A spectrum of belief: a qualitative exploration of candid discussions of clergy on mental health and healing

Since clergy are often first responders to mental health issues, it is important to understand clergy views on handling such issues. A discussion occurred in 2012 amongst clergy involved in a popular social utility network clergy’s group. One clergyperson asked peers: “If the church is where we are to come for healing, how do we handle people who are depressed, suicidal, suffering from PTSD or anxiety?” Over 140 comments were made during 13 days, and 35 clergy from the United States, Africa, and India contributed to the discussion. Data from this conversation were examined via classic grounded theory. Analysis revealed a spectrum of beliefs that clergy hold regarding the causes and best treatments for emotional issues. Findings shed light on the candid thoughts clergy have about mental health care. The findings provide greater understanding for mental health practitioners with clients who rely on their church for emotional support.     

Training Community Clergy in Serious Illness: Balancing Faith and Medicine

Community-based clergy are highly engaged in helping seriously ill patients address spiritual concerns at the end of life (EOL). While they desire EOL training, no data exist in guiding how to conceptualize a clergy-training program. The objective of this study was used to identify best practices in an EOL training program for community clergy. As part of the National Clergy Project on End-of-Life Care, the project conducted key informant interviews and focus groups with active clergy in five US states (California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, and Texas). A diverse purposive sample of 35 active clergy representing pre-identified racial, educational, theological, and denominational categories hypothesized to be associated with more intensive utilization of medical care at the EOL. We assessed suggested curriculum structure and content for clergy EOL training through interviews and focus groups for the purpose of qualitative analysis. Thematic analysis identified key themes around curriculum structure, curriculum content, and issues of tension. Curriculum structure included ideas for targeting clergy as well as lay congregational leaders and found that clergy were open to combining resources from both religious and health-based institutions. Curriculum content included clergy desires for educational topics such as increasing their medical literacy and reviewing pastoral counseling approaches. Finally, clergy identified challenging barriers to EOL training needing to be openly discussed, including difficulties in collaborating with medical teams, surrounding issues of trust, the role of miracles, and caution of prognostication. Future EOL training is desired and needed for community-based clergy. In partnering together, religious–medical training programs should consider curricula sensitive toward structure, desired content, and perceived clergy tensions.     

A report on The National Council of Community Mental Health Centers

The National Council of Community Health Centers represents a professional development of great interest to clergy. Because mental health centers collaborate with community agencies and systems, their interventions on behalf of community mental health provide an occasion to work toward common goals. Their policy of shared responsibility with community leaders and consumers provides a unique opportunity for a practical integration of religious systems and the public arena. A number of pastors and mental health trained clergy are actively participating in this common effort on behalf of the nation's mental health.He has served five years as a member of the Council on Prevention of the National Council of Community Mental Health Centers.     

Hospitalized psychiatric and medical patients and the clergy

Earlier research suggested that persons in a community with significant psychiatric disorders seek relief from their clergy as often as from trained mental-health professionals. In this research, contacts with clergy about current hospitalization by matched samples of inpatient psychiatric (N=51) and medical/surgical (N=50) patients were compared, as were responses to structured interviews about the importance of religion, religious affiliation, and participation, spiritual needs, and spiritual well-being. The findings suggest that the two groups were similar in demographics, the degree to which religion was a source of strength and comfort in their lives, and percentages reporting as having a clergy person; the group of hospitalized psychiatric patients was significantly less likely, however, than the sample of medical/surgical patients to have discussed their current hospitalization with their clergy persons. Possible causes for this difference as well as areas of further research are discussed.     

Black Clergy in the 2000 Elections

Using survey data collected on African Methodist Episcopal and Church of God in Christ clergy, this article finds that black clergy are strongly supportive of their roles as community leaders. However, there are differences along denominational lines in terms of how they interpret their role, in their policy preferences, and in their activities both in and out of the pulpit. In total, this study reveals that there is diversity in black clergy attitudes and activities and that there is a need to examine further how these differences affect black political attitudes and activism.     

