El Cuidado Pastoral De La Población Envejecida De Cubaun Estudio De Casos En Las Iglesias De La Convención Bautistade Cubaoccidental De Los Municipiosplaya, Plaza De La Revolución Y Diez De Octubre En El Periodo 2005-2015

Abstract

The following dissertation is about pastoral care for the aging population of Cuba. It proposes an alternative methodology of study inside the field of Practical Theology. It also gives a deep analysis of the vast universe of the Cuban population and how it is getting older with the passing of years. This study aims to show how aging is affecting the reality of Cuba, how this produces a huge impact upon the church, and the urgent pastoral response that must occur from the Christianity communities. The delimited historical period 2005 until 2015 had an evident manifestation among the aging e population in Cuba. The three oldest municipalities of Havana, the Capital of Cuba, are: “Playa”, “Plaza de la Revolution” and “Diez de Octubre”. These communities experienced a large demographic transformation that resulted in a large aging population. This dissertation explores how this demographic aging has impacted the lives of the church.There is a growing concern among the leadership and the ecclesial community concerning the increasing aging population. The main aim of this research is to build a biblical-theological framework about this demography and the variables needed to study it. Also, this study describes these variables within this aging population. This study also examines the ecclesial context, using a pastoral approach to propose a methodology of work that helps the church of Cuba to care for the elderly as a part of the mission Dei of. The theoretical methodology applied is a literary analysis, a literature review, and a document analysis. Through this methodology was established the biblical and theological basis for an approach to the demography and its distinctive characteristics within the Cuban context as the population ages. In the fieldwork a qualitative evaluation was carried out, taking into account the surveys, interviews and participant observation that have allowed us to evaluate the impact of aging within the population in the context of the local churches.13The results and findings show that there is an evident precedent in the Bible for the development of demography as a social science. The biblical stories propose a worldview about old age as a stage of life that dignifies the elderly within the community in which they live. It was possible to demonstrate the absence of demography as a social science within the Practical Theology of Latin America and the absence of pastoral care for the elderly population. The impact of population aging on the life of the church was corroborated and a pastoral response proposed for the attention of the elderly in the context of Cuba, but with application within Latin America. The contributions of this research are aimed at proposing an understanding of demography as a social science and its use in practical theology. Demography is the social science that has been orphaned in the field of theology. The biblical worldview about the elderly is rescued within the community in which they live. The ways in which the participation and care of the elderly are stipulated in the Bible dignifies them within the community in which they live, and the principles that are extracted from it serve as an example to modern society. The understanding of pastoral care is conceptualized in the context of the Latin American Theological Fellowship (FTL), taking into account their contributions and shortcomings. It is also incorporated into the pastoral and its articulation of the use of demography as a social science in the understanding of the population context. A plan of action is proposed as a pastoral methodology to assist the elderly in their needs. In this way, a Christian pastoral theology is built in correlation with the social sciences as an interdisciplinary collaboration. This is a pioneering work in the development of pastoral work in Cuba and in Latin America. The use of research from the social sciences promotes establishing a dialogue between the Cuban church and the Social Study Institutions in Cuba. This is a dialogue that should grow and be enriched through these studies to value the contribution that each one can make in the context of our country. This research is relevant and serves as a pioneer for other future studies in pastoral theological field. It is very useful for the future due to aging population situations that tend to persist within the Cuban, Latin American and the World context.