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International Council
for Pastoral Care and Counselling
The International Council came into
existence in 1979 at the first International Congress of reflective practitioners
of Pastoral Care and Counselling held in Edinburgh, Scotland. There had
been gatherings from as early as 1972 of various European and American
practitioners but Edinburgh 1979, where over four hundred people from all
the continents gathered, was a watershed for Pastoral Care and counselling
akin to the ecumenical mission and church meetings of 1910 and 1937.
The Council serves as a 'web-like' network
of people elected at each International Congress every four years to help
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Promote the reflective practice of Pastoral
Care and Counselling throughout the world
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Inform, educate and inspire practitioners
of Pastoral Care and Counselling in every place
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Enable practitioners to be in touch with
each other and to learn from good practice wherever it occurs.
The Council has overseen the running of
International Congresses every four years. There have been 7 so far:
Edinburgh, Scotland August 1979
Theme: The Risks of Freedom
San Francisco, USA: August 1983 Theme:
Symbols and Stories in Pastoral Care and Counselling Melbourne,
Australia August 1987 Theme: Pastoral Ministry in a Fractured
World
Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands
August 1991 Theme: Pastoral Care and Context
Toronto, Canada August
1995 Theme: Babylon & Jerusalem: Stories for transition in a strange
land Accra, Ghana
August, 1999 Theme: Spirituality and Culture in Pastoral Care and Counselling
Bangalore, India August
2004 Theme: Global
Economy,
a
challenge for Pastoral Care, Counselling and Religious Traditions
ICPCC represents a truly international,
ecumenical and proactive movement of women and men desiring to respond
to current needs and situations faced by real life people in the world
through the skills and mediations of pastoral care and counselling.
This website will seek to keep you
abreast with developments in the movement and through creative links
with regional and national bodies help develop an informed and communicative
community of pastoral people throughout the world.
When establishing this website, the former President of the ICPCC,
Dr. E. Lartey, wrote this letter:
| 29.04.2001
Dear Colleagues,
Greetings from the Executive Board of ICPCC. We are grateful for
the opportunity to be in touch following a very valuable weekend meeting
in Dresden.
Vision/Mission
Since the Accra Congress (1999) we have pursued a clarification and
updating of the vision and mission of ICPCC for the 21st century. We are
convinced that together we may intensify and broaden the practice of Pastoral
Care and Counselling by paying attention to social, cultural, politcal
and economic aspects of our work. It is important for us to engage constructively
with our diversity, the multiple nature of our identity and our relations
with people of many faiths in a shrinking world in which the struggle for
territory and power is very real. We need to actively and progressively
increase our participation and collaboration in order to move forward as
an international movement.
Website
To facilitate such collaboration we have established the website.
Do visit this site at www.council-icpcc.org
Contributions to online discussions of issues affecting us in our
different contexts are very welcome. We will continue to contact people
by mail as well and encourage you to respond as quickly as you can and
to initiate discussions with us.
Please note that the secretary, Jan van Arkel, has moved to
and now lives in Austria. You can make contact with him at the address
above.
Conferences
Enclosed is the first announcement concerning the 7th International
Congress to be held in Bangolore in India, August 2003. Pastoral counsellors,
teachers in seminaries, leaders of counselling centres, social workers,
chaplains, theologians, ministers, rabbis, priests, religious and other
persons involved in counselling and care, training and teaching are invited
to participate. National and other organisations of pastoral care and counseling
are invited to send delegates and to contribute to the congress by preparing
for workshops and raising funds for scholarships. Please copy the flyer
and pass it on to colleagues.
Finances
To encourage the achievement of our aims to develop pastoral care
and counselling internationally, we urge individuals and organisations
to contribute generously to ICPCC funds. Among the purposes for which ICPCC
funds are used are the following:
· To help organise conferences, consultations and meetings
in various underfunded areas of the world
· To support the development of counselling centres and organisations
for pastoral care and counselling in various parts of the world
· For education, enrichment and empowerment of individuals
in the practice of pastoral care and counselling.
Specific amounts are being requested from particular organisations
and individuals. In line with previous decisions concerning national economic
conditions these amounts represent what we are hopeful you will be able
to contribute or raise in the interest of the international movement.
With cordial greetings
Dr. Emmanuel Lartey
President
Dr. Ursula Pfäfflin
Vice-President
Dr. Jan de Jongh van Arkel
Secretary/Treasurer |
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