Mediação familiar à luz dos valores cristãos

: contributos para a intervenção

Abstract

The objective of this research is to understand: 1) how the intervention of family mediation in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, based on a Christian approach, can help the agents of pastoral family to respond more efficiently to couples and families in conflict; 2) which are their needs and expectations concerning a family mediation project in the light of Christian values, concerning a specialized and professional support and 3) what kind of configuration may that project present. Being such a qualitative study, it included the participation of 5 couples, 7 experts in family matters (including 3 priests), 4 priests and 4 mediators in response to semi-structured interviews, 4 of them applied in focus groups and one individually applied. The results of the study revealed that the dialogue is the major cause of family conflict that pastoral family agents face. Moreover, they consider the pragmatic support offered by the family ministry as insufficient and inadequate to deal with the existing family conflicts. Besides results had demonstrated the lack of knowledge of family pastoral agents concerning family mediation as a mean of conflict resolution, it also showed that, despite repeated and recorded in the Canon Law, family mediation for reconciliation is not yet dully recognized as a way to support the family, and specifically the couple. The analysed data demonstrated the necessity of a systematic intervention in family mediation, as well as the definition of a theoretical framework, showing the areas of theoretical research that are particularly relevant, enabling the delineation of the substantive scope of a Christian family mediation. Forgiveness, and its relevance in the context of preventive and restorative action, has been proved to be of major importance for Christian family mediation. The data collected, also clarified the factors and the requirements considered essential to take into account in the development of a project of family mediation, as a service to support families and couples, offered by the Portuguese Catholic Church. Additionally, we have defined some guidelines in what a Christian family mediation project concerns.

Date of Award	22 Jan 2014
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Maria Teresa Ribeiro (Supervisor)