The »Rijeka Model« of the Marriage and Family Pastoral

An Example of Program Activity in the Family Pastoral

Abstract

The family and marriage pastoral is one of the richest and most demanding areas of pastoral activity. In the Rijeka diocese a pastoral model is being implemented which, due to its specific characteristics, may be singled out as the »Rijeka model« of the family pastoral. By »model« we refer to the manner and methodology through which the essential determinants of the Church's pastoral activity are realized. This means that the essential elements of the family pastoral are implemented in the specific surround- ings of a precisely determined milieu. The characteristics of this model can be indentified in the decades-long history of pastoral activity for the good of marrige and the family, which today is most visible in the work of the Office for the Family of the Rijeka Archdiocese. This has to do not only with programs organized by the aforementioned Office, but also with programs reflected in parish community activities, thus coming alive on a most concrete level of the Church's endeavours. The experience of program activities of the preceding decades, from the 1970's until today, has been built into the work of this Office. This essay researches and reviews, in a theologically evaluative manner, the determinants of the »Rijeka model« of activity in the family pastoral, beginning with an elaboration of historical considerations and including today's forms of pastoral activity as well as presenting new ways and possibilities for the latter.