Similar to many aspects of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec, the contempt towards the Roman Catholic Church was not a revolution that was sparked with the election of Jean Lesage in 1960 but more of an evolution. The election of Lesage did formally put into place secularization, however the church had been losing its power and prestige in the eyes of Quebec society during the Second World War. The church does remain as a common identifier in Quebec soicety during the Quiet Revolution and onwards, however, the role and expectations of what that means has differed significantly since early in the 20th century.
The church historically has been viewed favorably in Quebec and across the globe especially in hard times economically. It has been shown
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that the popularity of the church tends to fluxuate with the economy, in that in times of hardship individuals will seek refuge within the church for a job and therefore financial support. That being said when individuals do not need the church in means for survival, the vitality of the church is lower. For example, looking at the composition of Quebec female religious orders the majority of the women are from farming backgrounds and were poor because the church offered these women an opportunity for a stable job with income as well as a chance to escape the farm if that was not the life they wanted to live. This pattern is siilar in males as well, where many farmers from large families will join the church to ensure a stable paid job. Maurice Duplessis was the Premier in Quebec from 1936 to 1939 and again from 1944 to 1959.
He had a Keynesian economy approach and was avidly against international unions and communism. These political ideologies favored the Roman Catholic Church considerably as it allowed them to maintain control economically, socially and politically in Quebec society, for example, the church promoted local catholic unions such as the Canadian Catholic Confederation of Labor. The Catholic church had the most control in rural French Canadians lives. However with the start of the Second World War, a push for industrialization and urbanization to support to war effort ensured that the traditional farming life the Church relied on for control was slipping away from them. This shift away from farming may have been occurring in the interwar era due to foreign trade on some of Quebecs natural resources. In the 1940s, 60% of the population in Quebec still lived in rural areas but more than half of those individuals did not rely on farming for their livelihood; instead these individual lived in small villages that were close to a natural resource industry such as mining or pulp and paper. Therefore we can see society pushing towards a secular world in the early 40s, two decades before the Quiet Revolution …show more content…
begins. During the Duplessis governance, also referred to as “la grande noiceur” by many French Canadians, the Anglo-Saxons excel economically and socially regardless of the fact that they are the minority population. This is a result of the very elitist hierarchy of the catholic church during this time because the church was less of an organization and more of an institution. The Anglo-Saxons in Quebec were given the highest education and therefore got the highest jobs in society and as a result were making the largest incomes. It was also therefore benefited the Anglo-Saxons to maintain their relationship with the catholic church and the duplessis government to maintian their superior role in society. Besides having control over the education system, the catholic church also had control over health care and social services such as charities, youth associations and others, as well as newspapers and trade unions. These roles, while they took away from the core role of the church which is evangelism, gave the church officials extreme power and prestige. However with the changes that were made in the Vatican Council II the power and prestige were taken away from these roles.
After the Second World War the Roman Catholic Church recognized the world was modernizing and the church need to change with it. Therefore, Pope John XXIII called a council with other bishops and clergy men in 1962 to try and address the changing relations with the outside world and the Church. The meeting was called the Vatican Council II and was proclaimed in 1965, five years into the Quiet Revolution in Quebec. The changes that the council called for was a ‘universal call to holiness’. This meant that the average civilian and religious figures alike have the ability to attain holiness as well that non-Catholic faiths could lead to God. This change started to blur the distinction between a religious pious life that requires worldly sacrifices and that of an average good citizen. Hence, the number of church attendances lowered and the number of individuals joining the convent dropped as the other world benefits of such a life were eliminated. Similarly, another change the Vatican II announced was the idea of isolating oneself from worldly events-a monk- is not as charitable nor beneficial compared to an individual who is socially engaged with the world. Finally, the Vatican II redefined themselves as a collection of people, “Gods Assembly” rather than an institution, a shift that was meant to benefit every individual, not just the people God had
chosen. The changes in the Vatican II were meant to help the relations with church and civilians by aggiornamento, the ‘bringing up to date’. Subsequently the Quiet revolution, as stated above, was partly in response to the outdated and oppressive nature of the church in Quebec, the changes of the Vatican to modernize the church was done in hopes to lessen the tensions with the church and the outside world. However, many critique the Catholic Church for being too late in modernizing the church and that the gap between the church and the secular society was already too large. The Vatican II did not cause the disdain towards the Catholic Church in Quebec however the changes did complement the Quiet Revolution because of the timing. The Quiet Revolution and the Vatican II did not however lower the number of individuals who still identified themselves as Catholic. Individuals in quebec still ‘wanted to ‘be’ [catholic], it was just no longer what they wanted to ‘do’’’. This idea is what Warren describes as ‘exculturation’, meaning that individuals still maintained their faith, however it was separate from the secular world personally but as an organizaion as well. However many individuals in Quebec, especially the French Canadians did not see the reforms of the church being enough. A group in Quebec called the FLQ were formed from a group called the independantist a group of mainly baby boomers. These individuals therefore were surrounded by popular culture that was promoting personal well-being, divorce and feminism while the church was still promoting poverty, abstinence and patriarchy.
