Migration and Integration of Foreign Priests. Aspirations, Religiosity, and Tensions in the Narratives of Foreign Priests in Italy
This paper aims to understand the individual factors sustaining the migratory flow of Catholic priests to Italy. Priests’ migration cannot be seen as the mere result of lack of vocations and shortage of priests in the host country since their agency, belief, aspirations, and motivations affect their...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Lodz University Press
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Qualitative Sociology Review |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/qualit/article/view/20468 |
| _version_ | 1797635076843896832 |
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| author | Angela Delli Paoli Giuseppe Masullo |
| author_facet | Angela Delli Paoli Giuseppe Masullo |
| author_sort | Angela Delli Paoli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper aims to understand the individual factors sustaining the migratory flow of Catholic priests to Italy. Priests’ migration cannot be seen as the mere result of lack of vocations and shortage of priests in the host country since their agency, belief, aspirations, and motivations affect their religious identity and, consequently, their integration and participation in the host country. Drawing on qualitative research, this paper collects the voices and the narratives of selected international priests living in Italy. Priests’ interviews led to broad-range questions about the nature of migration decisions and their integration into the host society and churches that originate from differences in religiosity, vocations, and missions. That resulted in a typology of 4 types of migrant priests: careerist priests, highly educated and integrated into the host country, driven by career and salary aspiration, and showing a highly politicized vision of religion; servant priests, with a strong missionary impulse to serve the Church as a universal institution transcending abstract and real boarders; evangelist priests who feel the moral obligation to evangelize secularized countries to bring them back to the origins of Catholicism; rebel priests who feel second-class priests, discriminated both within and outside the Church, in a country where they were forced to move, for this reason questioning their sense of clear vocational directions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T12:17:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e20549bd31bc47e2a5877bd4af24fa63 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1733-8077 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T12:17:08Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | Lodz University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Qualitative Sociology Review |
| spelling | doaj.art-e20549bd31bc47e2a5877bd4af24fa632023-11-07T08:19:46ZengLodz University PressQualitative Sociology Review1733-80772023-10-01194729010.18778/1733-8077.19.4.0420310Migration and Integration of Foreign Priests. Aspirations, Religiosity, and Tensions in the Narratives of Foreign Priests in ItalyAngela Delli Paoli0Giuseppe Masullo1University of Salerno, ItalyUniversity of Salerno, ItalyThis paper aims to understand the individual factors sustaining the migratory flow of Catholic priests to Italy. Priests’ migration cannot be seen as the mere result of lack of vocations and shortage of priests in the host country since their agency, belief, aspirations, and motivations affect their religious identity and, consequently, their integration and participation in the host country. Drawing on qualitative research, this paper collects the voices and the narratives of selected international priests living in Italy. Priests’ interviews led to broad-range questions about the nature of migration decisions and their integration into the host society and churches that originate from differences in religiosity, vocations, and missions. That resulted in a typology of 4 types of migrant priests: careerist priests, highly educated and integrated into the host country, driven by career and salary aspiration, and showing a highly politicized vision of religion; servant priests, with a strong missionary impulse to serve the Church as a universal institution transcending abstract and real boarders; evangelist priests who feel the moral obligation to evangelize secularized countries to bring them back to the origins of Catholicism; rebel priests who feel second-class priests, discriminated both within and outside the Church, in a country where they were forced to move, for this reason questioning their sense of clear vocational directions.https://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/qualit/article/view/20468international migrationforeign priestscatholicismitalyreligiosityintegration |
| spellingShingle | Angela Delli Paoli Giuseppe Masullo Migration and Integration of Foreign Priests. Aspirations, Religiosity, and Tensions in the Narratives of Foreign Priests in Italy Qualitative Sociology Review international migration foreign priests catholicism italy religiosity integration |
| title | Migration and Integration of Foreign Priests. Aspirations, Religiosity, and Tensions in the Narratives of Foreign Priests in Italy |
| title_full | Migration and Integration of Foreign Priests. Aspirations, Religiosity, and Tensions in the Narratives of Foreign Priests in Italy |
| title_fullStr | Migration and Integration of Foreign Priests. Aspirations, Religiosity, and Tensions in the Narratives of Foreign Priests in Italy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Migration and Integration of Foreign Priests. Aspirations, Religiosity, and Tensions in the Narratives of Foreign Priests in Italy |
| title_short | Migration and Integration of Foreign Priests. Aspirations, Religiosity, and Tensions in the Narratives of Foreign Priests in Italy |
| title_sort | migration and integration of foreign priests aspirations religiosity and tensions in the narratives of foreign priests in italy |
| topic | international migration foreign priests catholicism italy religiosity integration |
| url | https://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/qualit/article/view/20468 |
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