholic world. Initiated from the top down in a hierarchically-structured church, it can be seen as an example of clerical attempts to stimulate and control lay spirituality in an organizationally controlled manner (as opposed to grass-roots movements, such as those associated with liberation theology). The authors look at the history of religious organizations in the Roman Catholic Church and the affects of modernity on religious practice, and the decline in the latter which prompted the diocese to adopt 'Renew'. Their findings show that the effects of 'Renew' were limited and short-lived, an inevitable consequence of the ambiguous and often contradictory aims. In analysing these findings they suggest some ways in which the church might reform itself - by decentralization and a reform of the papacy, for example - to meet the challenges of the modern age.

This book is about change in the Roman Catholic community in England and Wales. It argues that in the post-war years of economic growth and expanded educational opportunities, Catholics born in Great Britain achieved rates of upward social mobility comparable to those of the general population. In so doing there arose a 'new Catholic middle class', likely to be crucial for the future of Roman Catholicism in England and Wales. However, since one quarter of English Catholics were first-generation immigrants who had experienced some downward mobility, it could not be said that English Catholics generally had experienced a 'mobility momentum' relative to the rest of the population. Apart from the effects of social change, post-war Catholicism was also transformed as a result of the religious reforms legitimated by the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s. The net effect of these social and religious forces on English Catholicism was the dissolution of the boundaries which had formerly defended a 'fortress' church in a hostile world. The book identifies this, inter alia, in the widespread heterodoxy of belief and practice, and in the decline of marital endogamy and communal involvement.

This 1991 book makes available an empirical study of the transformations in religious beliefs that have occurred amongst English Catholics. It complements Dr Hornsby-Smith's well received Roman Catholics in England (1987) which provides the social and historical context for this present study. In Roman Catholic beliefs in England, Michael Hornsby-Smith explores Catholic beliefs over a range of concerns from doctrinal matters to questions of personal and social morality and assesses how religious beliefs are differentiated between different types of Catholics. He also examines the legitimacy accorded by English Catholics to both papal authority and religious authority in general.

This 1991 book makes available an empirical study of the transformations in religious beliefs that have occurred amongst English Catholics. It complements Dr Hornsby-Smith's well received Roman Catholics in England (1987) which provides the social and historical context for this present study. In Roman Catholic beliefs in England, Michael Hornsby-Smith explores Catholic beliefs over a range of concerns from doctrinal matters to questions of personal and social morality and assesses how religious beliefs are differentiated between different types of Catholics. He also examines the legitimacy accorded by English Catholics to both papal authority and religious authority in general.

Michael Hornsby-Smith offers an overview of Catholic social thought particularly in recent decades. While drawing on official teaching such as papal encyclicals and the pastoral letters of bishops' conferences, he takes seriously the need for dialogue with secular thought. The 2006 book is organized in four stages. Part I outlines the variety of domestic and international injustices and seeks to offer a social analysis of the causes of these injustices. Part II offers a theological reflection on the characteristics of the kingdom of God which Christians are urged to seek. Part III reviews Catholic social thought in six main areas: human rights, the family and bioethical issues, economic life, social exclusion, authentic development, and war and peace. Part IV completes the cycle with a consideration of appropriate social action responses to the injustices which the author has identified and analysed.

Michael Hornsby-Smith offers an overview of Catholic social thought particularly in recent decades. While drawing on official teaching such as papal encyclicals and the pastoral letters of bishops' conferences, he takes seriously the need for dialogue with secular thought. The 2006 book is organized in four stages. Part I outlines the variety of domestic and international injustices and seeks to offer a social analysis of the causes of these injustices. Part II offers a theological reflection on the characteristics of the kingdom of God which Christians are urged to seek. Part III reviews Catholic social thought in six main areas: human rights, the family and bioethical issues, economic life, social exclusion, authentic development, and war and peace. Part IV completes the cycle with a consideration of appropriate social action responses to the injustices which the author has identified and analysed.

First published in 1989, The Changing Parish is the first modern sociological account of the changing Roman Catholic parish in England. It identifies the major changes in parishes and in the roles of parish priests and parishioners.At the heart of the book is a comparison of pre-Vatican and post-Vatican ideal types of Church, parish, priest, and parishioner. The author shows clearly, with special reference to two English parishes, how conflicts arise between those who favour the emergent models and those who adopt a posture of intransigence and adhere tenaciously to the earlier models. He explores these conflicts at parish level, particularly over the matter of liturgical reform, pointing out that such conflicts are not unique to England but can be detected in places as far apart as the United States, Australia, Western Europe, and the Philippines. Dr Hornsby-Smith gives a penetrating analysis of the changing nature of priest–lay relationships, styles of clerical leadership, and lay participation, and presents a systematic account of the everyday lives of the parish clergy.