“As Switzerland’s population becomes ever more diverse, the demand for relevant pastoral care is growing. But the country still has some catching up to do to match the availability in other countries. […]
Reinhard Schulze is a professor at the Forum for Islam and the Middle East (FINO) at the University of Bern. Because of the “many life situations in which psychological support for spiritual rehabilitation can be important,” he thinks it makes sense “to develop facilities for practicing Muslims that integrates Islamic tradition to structure this rehabilitation”.
The demand for Muslim-specific pastoral care originated in prisons, says Isabelle Noth, a professor of pastoral care, religious psychology and religious education, also in Bern. […]
The first pilot project involving Muslim pastoral care was launched by the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) in 2016, to be monitored and scientifically evaluated by the SZIG. At the beginning of September, the SZIG also began an eight-day training project, followed by work experience, designed to prepare Muslim carers to work as counsellors in public institutions (hospitals, emergency pastoral care, etc.). […]
But Switzerland is a long way behind other countries, mainly because there is still disagreement about whether Muslims need to be counselled by other Muslims and whether imams should take on this task. […]
Schmid also believes that some of these countries addressed the question much earlier. “In other countries, for example the Netherlands and the U.K., the debate about Muslim pastoral care began decades earlier,” he says.
“There are established qualifications which are still in development in Switzerland.”
According to him, Switzerland should “look for local solutions” and “build inter-faith counselling teams” with Christian counsellors in order to benefit from their experience. Switzerland should learn from the experience of other countries, Schmid says.”
Den ganzen Artikel finden Sie hier.
Quelle: swissinfo.ch, 22.10.2018
Bildquelle: Screenshot von swissinfo.ch vom 22.10.2018
