Research Unit Pastoral Theology

 

Introduction: setting, objective and definition


Theological thinking does not only have consequences for the life (of faith), but all the same theological thinking is nourished by concrete experiences and by the life (of faith) of people. Theological reflection does not only start from the study of the sources of the Bible or tradition, of from the systematic reflection on the identity and normativity of the Christian faith, but also from the reflection on forms of experienced religion and practices of modern people. The latter is the domain of pastoral theology.

Pastoral theology is to be defined as “the theoretical reflection that consists of the conversation or the confrontation between the praxis of contemporary human beings, the Gospel and the Christian tradition. This conversation or confrontation aims at transforming human actions”.

The research unit of pastoral theology opts for a hermeneutic approach. This model works at the same time inductively (finding clues in human experience or in a life story) and deductively (confrontation with the Gospel or Christian tradition). This gives rise to a hermeneutic circle (and/or spiral). In other words: what is at stake is a confronting interpretation or an evangelical-critical rereading of existence. Narrativity is central here: the story of life and the story of the Bible are read in each other’s light.

Pastoral theology is essentially interdisciplinary and continuously relies on the field of action, both reactively and proactively. Also on the public forum the visionary character of pastoral theology is thus underlined.

On the one hand the research unit consists of a pillar aimed at fundamental research and on the other hand on a pillar which comprises three centres with strong attention to the translation into pastoral care, communication of faith and liturgy.

 

1. Fundamental research


Within the research unit of pastoral theology the above-mentioned is given shape from the four dimensions of the pastoral acts of the Church: education and communication of faith (kerygma); symbols and rituals (leiturgia, sacraments); pastoral care and social commitment (diakonia) and identity and community (koinonia). Within each of these four dimensions concrete practices are examined theologically (both empirically and hermeneutically) and normative judgements are made in view of pastoral acting. Pastoral theology is conceived as a descriptive and normative science of acts. Within these four domains the praxis of people is the starting point of theological reflection.

1.1 Kerygma: education and communication of faith

In the field of research the central question is how a philosophy of life, and more particularly the Christian tradition of faith, can be communicated and transmitted in a pluralistic context, in the context of families, local Church communities, schools and society as a whole. Attention is paid both to the communication of faith in the contexts of the Church (catechesis) and in the context of the school (religious education). The foundation of the research is the Louvain hermeneutic-communicative model for religious education, which is examined fundamentally (research of fundamentals: fundamental catechesis and pedagogy of religion) and which is translated into catechetical and religious-didactic strategies (research of implementation).

The different sectors are:

  • Religious education
  • Catechesis
  • Education of faith at school (school pastoral), in family and parish
  • Youth ministry
  • Communication of faith and (multi)media (THOMAS)
  • Christian anthropology
  • Interreligious dialogue and interreligious learning
  • Education ‘after Auschwitz’

Doctoral projects

  • The Values of the Young Generation of New Comers to the EU. The Difference/Indifference Dilemma
  • The Rediscovery of Catechumene: a Challenge to Catechesis for the Youth vis-à-vis the Future of the Catholic Faith in Nigeria
  • Religion and Peace Building in Post-War Bosnia-Herzegovina
  • Religious (In)tolerance and Religious Education in Nigeria. A Call for a Paradigm Shift?
  • Political Forgiveness and Incarnate Forgiveness. Political-Mystics in Field Diplomacy Grassroots Sustainable Peace Building
  • The Spiritual Quest of Etty Hillesum. An Analysis of the Posthumous Writings of Etty Hillesum 1941-1943 in the light of Eric Voegelin, Martin Buber, Emmanuel Levinas and Dietrich Bonhoeffer
  • Poetics, Deconstructivism and Negative Theology in the Lyrical Work of Paul Celan, Nelly Sachs and Rosa Ausländer
  • New Perspectives on Paul and the New Covenant. A Critical Investigation into the Significance of Covenant in the Letters of Paul in the Light of the Historical Parting of the Ways between Judaism an Christianity
  • The New Perspective on Paul and the Jews. A Critical Investigation into the Significance and Role of a Contemporary Exegetical Reading of the Letters of Paul within a Jewish-Christian Dialogical Context

1.2 Leiturgia: symbols, rituals, liturgy and sacraments

Under this heading comes the scientific research in the fields of the study of liturgy, the teaching of the sacraments, the theory of symbols, rituology and the theology of liturgy. Central is the question for the way in which people celebrate their faith and show it by means of a multitude of symbolical and sacramental forms of expression. Special attention is paid to the fundamental reflection on the content of what is celebrated in liturgy and sacraments, given the kind of secularised society and the globalised world in which we live.