The Life of Leaders: An Intensive Health Program for Clergy

Clergy suffer from chronic disease rates that are higher than those of non-clergy. Health interventions for clergy are needed, and some exist, although none to date have been described in the literature. Life of Leaders is a clergy health intervention designed with particular attention to the lifestyle and beliefs of United Methodist clergy, directed by Methodist LeBonheur Healthcare Center of Excellence in Faith and Health. It consists of a two-day retreat of a comprehensive executive physical and leadership development process. Its guiding principles include a focus on personal assets, multi-disciplinary, integrated care, and an emphasis on the contexts of ministry for the poor and community leadership. Consistent with calls to intervene on clergy health across multiple ecological levels, Life of Leaders intervenes at the individual and interpersonal levels, with potential for congregational and religious denominational change. Persons wishing to improve the health of clergy may wish to implement Life of Leaders or borrow from its guiding principles.     

Structure and provision of services in Black churches in New Haven, Connecticut

Historically, Black (or African American) churches have played a central role as a center of religious and political life and also as a provider of human services and a healing community. This article examined the extent to which African American churches in 1 Northeastern urban environment are involved in the delivery of health and human service programs to their communities. It also explored how comfortable Black clergy are in referring their parishioners to the formal mental health system and identified the actual level of referrals. In addition, the analyses considered the individual and organizational characteristics that predict variations in the levels of support services and the likelihood of referral. Analyses revealed that African American churches deliver a broad range of services to the community. More than two thirds of the clergy feel comfortable in making a referral to a mental health agency or professional, and more than half have actually made a referral. Both service delivery and referral levels varied by several clergy and congregational characteristics. The implications of these findings for research and health policy are considered.     

Collaboration Between Clergy and Mental Health Professionals: A Review of Professional Health Care Journals From 1980 Through 1999

Given the frontline role of community clergy in mental health care, this study examined how collaboration with clergy was viewed by mental health and other health professionals outside of the religious community. Searches of health care journals on Medline and PsycINFO yielded 44 articles from non‐religious journals from 1980 through 1999 that specifically addressed collaboration between clergy and mental health professionals. Seven themes were identified through content analysis, including the benefits of collaboration to each profession, the need to increase the clergy's knowledge about mental heath, and the importance of referrals. Discussion about interdisciplinary referrals significantly increased over time, r_ø (1, N = 44) = .31, p < .05).     

The Nexus of Stigma and Social Policy: Implications for Pastoral Care and Psychotherapy with Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Persons and Their Families

Dykstra (2006) explains the well weathered approach to homosexuality in the Christian community “love the sinner, hate the sin” may leave many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people feeling unloved and alienated from a community of faith. As clergy and therapists grapple with personal ethics and institutional policy when working with individuals of differing sexual orientations, they may avoid speaking directly about sexuality and may perpetuate the factors which contribute to internalized homophobia. Psychotherapy and pastoral care by nature is political, as decisions are made about which behavior is adaptive or dysfunctional. This article presents an integrated conceptual framework for clergy and clinicians to understand the impact internalized homophobia has on GLBT clients and their families from a person-in-environment perspective.     

The Glory of God is a Human Being Fully Alive: Predictors of Positive Versus Negative Mental Health Among Clergy

Clergy fulfill vital societal functions as meaning makers and community builders. Partly because of their important roles, clergy frequently encounter stressful situations. Further, studies suggest that clergy experience high rates of depression. Despite this, few studies have examined protective factors for clergy that may increase their positive mental health. We invited all United Methodist clergy in North Carolina to participate in a survey. Of church‐serving clergy, 85 percent responded (n = 1,476). Hierarchical multiple regression was used to assess the predictors of three positive and four negative mental health outcomes. The three sets of predictors were: demographics, which explained 2–10 percent of the variances; variables typically related to mental health (social support, social isolation, and financial stress), which explained 14–41 percent of the variances; and clergy‐specific variables, which explained 14–20 percent of the variances, indicating the importance of measuring occupation‐specific variables. Some variables (e.g., congregation demands) significantly related to both positive and negative mental health, whereas others (e.g., positive congregations, congregation support) significantly related primarily to positive mental health. In addition to their intervention implications, these findings support separate consideration for negative versus positive mental health.     

