The Camino de Santiago as a 'Spiritual Journey': A Contemporary Challenge to Religion?

According to many surveys, the pilgrimage along the Way of St James (Camino de. Santiago) can lead to spiritual benefits, but there is some disagreement about this because these benefits can be associated with the pilgrim's motivation. This article presents a conceptual framework for understanding the phenomenon of pilgrimages to Compostela and their impact on human spiritual well-being. Many diaries mention various positive psychological effects from these trips, but they are presented in religious/spiritual dialectical tension. The article presents the classical concept of spirituality as related to the ability to transcend, and then classifies what is spiritual in the writings of some Polish pilgrims. In this way, conceptual precision will be offered, which is important for understanding the positive impact of pilgrimages on well-being and empowerment.

Not Only Coping: Resilience and Its Sources from a Thomistic Perspective.

In describing the Christian moral ethos, Thomas Aquinas draws attention to the way in which adversities, trials or afflictions are overcome. This paper analyzes two types of resilience present in Aquinas's thought as well as their sources and manifestations. The first type, moral resilience, is based on the virtue of fortitude, which governs human behavior in the face of great fear. With regard to the second type of resilience, the focus is on showing how grace contributes to increasing power through weakness. In the concluding section, there are also certain suggestions as to how resilience education could be developed.

The Ministry of Religious Congregations to People Affected by the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus in Poland: Geographies of Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The aim of this article is to analyze the empirical evidence collected in the form of in-depth interviews, observations, statistics and accounts concerning the assistance provided by female and male religious congregations in the fight against the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland during the first year after the outbreak (March 2020 to February 2021). The paper describes the nature of the assistance rendered by religious congregations to the sick, to those affected by the pandemic and to healthcare facilities during the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in Poland. Our findings reveal that the activities undertaken and the support provided by religious congregations in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland have spanned many areas: medical assistance and nursing within the healthcare system, charitable work (including material, financial and welfare/housing aid), and pastoral, religious, educational, psychological, ecumenical, evangelization and missionary activities. The support provided by religious congregations as part of the coronavirus response efforts proved crucial and invaluable during the first weeks of the pandemic, that is in March and April 2020, when the healthcare system was faced with severe staff shortages.

Is It Harmful? A Thomistic Perspective on Risk Science in Social Welfare.

Probabilistic information is used increasingly, from medical research to weather forecasting. The relationship between probability and causality requires an acceptable philosophical account. Social work, which contributes to healthy wellbeing, increasingly uses language of probabilistic causal relationships between harms and subsequent limitations to healthy functioning. This paper explores causal understandings of probabilistic knowledge using concepts of the theologian, Thomas Aquinas. Social welfare terminology regarding risk (such as factors that are 'causative of' child abuse) is explored using epistemological concepts from scholastic philosophy. Aquinas' anthropological concepts related to modern 'risk science' and his concepts of rationality, harm and prudence are applied to contemporary social welfare.

Coping and Resilience Strategies among Ukraine War Refugees.

(1) Background: The war in Ukraine has triggered a huge humanitarian crisis: millions of refugees have escaped from their homes looking for shelter beyond Ukraine's borders. This emergency offers a unique opportunity to investigate and to document those characteristics of the human condition that emerge in exceptional circumstances provoked by war. Based on considerations derived from recent studies on resilience, the research at the base of this paper was conducted to better understand the circumstances, states of mind, and coping mechanisms of the refugees leaving their homes looking for security. (2) Methods: A qualitative approach was applied, resorting to semi-structured interviews (n = 94) to closely explore the traumatic experiences lived by refugees and to identify their coping strategies. (3) Results: The data obtained pointed to a plurality of coping and resilience strategies. Maintaining communication with separated loved ones as well as experiencing accompaniment by helpers and hosts emerged as principal elements for coping and resilience. It was found that a prior development of interior life or practice of prayer served as psychological "capital" that increased their resilience. (4) Conclusion: The results point to the need to care for social networking, attention by hosts, and cultivating interior life as keys for resilience.