Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 93 No. 3, 2023.
Review article
https://doi.org/10.53745/bs.93.3.2
Importance of Compassion and Compassionate Love in the Actvity of Priests in Times of Crisis
Josip Bošnjaković
orcid.org/0000-0002-2324-8717
; Catholic Faculty of Theology in Đakovo University Josip Juraj Strossmayer in Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Abstract
The article outlines the definitions and meaning of compassion and compassionate love, highlighting the characteristics of both, and connecting them to the life of a priest. Compassion is primarily focused on understanding the situation of the person who is suffering and the willingness to alleviate the suffering, while compassionate love also includes providing support to the person in order to increase the quality of their own life, in order to realize their potential. The models of compassionate love and priestly compassionate love are presented schematically. With reference to compassion, the article describes the role of priests as servant leaders, aided in leading communities by the virtue of compassion, which arises from the ability to listen to others, in particular those who are experiencing some form of suffering in their lives. Based on the reflection of Pope Francis and the analysis of his compassionate leadership, the priorities and ways of priestly activity in times of crisis are listed. Permanent focus on others, especially when they are suffering, can also lead to compassion fatigue, and the last chapter of the article explains the model of resilience in compassion fatigue, concluding the work with ideas on the prevention of compassion fatigue and some practical guidelines for training priests to act compassionately.
Keywords
compassion; compassionate love; resilience; compassion fatigue; servant leader
Hrčak ID:
311239
URI
Publication date:
12.12.2023.
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