Parish Ministry and the Elderly:

Oppurtunities for parishes and congregations to develop worthwhile programs with and for senior parishioners are abundant. The challenge lies in adding a spiritual dimension so the programs are not simply duplications of public programs. In this article results of a questionnaire survey, and interviews with ten Catholic parish pastors and 72 senior parishioners are reported. The interview questions worked well, and are included. Eight themes emerged from the interviews; and they imply direction for program development.     

African-American clergy's perceptions of the leading health problems in their communities and their role in supporting parishioners' health

This article is a report on a survey of Southern California pastors to learn of their perceptions of the leading health problems in their congregations. Participants (N=41) identified stress, overweight, and obesity as the top three health indicators that effect the health of their congregations. Tobacco use and substance abuse were listed among the top five. From a list of health problems, pastors felt that from the pulpit they could impact parishioners responsible sexual behavior most. Pastors expressed their opinions about the reasons for certain maladies and addictions. The findings indicate room for improvement in building clergy's understanding of the nature of illness and addiction and in empowering them in their role of supporting healthy behaviors in the African-American community.     

The Pastor and Bioethics

This essay presents bioethics or ethics in health care as a challenge to pastors. Common professional struggles are experienced by pastoral and health professionals. Thus, first, we need to consider the meaning of being a professional especially as pastors. Second, pastors might explore at least four specific medical issues: namely physician-assisted death or euthanasia, complementary or alternative treatments, the exercise of consent to medical procedures by patients or parishioners and families, and the crucial need for the donation of vital organs to save lives. Embedded within all four issues, there is a significant religious concern which requires the pastor's expertise.     

The Placebo Effect and the Molecules of Hope

Taking its point of departure from the author’s theory that humor has a placebo effect, this article explores evidence that placebos have a positive biochemical effect, argues on the basis of this evidence that the placebo serves religious ends, and draws implications of this argument for physicians with religious convictions and for pastors who understand themselves to be agents of hope. It specifically argues that physicians should not pray with their patients and pastors should inform their parishioners of the negative as well as the positive effects of religion.     

Pastor,are You a Religious Illiterate?

Abstract : The growing religious diversity of the United States forces pastors into the role of spokesperson for the Christian faith along with becoming chief educator about other religious traditions for the congregation. Pastors, now more than ever, have the responsibility to become educated about the world's religions and to share this knowledge with their parishioners. To prepare clergy for these new responsibilities, three Lutheran pastors speak from their own experiences of deliberately engaging and studying diverse religious communities. With special focus on Islam and Hinduism, the pastors provide resources for further reading and study. This collaborative effort aims to encourage and empower pastors to embrace these new components of their calling by openly and regularly interacting with their religious neighbors.     

The Influence of Priests on the Political Attitudes of Roman Catholics

For years, scholars in religion and politics have worked under the assumption that clergy wield significant political influence with their congregations. Until recently, however, this assumption had gone largely uninvestigated and undemonstrated. This article helps correct this shortcoming by analyzing the Notre Dame Study of Catholic Parish Life for evidence of priestly influence on the political attitudes of Catholic parishioners. Though the data indicate that Catholic priests do, indeed, appear to influence the political attitudes of their parishioners, the nature of this influence is more complex than previously demonstrated. Specifically, pastor ideology is the key predictor of both parishioners' issue positions and political ideology, and influence appears to be restricted to politically liberal pastors.     

Catholic Priests' Knowledge of Pastoral Codes of Conduct in the United States

This exploratory study investigated Catholic priests' knowledge and perceptions of pastoral codes of conduct and their perceptions about the processes for reporting misconduct. Overall, respondents understood that they had to breach confidentiality when parishioners divulged a threat to harm self or others or when there was an allegation of misconduct involving a colleague. Fewer respondents understood that information received in spiritual counseling or spiritual direction must be maintained confidentially. Respondents were aware that their codes of pastoral conduct offered guidance about engaging in dual relationships (i.e., friendships with parishioners), but most respondents included parishioners in their circles of friends.     

Gender and Mainline Protestant Pastors' Allocation of Time to Work Tasks

Some scholars argue that male and female members of the Protestant clergy have differing ministerial styles. They argue that women are more person-oriented and interested in direct interaction with their parishioners and that men are more focused on job status and interested in administration. Using data on 1,688 clergy in eight mainline denominations, this research note compares the proportion of time that male and female pastors spend on 10 work tasks. Women devote less time than men to staff administration and supervision, a difference that is empirically attributable to their underrepresentation as senior pastors. The expectation of differing ministerial styles is most strongly supported in women's greater allocation of time to pastoral counseling—a "personalized," one-on-one ministry. However, they also spend proportionately less time than men on home and hospital visitation. This seemingly anomalous difference can be explained empirically as a factor of differential childcare responsibilities, which appear to limit women's but not men's movement away from home and church.     

