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Using data obtained over a nine-year period from the metropolitan Sao Paulo area, this paper examines the contribution of Brazilian Catholic base Christian communities (comunidades eclesiais de base-CEBs) to enhanced intra-group political activation and awareness among women members. The study shows that through their various activities, the CEBs over time have offered women opportunities for empowerment within the context of their own groups. Nevertheless, initial differences observed between women and men in terms of enhanced political awareness and the propensity to internal activism do, however, appear to persist over time. This finding, which suggests a somewhat circumscribed contribution of the CEBs to women's empowerment at the group level, is subsequently explained not only in terms of possible constraints to women's involvement in the more political dimensions of group life, but also with reference to the different ways women and men, respectively, may perceive of their CEB-related roles and responsibilities. Keywords: Women, politics, Liberation Theology, Brazil, base Christian communities

Changing cultural conditions in three quite different settings - a highly industrialized Canada, an increasingly post-industrial United States, and an industrializing Brazil - have led many observes to assert that the religious markets in the three countries are fairly open. However, an examination of affiliation patterns reveals that the traditionally strong religious groups in the three societies are succeeding in maintaining monopolies. Identification with the long-established mainline churches remains both very stable and high, despite the activities and claims of religious competitors. Religious affiliation continues to be largely inherited, complete with important social, psychological, and emotional associations. Nevertheless, general cultural specialization has contributed to an accelerated inclination on the part of Canadians, Americans, and Brazilians to look to religious groups for highly specific services. These include programs with spiritual and social justice emphases, and rites of passage pertaining to birth, marriage, and death. Religious groups have responded to such market demands by expanding their religious menus and, in the process, largely neutralizing the offerings of religious competitors. The result is very tight specialized religious markets in all three countries. Identification prevails, but the related impact of religion at the level of the individual is extremely specific and limited., Since at least Comte, advocates of what has come to be known as 'the secularization thesis' have maintained that science, and the specialization associated with advanced societies weaken the role [...]

International municipal exchanges (IMEs) between cities and towns in developed and developing countries are one of the most comprehensive and potentially effective international cooperative ventures known as community development initiatives. Instead of cash donations or loans to governments, these IMEs focus on technical and information transfers in the form of joint ventures, partnerships and exchanges. Exchanges involving Canadian towns and cities and their Latin American counterparts demonstrate the value of these IMEs. Expanding knowledge on the need for and effects of these IMEs will allow policy makers to better assess this development assistance tool.

As a national group, Canadians are frequently viewed as an outward-looking people with an innate thirst for knowledge about the social, economic, and political customs of other nationalities. Traditionally, such [...]

Social science research examining the relationship between religion and health has produced equivocal results, although evidence from more recent studies points toward a link between inward or intrinsic religion and both mental and physical well-being. This study offers a further examination emergent association by comparing the health status of two specific respondent groups drawn from a population of Canadian university students. The first consists of members of a range of campus Chris faith groups, and the second is a comparison or nonaffiliated group chosen from the student body at The results of the study reveal a positive relationship between faith group involvement and various of health status, and thus support previous positive findings. At the same time, they reinforce the further research on the association between specific aspects of religiosity and well-being.

Un nombre d'etudes ont essaye d'expliquer la recente emergence de 1'Eglise Catholique Romaine comme agent de changement social dans plusieurs parties du monde. La plupart d'entre elles se sont plus particulierement interessees au developpement d'un nouvel engagement organisationnel pour la justice sociale dans des Eglises specifiques nationales ou regionales. Relativement peu d'entre elles en revanche se sont interessees aux subtilites du changement organisationnel a un niveau sub-national ou diocesal. Utilisant des donnees de recherche assemblees dans les dioceses de Victoria et de Toronto, cette etude aide a aborder cette deficience grace a un examen des facteurs-clefs qui contribuent a une transformation organisationnelle au niveau de 1'Eglise locale au Canada. Les resultats de l'etude appuient le developpement d'un modele nouveau quant a la comprehension des variations non-nationales dans l'engagement organisationnel pour le changement, modele qui prend en compte non seulement l'orientation ideologique de l'eveque local mais aussi sa volonte et sa capacite a mobiliser des ressources specifiques pledant la cause de la justice sociale. A number of studies have attempted to explain the recent emergence of the Roman Catholic Church as a n agent of social change in many parts of the world. Most of these have focussed upon the development of a new organizational commitment to social justice in specific national or regional Churches. Relatively few, however, have concerned themselves with the subtleties of organizational change at the sub-national or diocesan level. Using field research data collected in the dioceses of Victoria and Toronto, this study helps to address this deficiency through an examination of key factors conducive to organizational transformation at the level of the local Church in Canada. The study's findings support the development of a new model for mapping and understanding sub-national variations in the organizational commitment to change which takes into account not only the local bishop's ideological orientation, but also his willingness and ability to mobilize specific resources in support of the social, INTRODUCTION In recent years, the Roman Catholic Church - in a number of both developing and industrialized countries, including Canada - has become increasingly involved with the cause of social [...]

A number of theories or models have emerged to explain the rise and pervasiveness of the 'option for the poor' in Brazilian Catholicism. First, the 'institutional' approach maintains that the 'option' is primarily a product of elite initiative. A second perspective, posited largely by liberation theologians, insists that the 'option' can be understood only as a 'grassroots' phenomenon. Finally, a 'compromise' approach borrows on elements of both the 'institutional' and 'grassroots' models. Proponents of this school argue that the Church's adoption of the cause of the poor is the result of an interplay between forces at both the base and the hierarchy of Brazilian Catholicism. Although the popularity of the latter two models has grown considerably in recent years, this paper argues that both the 'grassroots' and 'compromise' positions suffer from a number of deficiencies, most of which can be traced to a lack of solid empirical grounding. Furthermore, these more recent innovations appear to say little about where the Church and the 'option' may be headed. The utility of the 'institutional approach' in this regard is demonstrated by application of the model to current events on the Brazilian religious scene, events which reveal the 'option for the poor' to be on the verge of serious decline.

Issues related to democratic restructuring and citizenship at the municipal level in Latin America have been the subject of increasing interest and debate among scholars and development practitioners in recent years. This study investigates how international cooperation may facilitate enhanced citizen participation in local-level decision making in the region by examining a specific Canadian-sponsored linking project involving the cities of Charlesbourg, Quebec (Canada) and Ovalle (Chile). The study presents a relatively optimistic account of the role that innovations transferred as a result of this project have played in enhancing citizen involvement in local government. At the same time, it suggests that any such gains may be limited and must be viewed within the larger politico-administrative context in Latin America and attendant factors restricting the establishment of a broad democratic culture at the local level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study on the knowledge and perception of AIDS among Canadian nurses. Categories of nurses considered for sample design of the study; Level of caution taken by nurses while handling AIDS patients; Lack of complete information among the nurses on AIDS; Comparison of the knowledge of AIDS among registered nurses pursuing a Bachelor in Nursing (BN) Course and students of a generic BN program.

States that the continued viability of the progressive Catholic church in Latin America has been the subject of growing debate. Developments in the orientation and structure within the `comunidade eclesial de base' (CEB) in Brazil; Militant movements of the CEB and other church-based groups in Latin America; Popularity of Sao Paulo as venue for CEB-related research; Causes that contributed to CEB change.