In cooperation with the Religious Education Board of the Archdiocese of Belgrade–Karlovci, the Missionary Department of the Archdiocese of Belgrade–Karlovci (MO AEM) is launching a series of expert lectures and panel discussions on the theme of parenting, to be held in selected primary schools throughout Belgrade. The entire series will be curated and operationally led by Vlajko Panović, clinical psychologist and permanent member of the Section for Apologetic Mission within the Missionary Department of AEM—one of Serbia’s leading experts in the fields of parenting and the crisis of the contemporary family.
For centuries, Serbian families were shaped by the Christian ethos and by values that simultaneously served as the foundation of society itself. Respect for parents, a clear hierarchical order, marital fidelity, a high moral family code, having multiple children as the norm, and virtues such as sincerity, loyalty, diligence, and fairness—all of these were values traditionally cultivated and recognized as authentic within families in this region. However, following the revolutionary upheaval after the Second World War and the persecution of everything connected to Christian civilization, foreign ideological models were imposed upon Serbian families. The adoption of these imposed frameworks, much like an autoimmune disease, began to turn against the family as such. Within just a few decades, this process led to a moral decline and biological disappearance of the Serbian people.
After the collapse of the communist system, another, equally harmful ideological influence emerged—this time from abroad—through left-liberal paradigms, corporate mass-media culture, and a primitive form of capitalism. These influences further eroded the institution of marriage and family life. Finally, in our own time, the challenges of digital technologies have appeared, confronting us with family problems that were unimaginable only a few decades ago.
Such a situation calls for a systematic and structured effort to affirm the importance of parenting as a means of healing the current condition of family life. Accordingly, the Missionary Department, in cooperation with the Religious Education Board of the Archdiocese of Belgrade–Karlovci, is initiating a series of lectures and panels on parenting to be hosted in Belgrade primary schools that wish to participate in this initiative. The idea is to organize monthly dialogical lectures, not for students, but for their parents, in the schools’ assembly halls. The speakers will be Christian-oriented intellectuals—experts in the fields of psychology, pedagogy, sociology, medicine, and related disciplines—who will address specific topics from the perspective of their respective professions. When appropriate, teachers of religious education from the host schools will also participate as moderators.
The first school to respond to the invitation for cooperation is “Oslobodioci Beograda” Primary School, whose principal, Mrs. Radica Karović, has wholeheartedly supported the initiative. The topic of the opening lecture in this series is “How to Raise an Authentic, Not a Copy-Paste Child.” The lecture will take place on Tuesday, October 21, at 5 p.m., at “Oslobodioci Beograda” Primary School (2 Preradovićeva Street, Karaburma).
The lecture for parents will be delivered by:
– Spec. of Medical Psychology Vlajko Panović, clinical psychologist with over four decades of professional experience and founder of the Parenting School concept in Serbia.
– Rev. Dr. Oliver Subotić, priest, computer scientist, and sociologist, and author of several books on the influence of information and communication technologies on the human person, the family, and contemporary society.
