Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 71 No. 2-3, 2001.
Pregledni rad
Family and the Contemporary Crisis of Values (Value Crisis)
Josip Baloban
; Katolički bogoslovni fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
The author analyses family in Croatia on the basis of four theses, in comparison with the European families. He emphasizes the necessary connection of marriage and family, underlining that certain marriage and family values are mutually highly dependent and complementary, and stressing that in most cases divorces tear the family apart (61,74% of the marriages had children). According to empirical research projects in Croatia, family is perceived as a highly important value and as a public good. However, at the same time there occurs a gradual differentiation of marriage and family as values, which are connected to the general crisis, i.e. the restructuring of values in general. It is especially interesting that most citizens (91,5%) favour the state's assisting role with regard to family, which can be different from the European model that is undergoing the abandonment of the assistance model that was dominant until now. The author also points to the contradictory ambivalence present among Croatian citizens regarding values system related to family. The contradiction is also noticeable among Christians, who experience a certain discrepancy between their Christian ideal with regard to marriage and family, and the more concrete, real life. Furthermore, the author sees contradiction in the fact that Croatian citizens conform to the trends of the world that shape the situation in which accepting values as an objective good becomes more and more conditioned by individual criteria. Here we can also see the connection of the family to the value crisis. For example, 65,95% of Croatian citizens approve of a women having a child as a self-supporting parent outside a stabile relationship with a man, while at the same time 81,9% of the citizens state that the child needs a father and a mother for a happy upbringing. A similar phenomenon occurs with the view of abortion as murder and its legalization. In the final part of his essay the author points to yet another ambivalence; two thirds of citizens think that the Catholic Church in Croatia can give certain answers to family problems, while at the same time every second citizen thinks that the Church actually does that. Starting from the empirical data and some theological and sociological conclusions, the author offers in the end certain pastoral theological solutions for the current and future activities of the Church.
Ključne riječi
marriage; family; values; Church; citizen; man
Hrčak ID:
29105
URI
Datum izdavanja:
20.5.2002.
Posjeta: 4.660 *