Sacro-carescape

Abstract

Abstract In the Netherlands mutual pastoral care is understood as an ecclesial practice where members of the congregation care for each other in everyday life. The growing interest in mutual pastoral care in Dutch Protestant congregations shows how pastoral care is moving from the ministers to the people and from the ecclesial domain to all kinds of places where people meet, in the public as well as the private sphere. The author reflects on this broadened scope of mutual pastoral care by elaborating on three characteristics: fluidization, informalization and sacredness. He argues that a broader perspective is needed to study mutual pastoral care in the context of our late-modern culture and explores how the concept of sacro-carescape contributes to a more adequate understanding of this practice.