Since Wilfrid Laurier is a francophone prime minister, the help he brought to unify English and French speakers was significant. His action of compromising French and English in Canada allows the two cultures to come and prosper together. When Laurier finally triumphed in the 1896 election. The main issue at that period was the Manitoba School Question, a complex tangle of French and English language rights. The Manitoba Schools Question punched all the hot buttons of nineteenth century Canadian politics: it was a French-English issue, a Catholic-Protestant controversy, a conflict over the roles of the federal and provincial governments, and a struggle about the proper relationship between church and the state. It brought down a federal government and its shaky and ultimately short-lived resolution was a major defeat for French language and Catholic educational rights outside the province of Québec. So the action of compromising these two languages effectively solved the problem of disunion in the education system. The Balancing Act Wi...
Trudeau is fervent and stalwart in his opinions towards Federalism and its ramifications on Canadian citizenry. Born and raised in Quebec, he attended several prestigious institutions that educated him about the political spectrum of the country. After his time spent at the London School of Economics, Trudeau returned to Quebec at a time when the province was experiencing vast differences with its Federal overseer. The Union Nationale, a religious nationalist movement rooted deep in the heart of Quebec culture, had forced the Federal government to reconcile and mediate with them in order to avoid civil disorder or unrest. The Premier of Quebec at the time, Maurice Duplessis, found it almost impossible to appease the needs of each diverse interest group and faction rising within the province and ultimately buckled underneath the increasing pressure.
The government also started to replace programs the Church previously ran, which included hospital insurance, pension schemes and the beginning of Medi-Care. For these programs, the Quebec Liberals had to struggle with Ottawa for a larger share of the tax dollars. One of the greatest reforms was the modernization of the entire school system. The Church used to own the schools of Quebec. Most of the teachers were Priests, Nuns and Brothers.
For instance, Pierre felt that nationalism was not the right thing to have and was not necessary. This was because it was racist and threatening to individual freedoms. Also, he believed that nations were formed based on common language, religion and or background. Pierre Trudeau felt that nationalism was discriminating, and in a way dividing everyone up, and separating people from one another based on religion. Pierre showed his belief in individual rights by reforming the laws on divorce, and homosexuality. This let people express themselves the way they wanted to be treated without being in trouble. For instance, men were allowed to dress, and look the way that they wanted to look without being reported for disturbance. This charismatic politician felt that judging someone based on their gender preference was ridiculous and immoral. Furthermore, it helped people realize that being unique from others is a good thing, and that they should never live their life in a way, so that they do not feel comfortable. This also made people more accepting of the way others lived. Finally, it gave people the chance to be able to divorce without being judged. Pierre Trudeau also changed the abortion laws. This allowed people abort children without being judged which would help them not have to have a child if they did not want to. This gave others more freedom. This also allowed people to abort children if they felt that having a baby was too painful, and unbearable. Many people felt that having a baby was something they would not want to go through because it would affect the way they could live for the next nine months of their lives, and how they could spend their money for the next 20 years of their lives. This rule also allowed others to live life more peacefully. People would have less stress in their head. Finally, people we are able to
In 1960, a series of swift and sweeping reforms, were in processing in Quebec, and the reforms carried out by Jean Lesage, who is the leader of Quebec Liberal Party. This term was commonly believed for six years from 1960 to 1966 (Cuccioletta & Lubin, 2003). Before the Quiet Revolution, Quebec was under control of its leader Maurice Duplessis, who is an ideologically conservative traditional politician. He insisted on preserving the traditional role of Quebec from 1944 to 1959. It is believed that some policies of Duplessis’s regime were regarded as the factors that resulted in the Quiet Revolution.