Spirituality and Substance Abuse Recovery

Researchers explored patient and staff perceptions of spiritual well-being and the spiritual needs of patients enrolled in a residential substance abuse treatment program. The Spiritual Well-Being Scale was used to gather quantitative data. Additionally, a brief questionnaire containing one qualitative and two quantitative questions was completed by both clients and staff. A statistically significant difference was found, indicating a more positive sense of spiritual well-being among patients upon discharge. Although the staff and clients of the residential program have similar perceptions regarding the concept of spiritual well-being, their definitions do not appear identical.     

Pastoral Burnout and the Impact of Personal Spiritual Renewal,Rest-taking,and Support System Practices

Pastors risk burnout because of inordinate ministerial demands, which may drain their emotional, cognitive, spiritual, and physical energy reserves and impair their overall effectiveness. Burnout advances across three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced accomplishment. The debilitating effects of pastoral burnout were examined through a survey of 270 pastors. Relationships between burnout and three potentially preventative or mitigating factors, spiritual renewal, rest-taking, and support system practices, were explored. The results identified spiritual dryness as the primary predictor of emotional exhaustion, the stress dimension of burnout. In the published literature, no other work to date has empirically substantiated a link between pastors’ spirituality and burnout. These findings expand the burnout construct and promote leader self-care practices that foster resilience, vitality, and well-being.     

Self-Disclosure and Spiritual Well-Being in Pastors Seeking Professional Psychological Help

Pastoral mental health is a topic that has only rarely been researched empirically in the psychological literature, yet a pastor’s mental health can have a significant impact on churches, communities, and even nations (Royal and Thompson, Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 31(3), 195–204, 2012). One of the thoughts prompting this research is that evangelical pastors might be expected to resist the findings of psychological research and lack understanding of specific mental illnesses they are potentially facing. Combined with historical and cultural dynamics that could influence resistance to professional psychological help, evangelical pastors have personal, internal factors that could also strengthen resistance, including the researched issues of self-disclosure flexibility and spiritual well-being. A correlational research design with multivariate regression was used to determine potentially significant or predictive relationships between the relevant factors. Among evangelical seminary students (N = 251) preparing for parish-based pastoral ministry, this research determined that no significant relationship, predictive or otherwise, existed between self-disclosure flexibility, spiritual well-being, and attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Implications include a shift in focus toward external factors influencing pastors’ help-seeking attitudes, such as the need for the mental health community to develop connections with evangelical pastors and the development of more support for Christian mental health professionals in the larger evangelical community.     

Baptist senior pastors’ knowledge and perceptions of mental illness

Senior pastors at churches affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT) were anonymously surveyed using an online questionnaire to ascertain their knowledge and perceptions of the causes and potential treatments of mental illness. BGCT senior pastors reported a moderate level of contact with the mentally ill and populations known to have higher than average rates of mental illness (e.g., homeless). They also reported that the individuals with whom they counsel are rarely diagnosed with mental illness. While Baptist senior pastors embraced biological causes and treatments for mental illness as most important and effective, they varied greatly across disorders as to the perceived contribution of psychosocial and spiritual factors. Senior pastors in the present study reported being open to referring their congregants to mental health care professionals with whom they shared common values. Overall, the results of the study point to a need for greater mental health education for Baptist clergy as well as opportunities for the development of increased collaboration between the mental health and faith communities.     

Spiritual resources as antecedents of clergy well-being: The importance of occupationally specific variables

This study tests the job demands–resources model's proposal that the prediction of well-being at work is improved by identifying the most salient cohort-specific resources. Spiritual resources, conceptualized as a subcategory of personal resources, are identified as a salient resource for clergy, and their longitudinal influence on the occupational well-being of clergy (n = 399) is examined in three waves of data collection over an 18-month period. Results supported the antecedent role of spiritual resources in relation to well-being at work. Spiritual resources positively predicted future work engagement, which in turn predicted reduced turnover intention. The negative indirect effect of spiritual resources on turnover intention was fully mediated by work engagement. The findings support the need to identify relevant resources for specific work cohorts. For clergy, spiritual resources are important for motivation and vocational longevity, suggesting the need for spiritual interventions among this at-risk and under-researched population.     