The Moral Deliberations of 15 Clergy on Suicide and Assisted Death: A Qualitative Study

Given the relationship between moral objections to suicide, physician-assisted suicide (PAS), and euthanasia and religion, it is important to understand under what conditions clergy have moral objections to suicide, ending futile medical treatment, PAS, and euthanasia. This study used thematic analysis to explore the moral deliberations of 15 clergy and the right- and wrong-making properties of nine death and dying scenarios. Fifteen Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant clergy completed semi-structured interviews. Data analysis generated eight themes: sanctity of life, preservation of the natural course of life, pastoral care, support of the faith community, referral to professional services, end-of-life decision in community, consultation with medical professionals, and a shift to a hopeful narrative. Respondents consistently endorsed the priority of pastoral care, demonstrating a deep concern for the well-being of suffering congregants. In conclusion, respondents were consistent in the application of eight themes to end-of-life scenarios but differed in their approach to the removal of a feeding tube and being present for a PAS death. Every respondent objected to suicide.     

God,Sex and Power

Abstract

After twenty years of reform, most church leaders can give an ethical analysis about why clergy sexual abuse is bad. Yet when many churches respond to complaints, committees are frequently inept in holding clergy abusers accountable, and clergy leaders are still likely to abuse their power over others. This article focuses on understanding clergy sexual abuse as a tangle of pathologies of theology, power and sexuality.     

The parish clergy as a mental health resource

Summary This paper presents observations on the assets and liabilities of the parish clergy as a mental health resource within the community. These observations are drawn from a ten-year program of continuing education for cleargy in mental health, which focuses on daily pastoral experience. The parish setting is similar in many respects to the service area of a community mental health center. The clergy's assets often include availability, experience, tradition, and the special significance of the religious leader. Inadequate training in mental health skills and the complex demands of parish life are among the problems confronting the clergy in this area. On the whole, the pastoral role offers a unique and highly useful opportunity for positive psychological intervention.The work described in this paper has been supported in part by National Institute of Mental Health grant no. MH-11929-01 and by grants from the Cleveland Foundation and the Grant Foundation, Inc., and the Cuyahoga County Board of Mental Health and Mental Retardation.     

“Deeply Woven Roots”: Health Initiatives and Community Social Services of Faith-Based Organizations of the Hidalgo County,Texas

Faith-based organizations (FBO) continue to play a significant role in the lives of individuals and communities in the United States. This study focused on the contributions of FBO to the health and well-being of residents of Rio Grande Valley, South Texas. Specifically, this study examined two main areas of involvement of FBO in Hidalgo County, Texas: health initiatives and community social services. Despite their influential and historical involvement, FBO partnership in the delivery of health and social services is not well accounted for. This study explores the characteristics of the clergy, parishioners, and FBO that are associated with community health initiatives and social services. Analyses revealed that FBO deliver a remarkably wide range of services. On a weekly basis, one in six or 17 % of Hidalgo County residents were reported as receiving some form of health assistance or social services from county FBO. Variations exist depending on the characteristics of the clergy and the FBO. Policy and practice recommendations include engaging in additional networking, organizing resources, and strengthening FBO health initiatives.     

Confidentiality and mandatory reporting

Confidentiality is a cornerstone in the identity of the clergy. Confidentiality makes it safe to disclose sins, but the information received may sometimes cause dilemmas for the clergy. Through pastoral care with people in different circumstances, members of the clergy are on the front line for detecting and reporting child abuse and domestic violence. In this article, I explore how clerics judge dilemmas and determine the right course of action when facing cases of possible child abuse or domestic violence. How do members of the clergy reason through their choices? What grounds do they give for their actions? Data are provided from a mixed methods study with 53 Norwegian parish priests. The clergy’s decision-making will be the primary focus. Confidentiality is frequently associated with trust. The clergy maintain that confidentiality contributes to securing trust in themselves, as well as in the church as an institution. My analysis suggests that the clergy’s reflections on confidentiality conflict with Norwegian mandatory reporting laws and that the clergy may benefit from a reframing of pastoral confidentiality.     