It is acknowledged that at this time the Church community has not yet reached its highest potential and is faced with the limitations of human shortcomings and temporal constrictions. With an understanding of its abilities and its boundaries, the Church seeks to work with the world community to come closer to the life to which God calls the world." As this quote from one of the Documents in Vatican II states, the Church needs to have a relationship with the "outside world" as the Church itself is comprised of humans. And that the Church has a good relationship with the outside world is necessary for the Church to reach its highest potential. These are some of the changes that took place in Vatican II and naming all of them would not be necessary. The modern Church is the way it is because of most of what happened in Vatican II.
government, t. p. (n.d.). Quebec Nationalism - Quebec History. Faculty.marianopolis.edu. Retrieved May 27, 2012, from http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/events/natpart4.htm
The decision of the British, by such legislation, to permit its French Canadian subjects to freely practice Roman Catholicism and to retain French law in private matters was taken to seek their loyalty in the
René Lévesque’s impact on Canada was very proportionate and can still be seen today. Thorough Lévesque’s promotion of sovereignty association Canadian identity as a whole was affected, mainly by creating contending loyalties between the Québec people and Canada as a whole. This division of Canadian identity and creation of contending loyalties made many people chose a side, divide their identity to be one side or the other, and further promoting the other side’s sense of identity. But this division of loyalties was also present in Québec as many people had to decide if they were with René Lévesque’s ideas or agents René Lévesque’s ideas. This demand for sovereignty association brought a greater awareness that Francophone minorities were being overpowered and replaced with propionate English based things, such as schooling systems. Nevertheless, with the vaster Canadian conscious of the events occurring, thanks to René Lévesque, systems and bills like the official languages act were able to be put in place to prevent the further division and loss of French speaking
Religion was extremely important to the colony of New France, the majority of the people were Roman Catholic. They attended church weekly and held many important events in the church. The Church also made several important decisions and was in charge of things, such as education. The Jesuits were a group of males of the Roman Catholic Church, who were sent from France to spread the Roman Catholic religion to the Natives and establish schools for boys. The Ursuline Nuns were a group of religious females of the Roman Catholic Church. Their main goal was to provide education to girls in New France, and care for the sick and needy. On the other hand. Canada is a very multicultural country, meaning it would also be multi-religious. There are various religions that the people of Canada practice, such as Catholic, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, British, etc. Many people also have no religious affiliation at all. Both Canada and New France consist of mainly Catholics and Christians, and they have education available to both girls and boys. But Canada has numerous religions, while New France only had a couple. As Well, the Church is not as important in Canada as it was in
...he centuries following them, they did not work nearly as hard, or did they suffer the same sacrifice and separation from materialistic possessions and luxuries. The church and congregation itself also underwent a dramatic change. The church progressed with the times to be not only a powerful institution religiously, but also politically, economically and also socially. With this rise in power in many different areas besides religion came the involvement in many different areas in society. These ties in society created involvement in the “City of the World” which took away from aspects of the “City of God.”
During the latter part of the 18th century, to be a French citizen almost certainly meant that you were Catholic as well. People outside the Catholic church were denied complete ...
Why is the Catholic Church so corrupt in its teaching? They have found ways to control the knowledge that their followers contemplate on. The control of knowledge and power is the foundation for every successful religious organization. The Catholic Church have acquired this power through strategic control on the mind of its follower. The Catholic Church propagate their ideals as righteous in order to be accepted; for without this acceptance, they are faced with the task of initiating this power through force. So to beguile their followers, they present themselves in “sheep clothing” (KJV, Matt 7:15). They are accepted as blameless, peaceful, loving and harmless but in actuality, “they are ravening wolves” (KJV, Matt. 7:15).
The Roman Catholic Church had complete influence over the lives of everyone in medieval society including their beliefs and values. The Church’s fame in power and wealth had provided them with the ability to make their own laws and follow their own social hierarchy. With strong political strength in hand, the Church could even determine holidays and festivals. It gained significant force in the arts, education, religion, politics as well as their capability to alter the feudal structure through their wealth and power.
Early in history, the Roman papacy consolidated its power. It became one of the most influential organizations in the medieval period. This rise to power resulted from the decline in the Western Empire, the leadership of Roman bishops, and special grants that gave the church land holdings. This rise to power caused some positive ramifications, such as the protection of the church from heresy. However, the absolute power of the pope also caused corruption and abuses, many of which would eventually spark the reformation.