SOCIAL MEDIA AS AN EFFECTIVE PASTORAL TOOL

An omnipresent civilization progress causes religion and moral values to become less and less important aspects of life for young people. A significant drop is noticed in the number of people attending Sunday Mass and praying regularly. At the same time, the number of non-believers is rising. Also, among young people labelling themselves as believing and practicing, a change in how they experience their faith can be observed. Those people search very often for evidence of personal faith testimony and sincere communication. Young people also desire to actively participate in the believers’ community which is witnessed, for example, by being a member of different groups present in social media. Therefore, in this article, the author attempts to answer the question as to whether religious activity aimed at young people via social media is indeed effective. To answer that question, the author decided to put a couple of chosen forms of social media under analysis.

Shaping the Spiritual Exercises: the Maisons des retraites in Brittany during the Seventeenth Century as a Gendered Pastoral Tool

In the second half of the seventeenth century, on the periphery of Catholic Europe, Brittany was the site of intensive missionary activity aimed at both men and women. Based on a heterogeneous corpus of manuscripts, printed books, and iconographic sources, this article shows how, far from Rome, Jesuits and devout laywomen adopted a gendered perspective in reconceptualizing mission. In the city of Vannes, the Jesuit Vincent Huby and the aristocrat Catherine de Francheville instructed large groups of men and women in the Spiritual Exercises. They supervised two retreat houses to welcome them and created a “missionary kit” of moral images adapted to their gendered pastoral field. The Breton context presents a particularly good example of the importance of gender to missionary interactions. Here, the Jesuit “way of proceeding” allowed for the integration of local communitarian perspectives, in order to enhance the effectiveness of the mission.

Pastorale bediening van skuldbelydenis en versoening deur liturgiese handelinge

God se gawe, naamlik sy Seun, deur Wie verlossing van sonde en versoening met die mens bewerk is, staan sentraal in die Christelike belydenis. In die bediening van pastorale sorg en in die liturgiese handelinge is die gemeenskaplike doel die herstel van verhoudings, die versoening met God, met mekaar en met die self. Dit lei tot die vraag wat in hierdie artikel ondersoek word, naamlik wat die verhouding tussen die pastorale bediening van skuldbelydenis en versoening en die liturgiese handelinge daarvan is. Die aspekte wat aandag kry, is die pastorale sorg wat die gemeenskap aan mekaar behoort te bied, die verhouding tussen die pastorale sorg en die liturgie, die krag van rituele en ’n oorsig oor die ritueel van skuldbelydenis en versoening, enkele voorbeelde van sonde wat ’n gemeente kan bely en daarna die pastorale bediening deur rituele van berou en verootmoediging, sonde- en skuldbelydenis, vergifnis, absolusie en versoening. Die konklusie is dat die kommunikatiewe handeling van skuldbelydenis en versoening as ’n selfstandige handeling in die liturgie van die gemeente ’n kragtige pastorale bediening vir die gemeente as ’n geheel en vir die lidmate afsonderlik kan wees.Pastoral ministry on the confession of guilt and reconciliation through liturgical acts. God’s gift of his Son, through Whom he established redemption of sins and reconciliation with man, is central to the Christian confessions. In the ministry of pastoral care and in the liturgical acts the common goal is to re-establish relationships, reconcile with God, the other and the self. This leads to the question examined in this article, viz. what the relation between the pastoral ministry of confession or guilt and reconciliation and the performing of liturgical acts is. Attention is given to the following aspects: the pastoral care the community should give to each other, the relationship between pastoral care and liturgy, the power of rituals and an overview of the ritual of the confession of guilt and reconciliation, a few examples of sins a congregation may confess and subsequently the pastoral ministry through rituals of contrition and humiliation, confession of sin and guilt, forgiveness, absolution and reconciliation. The conclusion of this article is that the communicative act of confession of guilt and reconciliation as an independent act in the liturgy of the congregation, could be a powerful pastoral tool to the congregation as a whole and to members individually.

Readiness for Commitment: Applying Psychological Constructs to Pastoral Issues in Marriage

The current crisis in marriage is partly related to people having problems in living their commitments. To investigate this phenomenon, a self-report instrument, the Commitment to Partnership Scale (CPS) was adopted to identify and measure those factors considered essential to marriage commitment: Attachment, Trust, Maturity, Investment, and Values. The CPS was given to 430 people in a significant relationship, from a Roman Catholic population, and from two different groups. One group was a sample of engaged couples during their marriage preparation courses (N=234). The other group consisted of a number of people who had their marriage annulled on psychological grounds (N=49). T-test results showed a significant difference between the two groups on all factors. The CPE was able to identify problem areas with lower than average scores. These were confirmed when a feedback was given. The CPS showed discriminant validity, a reasonable predictable value for commitment, and real possibilities as a valid pastoral tool.