Faith school for Catholic grandparents in Seoul

The archdiocese is undertaking this initiative as part of the year of Amoris Laetitia announced by the pope. In South Korea, the number of families with grandparents caring for grandchildren is up because both parents have to work. The programme includes courses on self-care, grandchildren care, and religious care.


Seoul (AsiaNews) – The Archdiocese of Seoul is planning a faith school for Catholic grandparents as part of the Year of Amoris Laetitia Family, which Pope Francis announced in conjunction with the World Meeting of Families.

The initiative is aimed at highlighting the central role played by grandparents and, more generally, seniors in families.

in recent years, more and more seniors in South Korea are caring for their grandchildren because of an increase in the number of families in which both parents work.

For this reason, the archdiocese wants to educate grandparents about the faith since they are increasingly becoming the first ones to take care of their young grandchildren.

The school will include an eight-week programme with courses centred on three topics: self-care, grandchild care, and religious care.

To prepare the programme, the Senior Ministry Team surveyed about 800 senior Catholics from various parishes.

A number of participants indicated that they want the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality assessment test included because they believe it can help build a better relationship with grandchildren.

In a statement, the Archdiocese of Seoul explains that the educational programmes it plans to develop for grandparents will be in line with Pope Francis' message that seniors can serve as a valued source of guidance and wisdom for young people.