Some important sectors are:

  • Fundamental sacramentology
  • Theology and liturgy of the Eucharist
  • Theology and liturgy of Baptism and Formation
  • Theology and liturgy of the sacraments of healing (Reconciliation and Extreme Unction) and their anthropological foundation (human brokenness, evil and suffering)
  • Theology and liturgy of the sacraments of mission: Marriage and Ordination
  • Anthropological basis of liturgy and sacraments: symbols, rituals …
  • History of liturgy and of the theology of sacraments
  • The liturgical year
  • Liturgy and preaching; liturgy and Bible; homiletics
  • Liturgy/sacraments and the question of inculturation
  • The science of liturgy

Doctoral projects

  • The Place of Symbolic Methodology in the Field of Sacramentology
  • Being Human and Becoming Divine. A Theological Reinterpretation of the Deification of the Human Person in Eastern Sacramentology
  • Towards a Pneumatological Theology of the Sacraments. Symbolic Efficacy and the Role of the Holy Spirit in the Realisation of the Sacraments
  • The Significance of Sacraments of Initiation and their Rituals. A Study on the Liturgical Sacramental Theology of David Noel Power
  • Some Theological Reflections on the Ministry of Priests in Igboland of Nigeria. Towards a Social and Liturgical Reconstruction of the Priesthood
  • A Theologial Reflection on the Liturgical Celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation in the Nigerian Church in the Light of Post-Modern Sensitivity
  • Towards Liturgical Inculturation. The Surinamese Liturgy in a Pluralistic Society
  • The Celebration of the Eucharist as an Essential Element in an African Family Ecclesiology. A Theological and Pastoral Analysis in Reference to the Diocese of Moshi, Tanzania
  • The Rite of Holy Communion in the Liturgy of the Eastern Church with a Special Reference to Qurbana of the Syro-Malabar Church
  • How Faithful Lay Persons Participate in Liturgical Celebrations Issued by the Reform of Vatican II?

1.3 Diakonia: care and social commitment

The research of the Church social welfare work concerns the hermeneutic theory formation with regard to the caring, servicing and social acting of the Church. This acting can both be addressed to the fields inside and outside the Church. ‘Social welfare work’ implies both the individual pastoral care (poimenics) and pastoral care with groups and the reflection on the social acting of the Church.

The different sectors are:

  • Pastoral care in hospitals
  • Pastoral care for persons with a disability
  • Pastoral care for elderly persons
  • Pastoral care for psychiatric patients
  • Pastoral care for children
  • Pastoral care in prison
  • Pastoral care in the context of poverty
  • Pastoral care of marriage and families
  • Pastoral care for youth and schools
  • Pastoral care in the media
  • Social organisations of the Church

Doctoral projects

  • Contemporary Spirituality of Religiously Married Persons. A Social-Psychological and Pastoral-Theological Investigation into the Possibility of a Time Spirituality from a Life-Course Perspective
  • The Praxis of Inculturation from an African Perspective: towards an Inculturated Formation of Lay Pastoral Workers and Leaders of Small Christian Communities in Tanzania
  • The Ethics of the Pastoral Counseling Process. Foundations, Methodology and Criteria of Quality
  • The vision on Death and the Experience of the Fear of Death with Oncologic Patients and the Role of Pastoral Counselling
  • Shared Vision and Shared Leadership. Contribution to a Better Communication-Theoretical and Communio-Theological Concept of Pastoral Leadership in order to Revitalising Communities of Faith in our Society
  • Pastoral Companionship to Suicidal Persons from African and European Perspectives: a Dialogical-Hermeneutical Approach

