Online lecture:
Rev. Dr. Stavros Kofinas
DISABILITY AS A CHALLENGE
FOR THE PASTORAL WORK OF THE CHURCH
The third event of the fourth series of online lectures “Time for Action” organized by the Volos Academy for Theological Studies will take place on Monday, March 11, 2024, at 7:00 pm (Athens time). The speaker will be Rev. Dr. Stavros Kofinas, Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne and Coordinator of Pastoral Health Care at the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The topic of the lecture will be “Disability as a challenge for the pastoral work of the church”. The lecture will be in Greek, and the discussion will be moderated by Dr. Ekaterini Tsalampouni, Professor of New Testament, Faculty of Theology, University of Thessaloniki and member of the Volos Academy Board of Directors. The link for attending via the Zoom platform is https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83122961669.
In the lecture, the various aspects of disability will be examined, through a clinical case. Disability brings to light our psychological and spiritual weaknesses, as well as the weaknesses of the people around us. These weaknesses are intertwined, affecting the effort each person puts into coping with them in order to realize his own potential. The presentation will show how the intervention of a therapeutic team member can help someone express his complex difficulties, and how this intervention can overturn the forces that undermine his abilities. The key to intervention is acknowledging everyone’s disability, even those of the therapist, and making it easy for everyone to talk openly about his difficulties. However, we must not forget that a therapeutic effort can also cause unexpected events, through states that combine sorrow and happiness.
Rev. Dr. Stavros Kofinas is a Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne. He coordinates the Network of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for Pastoral Health which is based in the Holy Metropolis of Rhodes. He is also Coordinator of the Commission for Health and Healing of the World Council of Churches. Born and raised in the U.S.A., he studied and received his degrees in Theology from the Hellenic College of the Holy Cross School of Theology. Following this, he received his Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and Psychiatric and Pastoral Care (DMin) in 1976. He worked as a psychotherapist at the psychiatric facilities of the Human Resource Institute in Boston for two years. Since 1976, together with his family, he has resided in Greece. He served as the priest at the Red Cross Hospital in Athens (1976-1988) and the parish of St. Nicholas in Thebes (1989-1994). From 1994, he was the celebrant at the Holy Monastery of St. Meletios of Kitheron (1994-2022). Representing the Ecumenical Throne, he was a founding member of the European Network of Health Care Chaplaincy and served as its first Coordinator for ten years (2000-2010). He remains as the Patriarchate’s representative to that organization. Being well experienced in the field of psychotherapy and pastoral care, he has led many psychotherapeutic groups, particularly for couples, parents and young people. He has organized and taken part in many educational seminars, training programs and conferences for clergy, doctors, nurses and social workers in Greece and abroad. Parallel to this, he is well known for his writings in psychology and pastoral care.
