Review article
https://doi.org/10.31337/oz.74.4.6
Aspects of Pastoral Care in the Catholic Church Today
Andreja Sršen
orcid.org/0000-0003-1667-4651
; Croatian Studies, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
As is evident in the many centuries of migration of the Croatian people, and also throughout all of history up until the present day, the presence of the Catholic Church is revealed in her various activities. Furthermore, keeping in mind new global migration processes, the pastoral activities of the Catholic Church today may be narrowed down to missionary activity, caritative practice and social pastoral activity. Today, since faith and culture are being confronted with various social rifts, the contemporary evangelizing missionary is impelled to regard culture as a means by which religious norms may be applied and social spheres which need to be Gospel–permeated may be determined. However, with the development of modern society come changes , not only in religious practices and in the declining influence of religious institutions, but also, first and foremost, in the declining importance of the community in highly organized social systems. Thus, a new understanding of the Catholic Church and her pastoral activity takes its place in determining the significance of the migrant’s position in the modern world. Precisely this sort of person, lodged in a socio–psychological rift, needs the continuing task of the mission to be his integration into a new society on the functional, social, emotional and cultural levels. Throughout the two thousand years of her activity, the Church has constantly undergone enculturation processes, since the spreading of the Gospel implied an encounter with the cultures of nations in which the Word of God was being preached. Throughout history many missionaries opened the way to evangelization by respecting and accepting cultural givens of the people whom they encountered in the countries and regions where they worked. Numerous Church documents testify to this sort of activity for they speak of accepting various cultures and ways to relate to them by defining culture in its anthroplogical and classical dimension. The right to a country and the right to migrate is spreading such that it is possible not only to settle in a new environment, but also to be a member of two countries in such a way that two patriotisms do not exclude each other. As regards the contemporary migration phenomenon which has biblical roots, the Catholic Church is aware that this is an examination of conscience both for those migrating, and for those t aking in migrants. Thus, Croats abroad become proactive as they observe phenomena which require them to provide assistance to members of non–Christian religions and thus to create new forms of coexistence which will in turn make possible new forms of ecumenical rapprochement and preaching of the Gospel.
Keywords
Catholic Church; Gospel; pastoral activity; migration; homeland; Croats abroad
Hrčak ID:
227169
URI
Publication date:
8.11.2019.
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