Review article
Croatian Jesuits: Founders of Marital and Family Counselling in Pastoral Care
Tonči Trstenjak
; Faculty of Philosophy of the Society of Jesus in Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Marital and family counselling in pastoral care was initiated in Croatia at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Zagreb on the 60th anniversery of the erection of the basilica in 1962, when the popular missionary Mato Jović organized the first evening course for young married couples. A medical doctor took part as a lecturer in the course also. This initiative soon turned into a regular monthly event attended by married couples and priests alike. The Zagreb group was formed under the guidance of the Jesuits which then passed on its experience in marital and premarital therapy courses to cities across Croatia. After a public appearance at the 1971 Pastoral Week for Priests, this joint initiative of lay people and priests gave rise to the development of a school in the same year through the Department of Family Studies at the Philosophical-Theological Institute in Zagreb and Slavonski Brod. With the passing of time it developed into a Family Summer School which has been held continually since then to this very day. Hence, the initiative in 1973 for the founding of the Family Council of the Croatian Bishops' Conference and more recently the Family Counselling Office of the Croatian Bishops' Conference are a direct consequence of the Directory for Family Counselling in Pastoral Care of the Church in Croatia. The first core group of the Marriage Encounter Weekends begun in 1976 is the offspring of the the Zagreb group.
Keywords
marital counselling in pastoral care; family counselling in pastoral care; Jesuits, engaged couples; married couples; marriage encounter weekends; Family Counselling Office of the Croatian Bishops' Conference
Hrčak ID:
44002
URI
Publication date:
9.6.2009.
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