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Lebanon, which straddles a 200 km strip of coastal cities, snow-capped mountains and agricultural valleys along the Eastern Mediterranean, is home to the largest concentration of Catholics in the Middle East, living among a larger population of Muslims. A multi-confessional state, Lebanon is home to 18 officially recognized religious groups, among them Sunni, Shīʿa, and small numbers of Alawite and Ismaili Muslims; Maronite , Greek Melkite , and modest numbers of Armenian , Chaldean , Syrian and “Latin” Catholics; Lebanese Greek, Armenian and Syriac Orthodox; and Druze communities living in a

For 388 years the people of Oberammergau, Germany, a village of 5,400 people at the edge of the Alps, have performed a Passion Play once a decade in fulfillment of a collective vow made at a moment of desperation. What began as a local act of devotion by means of interpretive embodiment and reenactment grew into an international tourist attraction. The five-hour performance, in a theater big enough to seat most of Oberammergau’s residents, draws roughly 500,000 people per season.1 1Official counts ranged from 450,000 to 530,000 per season from 1960-2010. The theater seats 4,400 people.

In the northwestern suburbs outside Chicago, on a large property bordered by a cemetery and housing tracts, crowds sometimes exceeding 200,000 have been gathering for decades on freezing December nights in the city of Des Plaines to honor the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe in a manner that echoes the great feast in Mexico City . Just as it was once deemed to be surprising that a hill outside Mexico City would be the site for the appearance of the Virgin and that she would have appeared as a brown-skinned Nahuatl speaker, so too might it seem surprising that an unassuming 62-acre prairie land

During Burundi's 1993-2005 civil war, students at Buta Minor Seminary were ordered at gunpoint to separate by ethnicity— Hutus over here, Tutsis over there! They chose instead to join hands and affirm their common identity as children of God. The forty students killed were quickly proclaimed martyrs of fraternity. Their costly solidarity defused the cry for reprisals and continues to inspire Burundians and others on the path of reconciliation. As the Vatican’s Congregation for Saints’ Causes investigates the Burundi martyrs' cause for sainthood, Jodi

The beginnings of the Catholic charismatic movement are often located in a period during the late 1960s, when Catholics received “the baptism of the Holy Spirit” during retreats and conferences at Duquesne and Notre Dame Universities.1 1See René Laurentin, Pentecôtisme Chez les Catholiques (Paris: Beauchesme, 1974); and Edward O’Connor, The Pentecostal Movement in the Catholic Church (Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 1971). For a quick, basic overview see Mathew N. Schmalz, “What Is Charismatic Catholicism,” The Conversation, Sept. 25, 2020, https://theconversation.com/what-is-charismatic

The entire compound of Matridham Ashram, outside the Hindu holy city of Banaras in North India, is considered to be holy ground. While the pavilion is the center of Catholic charismatic religious services, there are three other areas or spaces in the compound that are considered to be especially sacred: the shrine to Mary and the Child Jesus; the Chapel; and what is called the “Darśan Bhavan.” As a sign of honor typical in Indic religious traditions, the statue of Mary and the child Jesus is garlanded. But what is especially important is the iconography that highlights the eyes. This artistic

Established in 1954, Matridham Ashram was for over thirty years an important Catholic retreat and education center focusing on inculturation or adapting Catholic religious practice to Indian cultural symbols and expectations. While it still holds retreats as part of its “Indian Christian Experience Program,” it is now much more widely known as a center for Catholic charismatic religiosity as well as the Khrist Bhakta movement among Hindu villagers who worship Jesus. Matridham literally means “abode of the mother” and is situated outside the Hindu holy city of Banaras in India’s most populous

Family related norms have changed rapidly across the last two generations in Europe, but in few places have they changed as rapidly as Spain.

The celebration surrounding Dhori Mata draws upon what is called “inculturation.” After the Second Vatican Council, India was a primary area for liturgical experimentation. Going by the name, “inculturation,” the movement for liturgical adaptation, was most specifically associated with the work of the National Liturgical Center in Bangalore under the direction of D.S. Amalorpavadass. What emerged during this period of experimentation were “12 Points of Adaptation” to Indian culture, which were approved by the Vatican in 1969. 1 1See Mathew N. Schmalz, “ Ad Experimentum: Theology, Anthropology

The story of Dhori Mata1 begins in 1956 when the present day state of Jharkhand was part of Bihar. The coalfields were worked by miners from the Bilaspuri community from neighboring Madhya Pradesh. On Tuesday, June 12, 1956, Rupa Satnami, a Bilaspuri miner at Dhori Coalmine, was excavating coal when he reportedly heard a voice say in Hindi: “Strike gently, I am here.” After 1For a fuller discussion of the history of the Dhori Mata shrine upon which this section draws, see Suresh Gaikwad, Mary as Dhori Mata: Miraculous Mother of Coal Mines (Hazaribag: Hazaribag Catholic Diocese, 2014).