1.4 Koinonia: identity and community

The concept koinonia contains as it were the kerygma, the leiturgia and the diakonia. If kerygma, leiturgia and diakonia build an equilateral triangle, then koinonia is a circle in a dotted line around the triangle. In this way koinonia (or building of community) keeps the three dimensions in balance and (1) distinguishes a person-promoting Church community from just sectarian groups; (2) contributes to an authentic Christian identity, in which knowledge, celebration and commitment are closely linked together; (3) and implies the dialogue between Church and world is an essential element of it.

Marking out we can distinguish the following partial fields:

  • The building of a Christian identity
  • The building of small Christian communities and/or parishes and federations
  • Reflection on the identity of the pastor and other local managers of communities
  • The exchange between local communities and the Roman-Catholic Church
  • The dialogue with the world and/or evangelisation

Doctoral projects

  • Evangelisation as Liberation. A Paradigm for the Active Participation of the Laity in the Pastoral Service of the Church in India
  • Theological Hermeneutics with Regard to the Dalit Issues in the Context of Bihar, East India: Localisation as a Source of Empowerment in Faith Formation and Integral Liberation
  • A Multidimensional Pastoral Model for the Coaching of Oncologic Patients
  • The Anointment of the Sick, Symbolic Place for a Christian Concept of Disease. A Possible Alternative to the African Demand for Healing

 

2. Three Centres: the Liturgical Institute, the Centre of Academic Teacher Training and the Academic Centre of Practical Theology


2.1 The Liturgical Institute

The Liturgical Institute is a network of cooperation between the Faculty of Theology and the Keizersberg Abbey. It provides the editing of the journal Questions Liturgiques/Studies in Liturgy and organises a biennial international liturgical colloquium.

2.2 The Centre of Academic Teacher Training

The research unit of pastoral theology commands a pedagogical programme for the subject of Roman-Catholic religious education: the academic teacher training (SLO religious education). The programme can be spread out over several academic years. The certificate of SLO religious education is necessary to be appointed as a religious education teacher in secondary schools. The teacher training is partially implemented in the basic programme. This means that subjects from the programme of teacher training can count for the Bachelor programme (3rd bachelor or abridged bachelor) and for the Master programme.

The Centre of Academic Teacher Training is engaged in fundamental and empirical research and implementation research, like research into the identity of Catholic schools or into methods for new educational tools in religious education.

Within the Centre of Academic Teacher Training a means of communication has been developed both inside and outside, namely THOMAS, which offers ICT resources for religious education: www.godsdienstonderwijs.be.

2.3 The Academic Centre of Practical Theology

The key assignment of the Academic Centre of Practical Theology is the professionalization and formation on an academic level of all who are active in pastoral care. The Centre aims at a scientifically justified and practically-oriented equipment of the pastors (in training) and other committed persons, so that they can fulfil their mission of service within the Church.

The training programme leans on three pillars: a (practical) theological and multidisciplinary theoretical formation, practical experience and the reflection on it, and a Christian spiritual formation. The Centre has an eye for ways of practical experience and the questions from the pastoral field of action and organises the dialogue with scientific research and academic reflection in theology and social sciences. In view of its assignment the Centre wants to stimulate the practical-theological research and the exchange, debate and dialogue concerning questions that live in Church and society. In this way the Centre wants to contribute to answers to contemporary challenges in pastoral care.

The Centre develops its offer in consultation with other persons in charge of pastoral care training in the Flemish Church on the one hand, and with pastors from several pastoral fields of action on the other hand. That is why the Centre stimulates the development of several networks of expertise, in which pastors, persons in charge of pastoral care training and academics work together.

Apart from formation and education the Academic Centre of Practical Theology also takes initiatives that promote practical-theological research and its dissemination.
The steering committee of the Academic Centre of Practical Theology provides the editing of two periodicals: Leuvense Cahiers voor Praktische Theologie and Leuvense Studies voor Praktische Theologie, Halewijn. The ‘Cahiers’ offer contributions for the general public, whereas the ‘Studies’ aim at a more specialised audience and explicitly want to promote the research into practical theology.
Furthermore the Centre organises workshops and international congresses.

