The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea unveils the "Pastoral Diagnosis Program" which helps parishes offer customized pastoral activities by fully understanding the faith lives of its parishioners. (ucanews.com photo)
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea has unveiled a pastoral diagnosis program that will help priests plan how best to teach their flocks and know how they are maturing in their faith.
On Feb. 8, the bishops' pastoral institute held a demonstration of the computerized, "Parish Pastoral Index" after developing it for three years. The program visualizes how the teachings and spirit of the Second Vatican Council are being realized in parishes to help them customize their activities.
Until now, the Korean church has collected external statistics on the number of parishioners, evangelization rate and Sunday Mass participation. However, it was hard to index how church teachings were affecting parishioners or how the fellowship of the parish community was formed. The new program is aimed to address that.
The institute has been jointly researching the index and discussing its use with foreign institutes including East Asia Pastoral Institute in the Philippines, Ruhr-University Bochum and Missio-Aachen in Germany. Through the International Pastoral Network, sponsored by Missio-Aachen, the institute will spread the program to other countries.
Bishop Basil Cho Kyu-man of Wonju said, "It is meaningful that the program finds its basis from the teachings and spirit of the Second Vatican Council. The program will help front-line pastors do their work with more passion."