John Bridges's Tools of Persuasion: Prescription,Dispensation, and Early Christianity in A Defence of the Government Established(1587)

Abstract

Prayer was central to the worship and everyday life of both clergy and laity in late medieval England. This paper explores how far domestic prayer changed in the early modern period. After a brief historiographical and methodological survey, it is suggested that in the period 1540-1640, Protestant clergy were anxious for the laity to acquire the ‘gift’ of composing their own prayers for use in family worship and closet, though they did countenance the use of suitably Protestant set forms as a temporary ‘crutch.’ However, many parishioners apparently preferred to persist with prepared forms, some composed by clergy, others by lay authors with rather different emphases to their pastors. The radicalism of many who ‘prayed with the Spirit’ in the 1640s and 1650s produced some caution among moderate clergy on the wisdom of encouraging parishioners to ‘conceive’ their own prayers. This was one reason why the period 1660-1720 witnessed an Indian summer of publication of set forms by both clergy and laity.     

African American Pastors on Mental Health,Coping, and Help Seeking

Within the Black Church, there remains much that is unknown about pastoral motivations, beliefs, and attitudes about mental health. The purpose of this study was to investigate pastors' responses to parishioners dealing with mental health issues, including perspectives on counseling services and coping strategies. According to this study's findings, African American pastors often are the first line of support for parishioners' mental health and recognizing adaptive and maladaptive forms of coping.     

Interpersonal, Intragroup Conflict between Southern Baptist Pastors: A Qualitative Inquiry Examining Contributing Factors

This ethnographic examination examines interpersonal, intragroup conflict between Southern Baptist pastors in the USA with a focus on the factors that contribute to such conflict. First, literature is provided to demonstrate the history of the denomination, reasons for relational intragroup conflict between pastors working together in the same churches, and information on the prevalence and instances of interpersonal conflict. Second, this study employs qualitative research methods, namely in-depth interviewing and participant observation. Through engaging in interviews with the participants, statements were elicited from six Southern Baptist pastors (Pastors #1, #2, and #3, and Outside Baptist Pastors #1, #2, and #3) on the nature, reasons, and prevalence of such conflict between Southern Baptist pastoral leaders. As the sources of such conflict are diverse (i.e., historical events, spiritual reasons, organizational conflict, interpersonal differences, etc.), I argue that qualitatively analyzing and reporting on this subject is of value to scholars of ethnographic research and interpersonal communication in the religious and spiritual realms. Furthermore, since the consequences of conflict can be severe (i.e., forced pastoral terminations, damaged churches, failed spiritual missions, etc.), this study is important as it examines matters that give rise to conflicts. Finally, areas for future research are addressed.     

Involved,Loyal, Alienated,and Detached. The Commitment of Pastors

This article deals with the commitment of pastors to their profession. An empirical inquiry among Roman Catholic and Protestant pastors reveals that two types of commitment play an important role in the pastoral profession: affective commitment and cost commitment. Affective commitment concerns positive emotional ties with the pastoral profession. Cost commitment refers to the problems that pastors expect to encounter were they to quit their profession. Both forms of commitment are connected to the pastors' religious orientation and their job satisfaction. The conclusion discusses the influence of commitment to the pastoral profession on staying on as pastor. It also reviews the effects of commitment on the pastors' dedication to their jobs and their general well-being.     

The hazards of high callings

Summary To conclude, it is the concern of this paper that a minister have enough sources of satisfaction and security in his nonprofessional life so that he is not tempted to use his parishioners for the attaining of those needs. The pastor must be free of the need to use his parishioners, else he is working, not primarily for the parishioners' well-being, but rather for his own needs for success. He must notneed to see people converted, nor counseled successfully, nor saved from divorce. This would be only using these parishioners as a means by which the pastor proves his abilities. To guard against this danger, in a work so important as the ministry, is a difficult task. But it can be done when the pastor works at having a successful and satisfying private life. Such a private life pays dividends in the mental health of the pastor, and in parish work which is well done.     

Spiritual care in the last phase of life: a comparison between the Church of Sweden and the Church of Finland

This article deals with the Church of Sweden and the Church of Finland and their spiritual support for parishioners during their end-of-life phase. Support for the dying seemed uncommon in both countries, while most parishes offered support for the bereaved. The Finnish respondents expressed more confidence in their spiritual role than did the Swedes. This may have to do with the role of the churches in their respective countries and the varying geographies of death.     

Buddhist Teen Worldview: Some Normative Background for Health Professionals

Although there are dangers in essentializing religious practice, to be able to typify the worldviews of healthy Buddhists becomes advantageous when health professionals need to recognize atypical worldviews that are potentially pathological. The paper is an anthology of potentially ambiguous claims expressed by healthy Buddhist teenagers during UK research including outlook on karma, rebirth, meditation, mindfulness, contact with spirit presences, renunciation, spiritual teachers and superstition. The testimony helps clarify diagnosis of identity, well-being and conformity issues, social withdrawal, anxiety and psychotic disorders in Buddhist teens while offering advice on management of ADHD, OCD, substance abuse and depression. While offering normalized background against which health professionals can evaluate spiritual well-being of young Buddhists the paper offers advice for how treatment can be made more culturally sensitive for Buddhists.