Website
More information can be found on www.theopraxis.eu.

 

3. Three chairs


3.1 Chair Canon Triest (Professor Axel Liégeois)

This chair is aimed at pastoral care for persons with a mental disability or a psychiatric disorder. Apart from this specific focus the chair also pays attention to the broader field of pastoral care and the ethics of care, the professional ethics of the pastor and the Christian identity of care services. The Brothers of Charity), founded by Canon Triest, are the donors of this chair.
Website Brothers of Charity: www.brothersofcharity.org; www.fracarita.org

3.2 INTAMS. Chair for the Study of Marriage & Spirituality (Professor T. Knieps)

This chair was established in 2005 by the International Academy for Marital Spirituality (INTAMS), an international non-profit organisation that wants to stimulate and promote the study of and the dialogue concerning marriage as a Leitbild and a concrete way of life in Church and society. INTAMS offers researchers and field workers an international platform and network for the exchange and cross-fertilisation of scientific and practical expertise. From this objective the chair on the one hand wants to strengthen the academic discourse on marriage and related themes through research and teaching and on the other hand to be at the service of the pastoral care in matters of relations, marriage and families.
INTAMS provides the editing of the journal INTAMS Review: Journal for the Study of Marriage & Spirituality.
Website: http://www.intams.org/.

3.3 Chair on behalf of the Pastoral Care for Deaf and Hearing-Impaired Persons (Professor M. Broesterhuizen)

This chair came into being on the basis of a covenant between the KU Leuven and the International Catholic Foundation for the Service of Deaf Persons (ICF). ICF offers support to people who are involved in the pastoral care for deaf persons. One of the ways in which this happens is exactly by the chair on behalf of the pastoral care for deaf and hearing-impaired persons. Its objectives are academic reflection on the pastoral care for deaf persons, instruction in the central themes of the pastoral care for deaf persons, and scientific research on the pastoral care for deaf persons.

 

4. Ten Key Publications


Broesterhuizen, M., Faith in Deaf Culture, in Theological Studies, 66 (2005), no. 2, 304-329.

Depoortere, K., Typologie van het permanente diaconaat, in J. Van der Vloet & R. Vandebroek (eds), Het permanent diaconaat op zoek naar zichzelf. 35 jaar diakens in Vlaanderen (Leuvense Cahiers voor Praktische Theologie, 5), Antwerpen, Halewijn, 2006, 129-147.

Dillen, A., Encourager la spiritualité chez les enfants: à la recherche du don mutuel entre parents et enfants, in Counseling et spritualité/Counselling and Spirituality, 26 (2007), no. 1, 125-142.

Geldhof, J., Revelation, Reason and Reality. Theological Encounters with Jaspers, Schelling and Baader (Studies in Philosophical Theology, 39), Leuven/Paris/Dudley, MA, Peeters, 2007.

Geybels, H., De zegening in fenomenologisch perspectief. Essay van postmoderne sacramento-theologie, in Jaarboek voor Liturgie-onderzoek (2001), 37-72.

Knieps-Port Le Roi, T. & Sandor, M. (eds), Companion to Marital Spirituality (Studies in Spirituality Supplements, 18), Leuven, Peeters, 2008.

Liégeois, A. Pastoral Counselling in Care Services. Between Confidential Space and Integrated Care, in Counselling and Spirituality /Counseling et Spiritualité, 25 (2006), no. 2, 127-140.

Pollefeyt, D. (ed), Interreligious Learning (BETL, 201), Leuven, Peeters, 2007.

Pollefeyt, D. & Lombaerts, H. (eds), Hermeneutics and Religious Education (BETL, 180), Leuven, Peeters, 2004.

Steen, M. (ed), Meer dan een preek (Leuvense Cahiers voor Praktische Theologie, 4), Antwerpen, Halewijn, 2006.