The minister as pastor and person

The image of the clown as developed by Faber to illustrate the role of the hospital chaplain as a deepening and unifying force in that setting is utilized to elucidate the role and needs of ministers as they function as significant professionals in the community. As such, they are both pastors and persons. As pastors, they are also symbols to others representing a reality larger than merely their own personhood. Nevertheless, for the most effective work, the development of the person as person is a prerequisite. Their increasing competence can be secured only through the supervision of their pastoral work by another highly trained, skilled and sensitive practitioner.     

Pastoral considerations on abortion and sterilization

Concerns over sterlization and abortion typify our current moral dilemma. These matters begin as individual problems but rapidly expand to become pressing social concerns. The ethical, psychological, and physical factors related to sterilization in men and women are examined and a careful scrutiny of the meaning of the decision to the parties is advised. Abortion is an even more complex issue. The counselor's value system is always a part of the counseling process. Rigidity is not helpful in attempts to adjudicate conflicting rights among the child, the mother, and the father. Four alternative approaches to counseling with persons considering abortion are described.     

Overdosing on Organization Development: Toward criticalness in pastoral administration

The Organization Development movement is a positive and potentially fruitful influence that is being felt in the area of church administration. However, there may be problems involved in transferring the techniques of the movement directly and uncritically into congregational administration. Alluding to research which suggests that the matrix of congregational administration may be radically different from the matrix in which Organization Development was designed, the author pleads for criticalness in the appropriation of Organization Development techniques by pastors. He further suggests that pastoral administrative behavior in service to goals and values that are shared by both the Organization Development movement and the clergy may at times resemble behavior in service to exactly the opposite values.     

Pastoral communication with the confused

Three basic kinds of strategies can aid the pastor in communicting with a confused person: (1) focusing the person's attention, (2) fostering orientation to time, place, and person, (3) finding meaning in the person's experience. Despite the logical incongruities in the communications of a confused person, on a feeling level there is a basis of reality. To persist in the effort to communicate is to care on the deepest level.     

Understanding senile “confusion”: Sources and stages

A psychological phenomenon frequently encountered in pastoral care is senile “confusion.” Disorientation can result from sensory deprivation, sociocultural stress, or organic processes. The major cause of confusion among the elderly is dementia resulting from primary neuronal degeneration. Social, psychological, and pastoral support may reduce the degree of confusion or retard its progress toward advanced stages.     

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.     

The role of head-centric spatial reference with a static and kinetic visual disturbance

A static or kinetic visual disturbance affects subjects’ ability to estimate the direction of the gravitational vertical. This kind of error is increased by a head roll inclination. In two experiments, we combined head orientation with a static (Experiment 1: tilted frame) versus kinetic (Experiment 2: rotating disk) visual disturbance. The results showed that with a static visual disturbance, the increase of errors in the inclined head condition was mainly the consequence of a postural head effect like an Aubert effect. On the contrary, with a kinetic visual disturbance, it appears that the disk effect increases with head inclination. However, individual errors observed with the head inclined in front of a stationary disk were systematically correlated with the errors triggered by the same head inclination in front of a rotating disk. These observations confirm that the head axis spatial reference plays an important role in orientation perception, whatever the head position and the kind of visual display.     

By the Waters of Babylon: The experience of having a Down's syndrome child

The self-esteem of a parent is dealt a terrible blow by the birth of a mentally retarded child. The dreams for self, which are woven into the dreams for the child, are shattered by the reality of the mental handicap. Therefore, the values, goals, and assumptions which previously held the fabric of life together may now be thrown into question. It is a time of emotional upheaval. It is a time of grief. It is a time of isolation and loneliness. This article is an interior view of the author's own experience of having a Down's syndrome child, as he struggled with the issues of grief, rejection and faith.This article was written as an autobiographical chapter in a graduate research project submitted for the Th.M. program in Pastoral Care and Counseling at Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia. The project dealt with the experience of having a mentally retarded child, in which fifteen parents of Down's syndrome children were interviewed and questioned. Since the completion of that program the author has moved to Chattanooga, Tenn., where he serves as pastor of Forrest Avenue United Methodist Church. All inquiries should be addressed to The Rev. James L. Philpott, 2531 Avalon Circle, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37415.