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In the light of the changes in the Church’s operations announced by the Second Vatican Council and the process of new evangelization as a form of post-Council attempt to respond to the contemporary challenges and the crisis of faith, the Diocese of Đakovo and Srijem issued, in 2008, the Statements and Decisions of the Second Synod of the Diocese of Đakovo and Srijem, titled You are Christ – for us and for all people. Their task is to be a means and a signpost for the realization of the idea of living Christian communities in which the lay faithful, together with the parish priests, would actively and co-responsibly contribute to the development and pastoral activities of their parishes. Therefore, the aim of this work, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of their publication, is to present the results of a research that speak about parish priests’ experiences in the implementation of the synodal statements and decisions. This will be presented based on the analysis of 19 profound interviews conducted with parish priests of the Đakovo-Osijek Archdiocese in the period from March to May 2018. The analysis of the collected materials, carried out by a qualitative theory-based methodology, resulted in the development of a total of 8 categories which, on the one hand, show past experiences of parish priests in the implementation of the synodal statements and decisions and, on the other hand, several causes which, in their opinion, currently lead to difficulties in implementing the same. In addition, the analysis also points to several recommendations that, in the opinion of the parish priests, could lead to improvements in their further implementation.
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Following the first democratic elections, after forty-five years of the totalitarian communist regime, and during the Croatian War for Independence and the Greater Serbian aggression in the 1990s, the Church in the Diocese of Đakovo and Srijem has significantly changed its »face and reverse«, its circumstances and ambiance. The Second Synod was an event and an occurrence of the Holy Spirit and concrete man. The decisions, statements, and provisions of the Diocesan Synod were meant to become the daily life of the particular Church. The Book of the Synod »You are Christ – for us and for all people« was published in 2008. Ten years after the publication of the Statements and Decisions of the Second Synod of the Diocese of Đakovo and Srijem, a review of pastoral efforts over the decade shows that the Statements and Decisions of the Second Synod of the Diocese of Đakovo and Srijem have been realized to a greater extent in only 30% of the parish communities of the Archdiocese of Đakovo-Osijek. The crisis of the evangelizing zeal of presbyters and parish priests, the crisis of their identity, and the formation that largely ignored the synodal conclusions, the communist legacy which left behind religious indifference, non-coexistence with the Church, clericalism, passivity, and especially today’s culture of choice and the dictatorship of relativism are the fundamental and most common causes why the document »You are Christ – for us and for all people« is not the magna carta of pastoral work in the Archdiocese of Đakovo-Osijek. The analysis of pastoral efforts points to the need for greater expertise and qualifications, especially for the professionalization and specialization of the heads of offices, commissioners, and persons entrusted with one of the pastoral areas. Most heads of offices, commissioners, and secretaries, that are carrying out one or more other duties, try to accomplish the entrusted area without enough opportunities to apply themselves appropriately. There is a greater and stronger need to involve the laity in running certain offices and commissions. If the local Church wants to implement the synodal documents more effectively into the everyday life, it must find the strength to include the lay faithful into the pastoral life and
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The paper analyzes the understanding of the pastoral and catechetical dimension of the bishop’s ministry in the documents of Pope Francis. In four parts, the paper presents the content and characteristics of bishop’s pastoral and catechetical activities, the mode of its realization and concrete contribution. Speaking primarily of the Jesus-like dimension of bishop’s pastoral-catechetical activity, the paper analyzes, it »stops« on Jesus’ face as the image and the synonym of bishop’s necessary evangelizing zeal, fer¬vor and transformation. Jesus’ transformed face is a call, a mission and a need for the evangelizing, pastoral and catechetical transformation. The Jesus-like face speaks about the necessity of bishops being imbued with the principles and values of Jesus, about the necessity of their testimony and concrete love rooted in pastoral and catechetical activity. The second part of the paper brings concrete tasks of bishop’s ministry in the pastoral and catechetical sense: the incorporation of the Gospel in the socio-cultural environment, creating new models of pastoral-catechetical activity, promoting missionary communion, reviewing traditions, overcoming the »rural syndrome« in the pastoral-catechetical activity, the need to realize the bishop’s ministry in the dimension of »Jesus the Citizen« and »going out« to the peripheries, especially with a better family pastoral. In the third part, the author analyzes the pastoral-catechetical postulates of the bishop’s ministry through the prism of stronger inculturation, active, rather than re-active pastoral-catechetical activity, the overcoming of atheistic and anti-ecclesial culture of modern man, the need to preserve the original ways of incorporating the Gospel in the society, and the need for a stronger pastoral and catechetical inculturational involvement of bishops in their own dioceses. The fourth part of the paper points to the social dimension of the pastoral-catechistical activity of bishops, by stressing the need for bishops’ initiative to overcome evil and poverty that are present in the world, to deprive and eliminate their consequences, to point out their structural causes, with concern for ensuring health care for every person, the dignity of work, fair pay, protection of the dignity of human life, to contribute to and spread social dialogue as an essential dimension of peace and common good in the world.
