Christian pastoral care and counselling is constantly changing due to outside impacts and internal transformations. For this reason it is highly important to stop from time to time and reflect on the road already taken in the light of the original goals and the new challenges.
A biblical picture will help our reflection at the Conference in 2022:
‘So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.’
Genesis 1:27
What does the theological concept of the image of God (Imago Dei) mean for pastoral care? Who is the pastoral counsellor as the image of God and what is he or she called for? How does the client created by God convey the image of the Creator? How can pastoral care be the Image of God?
At our conference we will turn our attention to three main topics.
The first will shed light on the spiritual traditions recent pastoral counselling practices draw on.
The focus of the second topic would be how the pastoral counsellor can connect to the presence of God, and the question of how he or she can relate to the client in this spiritual space.
The third topic would focus on the new balance between psychological and spiritual work in pastoral care.
At our conference we would like to put an emphasis on building new professional relations, sharing experiences and common prayer, so that we can experience the presence of God and His life changing power that leads us to new roads.
The professional part of the conference will take three days with three main speakers, reviews and several workshops that will present achievements of scientific research, methodological tools and training practices related to the topics below.
Three days, three main topics:
- Spiritual traditions as sources of pastoral care practices
- The importance of the presence of God in pastoral care
- Searching for a new balance of psychology and spirituality in pastoral care
Keynote speakers:
Emőke TAPOLYAI: Spiritual traditions as sources of pastoral care practices
Emőke Tapolyai is a clinical pastoral counsellor and an executive coach. She received her M.A. in clinical pastoral counselling from Ashland Theological Seminary, a division of Ashland University (Ashland, Ohio, USA). At the present she is working on her PhD at the University of South Africa researching the courage of persecuted Christians. She is the founder and director of Kandela Psychological and Coaching Center in Budapest which is a professional Christian center for healing and well-being. Emoke is passionate about giving hope to the wounded and training Professional Christian counsellors. She is a recognized and frequently invited speaker in Hungary and internationally. She is a mother of 5 children and a grandmother of a beautiful little girl.
Magdolna KŐVÁRI: The importance of the presence of God in pastoral care
Magdolna Kővári is a member of the Society of the Sisters of Social Service. She earned degrees in education and linguistics in Cluj, Romania and Debrecen, Hungary, M.S. in counseling education in Buffalo, NY and a Certificate of Advanced Studies in pastoral counseling in Columbia, MD. She completed her clinical practicum at the Counseling Center of the National Presbyterian Church in Washington DC and at Washington Pastoral Counseling Services. She was trained in spiritual direction in Georgetown, Washington DC and in Guelph, Canada. Since 2007 she ministers in Hungary; she has been working with the Mental Health Institute of Semmelweis University in Budapest and since 2011 she has been part of developing and leading a training program in spiritual direction at the Ignatian Center for Spirituality in Dobogókő, Hungary. Her interest and passion is in the integration of spirituality and psychology.
Michael KLESSMANN: Searching for a new balance of psychology and spirituality in pastoral care
Michael Klessmann, Dr. theol., studied protestant theology in Heidelberg and Tübingen; training in Pastoral Psychology, Gestalttherapy and Supervision in Richmond, VA and Santa Barbara, CA, USA. Setting up a Telephone Crisis Hotline in Bielefeld, working in a counselling center, hospital chaplain in a large psychiatric Clinic in Bethel / Bielefeld, supervisor and managing director of Clinical Pastoral Education in the Bethel Institute of Pastoral Care, Professor for Practical Theology at the Wuppertal–Seminary. Professor emeritus since 2008; teaching pastoral care at the School of Jewish Theology Potsdam, living in Berlin.
Publications o.a.: Pastoral Psychology (52015), Pastoral Care (52015), Supervision (2007), Basic Issues of Ministry (2012), On Ambivalence (2018), Dialogue between Theology and Psychology (2021), many articles on pastoral care and supervision.
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