Published: 2019-01-09

The empty nest stage as a challenge of pastoral care of families

Tomasz Gajda
Family Forum
Section: Starzenie się i starość
DOI https://doi.org/10.25167/FF/2018/141-156

Abstract

Pope Francis, writing in the post-synod exhortation Amoris Laetitia on the subject of family difficulties, saw as one of the most important tasks for the Church to accompany spouses in crises, including those who experience the phase of an empty nest (Francis 2016, 235). This stage, distinguished by E. Duvall and other psychologists as a stage in the development of family life, starts at the moment when children leave the family home and undergo the process of separation from parents and full self-empowerment. The stage of an empty nest can be a difficult challenge for the marital relationship and individual well-being of the spouses. This involves a dramatic change in the role of parents and the reorganization of married life. Couples must at this stage learn a new style of living together, sharing and cooperating and rediscover each other. Therefore, it is also a considerable challenge and mission for the pastoral care of the Church towards marriages that are experiencing this stage. Accompanying the ecclesial community, which takes place through the pastoral care of the bond, cannot omit such an important space of family life. Therefore, the article aims to characterize the empty nest phase, highlight the most important factors supporting and hindering the experience of this stage, and attempt to formulate tasks for the pastoral care of families in the context of the papal document on family love Amoris Laetitia.

Keywords:

marriage family empty nest stage pastoral care of families Amoris Laetitia

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Gajda, T. (2019). The empty nest stage as a challenge of pastoral care of families. Family Forum, 8, 141–156. https://doi.org/10.25167/FF/2018/141-156

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