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Review of: Ivica RAGUŽ, Pastoralije – Teološki niz: Panni, Knjiga 8., Đakovo, 2016., 130 str.
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When a person unburdens their soul to a priest to confess their sins in the sacrament of penance, a sacred bond is formed between them. It is Christ who forgives sins through the priest as the minister of the sacrament of penance. The priest cannot disclose what was said in confession to anyone and is bound by absolute professional secrecy which is called the sacramental seal. The canons 983-984 deal with two aspects of secrecy which the confessor and others who may acquire knowledge from the celebration of the sacrament of penance must observe. The secrecy pertains to everything heard in the individual confession. According to the Can. 983, the sacramental seal is inviolable. The confessor cannot reveal the contents of a confession either directly or indirectly, by some sign, suggestion, or action. If a confessor directly violates the sacramental seal, he incurs an automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See. If he does so indirectly, he is to be punished (ferendae sententiae) according to the seriousness of the offense (Can. 1388, §1). Besides the confessor, an interpreter and anyone else who in any way have knowledge of sins from confession are also obliged to observe secrecy. If they do not adhere to that, they are to be punished with a just penalty, not excluding excommunication (Can. 1388, §2). In the case of direct violation of the sacramental seal, the Apostolic Penitentiary has competence for the remission of the penalty of excommunication by a special proceeding. In other cases, the competence lies with the Ordinary.
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The author first gives a short historical overview of the penitential celebration. In the beginning, it was a canonical penance for particularly grave sins where the penitent was imposed a penance in the community, and equally so – after the penance – the sinner would solemnly reconcile himself to God and the Church before the community of believers. From the 8th century, when the tariff penance started to replace the canonical penance, there is an increasing development of individual confession and reconciliation. After the Second Vatican Council, the possibility of a penitential service in the community of believers is re-introduced. However, the book of rites prioritizes the order of reconciliation of an individual penitent. Another way is the common penitential celebration with individual confession and absolution. For exceptional cases there is the possibility of a general recognition of sin with the common absolution. Finally, the book of rites allows the possibility of penitential celebration, which would be only a preparation for a later sacramental celebration of reconciliation. The author points out that the penitential celebration with individual confession and absolution is possible only when there is a favorable ratio of confessors and penitents. A further possibility of celebrating this kind of ceremony is in small groups. As for the penitential celebrations that should be a preparation for individual reconciliation, the author suggests caution, that the believers do not start to regard such non-sacramental celebrations as sacramental and complete.
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To identify the feelings that make it difficult to establish relationships with others is important for the physical and spiritual well-being of a person, because when we do identify them and become aware of how they affect our lives, then we can change them in order to achieve fuller relationships with others. To this end, in this paper we will analyze the complex feelings of guilt and shame, recognizing their potential for helping people to mature in their relationships with themselves, with others and with God. Both of these feelings are present from the beginning of the written word about man, but their topicality makes them significant for psychology and theology even today. Both guilt and shame significantly affect the termination of relationships, which are recognized as a basic need of man as a social being, therefore it is important to see how can we help a person to restore, cultivate and improve their relationships. We have meditated on these two realities to offer concrete and specific proposals on how to address and integrate them.
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The article presents the richness of the traditions of the Greek Catholic Church of the Byzantine Ritual. This study concern the subject of the sacrament of marriage. The rite of engagement, which has great symbolism and meaning, contains both in rich theology and tradition. The uniqueness of the rite of engagement consists in expression of future spouses’ consent, while the rite of the marriage itself is aimed at directly introducing the bride and the groom to the fullness of marital life. The theological purpose of the engagement rite is to renew the lost union with God up to the true fullness with Him in eternity. This is the sense and the meaning of the Christian engagement.
