Original scientific paper
CHALLENGES FOR THE PASTORAL CARE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
Nikola Vranješ
orcid.org/0000-0002-0895-0284
; Theology of Rijeka, Dislocated Studies of Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Rijeka, Croatia
Abstract
The social pastoral ministry and the public domain are mutually connected and interweaved. The Church in Croatia today is facing many questions in the field of the social pastoral ministry, especially reflected in the public sphere. In this article we pointed to 12 great fields of the social pastoral ministry which must be set in the centre of the social engagement and which echo particularly strongly in the public domain. These are: the dignity of the human person, the promotion of the whole truth regarding the man, the edification of a mentality of a Christian responsibility in the social sphere, the integral witnessing of the Christian message in the society, the pastoral care for the culture, the promotion of the dignity of marriage and family, social justice and the culture of solidarity, the parish community as the source of social commitment, a mature communication of the faithful and an appropriate presence in the public media, a systematic charitable activity, the pastoral care of the sick persons and the palliative care, and the protection of the environment. This is not an exhaustive list of all the fields, but only those presenting biggest challenges are mentioned. The perception and the authenticity of the Church in the public domain, but also the collaboration and the co-responsibility for the common good in the society will in a great deal depend from the further development and improvement of the pastoral ministry in respect to these selected fields.
Keywords
social pastoral ministry; pastoral ministry; public; Church; social teaching of the Church
Hrčak ID:
121841
URI
Publication date:
21.1.2011.
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