The response of christian clergy to domestic violence: Help or hindrance?

This paper reviews the literature regarding Christian clergy as a resource for victims of domestic violence, a common threat to women. Although assistance is available, there are more victims than resources, resulting in many women having limited to no help at all. One resource for victims is the clergy, who are often perceived as respected members of the community and have the authority to make suggestions or even interventions about family issues. However, the literature suggests that cleric theological beliefs may hinder their ability to counsel victims, and the effectiveness of cleric ability to counsel victims varies greatly. Future directions for research are suggested in order to understand what factors influence cleric attitudes and counseling abilities.     

Abused Conservative Christian Wives: Treatment Considerations for Practitioners

Through narrative, the authors explore the faith‐based challenges of a physically and emotionally abused Conservative Christian wife to illustrate her ideological assessment of agency in a violent marriage and her concerns about the religious consequences of escape. To offset religious teachings that obstruct the safety and self‐assertion of abused Conservative Christian wives, the authors offer practitioners practical, idiomatic recommendations through which clients can reassess the limitations of common religious schemas, including conceptions of wifely submission, marital permanence, infinite forgiveness, and pious suffering. The religious community's responses to abused wives, particularly those of the clergy, are also discussed.     

Developing suicide prevention programs for African American youth in African American churches

Suicide prevention programs for African American youth in African American churches may have broad appeal because: (1) the Black Church has a strong history of helping community members, regardless of church membership; (2) African Americans have the highest level of public and private religiousness; and (3) the church can help shape religious and cultural norms about mental health and help-seeking. The proposed gatekeeper model trains lay helpers and clergy to recognize the risk and protective factors for depression and suicide, to make referrals to the appropriate community mental health resources, and to deliver a community education curriculum. Potential barriers and suggestions for how to overcome these barriers are discussed.     

Copts,the State and the 1949–1950 al-Majlis al-Millī Electoral Crisis: Articulating Community in a Time of Anxiety

ABSTRACT

In October 1949, the Coptic Communal Council, al-Majlis al-Millī, failed to run elections as scheduled in the midst of conflict with the clergy. The following April, the Egyptian government intervened by dissolving the Council in favour of an appointed body and by amending its bylaws to allow for the Coptic patriarch and the state to intervene in the case that future elections were delayed. This prompted controversy in the community, as supporters of the Council criticized the intervention for depriving the body of its democratic nature. However, opponents of the Council used the legislation to criticize the body for its aggressive posturing and to assert the authority of the clergy over the laity in communal affairs. This article explores the 1949–1950 intervention alongside the anxieties of late-liberal-era Egypt. By investigating the conversations that occurred in the government and the communal press, I argue that the election crisis served as a flashpoint for parties to lay claim to their particular visions of community by focusing on themes of communal representation, spheres of sovereignty and the maintenance of order.     

The Differential Impact of Religion on Political Activity and Community Engagement

Many religions have an ethos of community betterment that can spur their members to contribute to society in meaningful ways. Yet much of the literature on religion and politics tends to focus on how places of worship increase explicitly partisan activities like voting or donating to a political campaign. Does religion affect community engagement in the same ways that it does political participation? A unique research design executed in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA brings together religious data on individual beliefs and behaviors, clergy messaging, and congregation culture to examine religion’s effects on both political activity and community engagement. The results demonstrate that religion influences both types of behaviors, but not always in the same ways. For instance, it appears as though many congregations tend to develop cultures that encourage either community engagement or political activity, rather than both, with Black Protestant churches as an exception. Additionally, individuals that hold providential religious beliefs tend to have higher levels of community engagement but lower levels of political activity. These findings indicate that religion influences different types of participation differently.