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The article examines the priestly ministry (of diocesan priests) through the lens of obedience. In order to understand the priestly ministry as obedience we used the reflections of Hans Urs von Balthasar on the priestly ministry. Balthasar is of the opinion that the priestly ministry has the role of presenting and manifesting the so called »naked obedience «, »metal obedience«, which Jesus Christ himself realized on the Cross. This »metal obedience« is not an end in itself, but it should serve the realization of greater love in the Church. Further analysis shows the way in which the priestly ministry, precisely in the view of representing Christ’s »metal obedience«, differs from the other two classes in the Church, the laity and religious. The concept of depersonalization and functionalism against all subjectivism and oddity is very important for the understanding of priestly ministry as obedience. The second part of the article examines some aspects of priestly obedience in the pastoral. The priest is primarily called to be obedient in regard to their own ministry, as well as to the bishop, the spiritual director, friends, and then also to their own parish community. This last aspect of priestly obedience is especially important because it enables the priest to be a true shepherd of the community entrusted to him. There is also a warning about the dangers of priestly obedience that can be perverted into a way of achieving ecclesiastical power and careerism. The article concludes with a brief reflection on Christ’s kenotic obedience in the Hymn from the Letter to the Philippians (Phil 2: 6-8). Christ’s kenotic obedience should serve as a role model for all the faithful, and especially priests.
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The author reflects on the topic of priesthood and joy, drawing inspiration from Pope Francis and his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, and also from reflections of other authors, especially German theologian Walter Kasper. Following the initial analysis of the contemporary context in which the priest is and lives, the author points to the impediments to joy in the life of a priest. After that he suggests ways that can lead to the renewal of the experience of joy. It is a way of encountering and friendship with Jesus Christ, especially through the encounter with the Word of God and the celebration of the Eucharist, as well as a way of building priestly spirituality. Furthermore, the author points to the importance of testifying and proclaiming the Gospel, as well as to the image of a priest as a man of joy, hope and humour.
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Project and program approach to pastoral work is the fruit of the church community’s desire for more systematic and concretely realizable pastoral ministry. The new conditions before the challenges of new evangelization demand »pastoral conversion« in the direction of the missionary Church. The umbrella document of the Slovenian pastoral project was prepared in September 2012. The article analyzes the document and its orientations. This project is intended for the living Church communities that will guide people to personal faith. To achieve this goal, the project proposes priorities that will help to set off on the path of new evangelization: the biblical renewal, the renewal of catechesis for children and young people and the preparation for sacraments, the transition to adult catechesis. The umbrella document is presented as the beginning of a process, which in the following years aims to achieve through programming a level of pastoral care that will respond to contemporary challenges.
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The article provides a critical reflection on the state of parishes and parish spiritual guidance from the point of view of a parish priest. The state is considered in the light of numerous ambiguities and crises that can nowadays easily be noticed both in the Church and a parish: identity, biblical theology and sacraments, pastoral work related to sacraments and pastoral work with adults. The premises from the »Directory on Pastoral Sacraments’ are considered here, with a special emphasis on parish community: the relationship between parish and school catechesis, the initiation. The advocated idea is the one of transformation and change of the actual understanding and the realization of the Christian initiation. Finally, it is emphasized that all the mentioned crises are leading us to Jesus Christ, to the theology of grace, for he is the only one to move rocks in our pastoral work.
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The article presents the systematic-theological reflection on the sermon. The starting point of the above mentioned topic is Book Four of De doctrina Christiana (On Christian Doctrine) by St. Augustine, where the African theologian presents his theology of preaching. We’ll point to the most important thoughts of the work which can help a better understanding and creation of a sermon in our times. Inspired by St. Augustine, the article is aimed at examining some other issues and problems of preaching, which are not so typical of St. Augustine, but of later and modern homiletics, especially the homiletics by Karl Barth. It is therefore not our intention to scrutinize St. Augustine’s theology of preaching, neither is it to show different theories of preaching in the history of the Church. This article is to be understood as an endeavor of theology of preaching based on reception and further development of St. Augustine’s notions, in the context of preaching practice in the modern Church.
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