The Bloomsbury Guide to Pastoral Care Extract by Bloomsbury Publishing

DR. DAVID TOREVELL Associate Professor,Theology and Education, Liverpool Hope University, UK

‘This volume is a wide-ranging and engaging reader on pastoral care addressed to scholars and ministers alike.The editors have produced a superb piece of work that is sensitive to context while exploring new emerging territories, as well as shedding a fresh light on age-old quandaries.’ DR ADRIAN-MARIO GELLEL Department of Pastoral Theology, University of Malta

www.bloomsbury.com

Cover design: Jane Tetzlaff Cover photographs: © Ghislaine Howard – ‘The Washing of the Feet’ from the Methodist Modern Art Collection, © TMCP, used with permission.

THE BLOOMSBURY GUIDE TO

‘This is an important and scholarly work drawing from the best practice and up-to-date thinking in Christian pastoral care across both Europe and North America. It deals with pressing issues in an informed and accessible manner and I strongly recommend it.’

In this collection of essays from leading practitioner-scholars, Bernadette Flanagan and Sharon Thornton set out core principles underpinning professional identity and the practice of pastoral care in rapidly changing social settings. Such pastoral challenges as developing compassionate and effective companioning to those who have suffered trauma, torture, catastrophic events, social disintegration, the moral wounds of war and cultural dislocation are treated with insight and deep care. Also explored are the new frontiers of pastoral care in more familiar circumstances such as family, health settings where patients are facing life-challenging medical events, and within multi-cultural communities.

PASTORAL CARE

SHARON THORNTON PhD is Professor of Pastoral Theology Emerita of Andover Newton Theological School. Currently she is teaching courses for Andover Newton and the Graduate Theological Union. Parish ministry and teaching in hospitals, prisons and urban settings inform her passion for pastoral theology. She served as pastor of Christ Church of Chicago, UCC. Her book Broken Yet Beloved (Chalice Press, 2002) addresses contemporary experiences of historical suffering.

The Bloomsbury Guide to Pastoral Care provides a framework for reflection on pastoral care practice and identifies frontier learning from the new and challenging practical contexts which are important in pastoral care research today.

EDITED BY BERNADET TE FLANAGAN & SHARON THORNTON

BERNADETTE FLANAGAN PhD is Director of Research at All Hallows College (Dublin City University). Her publications include The Spirit of the City (Veritas, 1999); in collaboration with Una Agnew/ Greg Heylin, With Wisdom Seeking God: The Academic Study of Spirituality (Peeters, 2008) and in collaboration with Michael O’Sullivan SJ, Spiritual Capital (Ashgate, 2012). She has served on the Governing Board of the international Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality and is a non-resident faculty scholar of the Duke University Center for Spirituality, Religion and Health. She is currently researching ‘women and new monasticisms’.

EDITED BY

B E R NA D E T T E F L A NAG A N & S H A RO N T H O R N TO N

With contributions from Kevin Egan, Michael O’Sullivan SJ, Rita Nakashima Brock and Julia Prinz VDMF, The Bloomsbury Guide to Pastoral Care is an essential reference for the theory and practice of pastoral care.

The Bloomsbury Guide to Pastoral Care Edited by

Bernadette Flanagan and Sharon Thornton

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First published in Great Britain 2014 This collection and editorial material copyright ÂŠ Bernadette Flanagan and Sharon Thornton, 2014 Copyright in individual chapters is held by the contributors The moral right of the author has been asserted No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the Publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Every reasonable effort has been made to trace copyright holders of material reproduced in this book, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the Publishers would be glad to hear from them. A Continuum book Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square London WC1B 3DP www.bloomsbury.com Bloomsbury is a registered trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc Bloomsbury Publishing, London, New Delhi, New York and Sydney A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-4411-2517-0 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NN Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CRO 4YY

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Contents Introduction 1 Bernadette Flanagan

Part 1: European Trends and Themes 1

Pastoral Care Today: Widening the Horizons Kevin Egan

Navigating the Landscape of Exile: Pastoral Care and Asylum Seekers 20 Benny McCabe

Cults, Sects and Mental Health John Butler

Cyberbullying among Adolescent Girls: Issues and Responses James O’Higgins-Norman and Debbie Ging

Just Care: Paul Ricoeur’s Contribution to Journeys of Forgiveness and Reconciliation Maria Duffy

Male Violence Against Women and the Pastoral Response of Jesus Michael O’Sullivan SJ

Nurturing Families: Challenges for Family Ministry Annemie Dillen

Pastoral Care as ‘Translator’ and ‘Interpreter’ in Healthcare Ethics 105 David Smith

Part 2: North American Trends and Themes 9

Trends and Themes in Pastoral Care and Theology: North American Perspectives Sharon G. Thornton and Brita L. Gill-Austern

10 Coming Home Is Hell: Moral Injury After War Rita Nakashima Brock and Gabriella Lettini

119 139

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Contents

11 Mental Health Ministry in the Congregation and the Community Craig Rennebohm

150

12 Pastoral Care of the Ageing Herbert Anderson

161

13 Who Am I? Nepantla, Mestizo and Amphibolous: Care Across Cultures 172 Julia D. E. Prinz 14 Pastoral Care and Assisted Reproductive Technologies Karen Lebacqz

186

15 Pastor in the Aftermath Susan Suchocki Brown

197

16 A Forgiving Enhancement Model of Racial Healing Andrew Sung Park

207

Notes on Contributors

218

Index 221

Figures 13.1 Three major dynamics with which culture influences our care relationships 176 13.2 The cycle of social therapy

181

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Introduction Bernadette Flanagan

Those who are called to provide pastoral care today find themselves sailing on a sea of infinite change. The ninth-century Latin text Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abatis (Voyage of Saint Brendan the Abbot) speaks eloquently of the challenges, exhilaration and struggles of navigating uncharted waters. Some examples of the unique encounters which Brendan and his monastic boat companions had, according in the Navigatio, were mountains in the sea spouting fire, floating mountains of ice, and monsters with horns growing from their mouths. Scholars have identified in these images some of the earliest descriptions of Iceland’s volcanoes, icebergs and walruses. In a similar manner this collection of essays on the practice of Christian pastoral care today is marked by its engagement with frontier issues, some of which – such as cyberbullying and moral injury – have received limited treatment in the literature of pastoral care up to this time. A second aspect of the Navigatio which is evident in this collection of essays is the centrality of narrative knowledge, particularly autoethnographic narrative. Thus, the practitioner’s voice is particularly strong in essays such as Benny McCabe’s discussion of the provision of pastoral care to asylum seekers, and Susan Suchocki Brown’s reflection on being deployed to serve with the Massachusetts Corps of Fire Chaplains in New York in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. As autoethnographic narrative, such contributions privilege the pastoral care practitioner’s insights and create a space where prose and poetry attempt to evoke the imagination of the reader, should he or she be invited into such unexpected landscapes of care provision. In these chapters there is a living sense of building a community of compassionate engagement through the work of preparing a contribution for this handbook – a vision aptly illustrated in the cover image. Finally, the Navigatio reflects on a radical experiment in tangibly reducing the gap between the theory and practice of trust in Divine providence on life’s journey. In the chapters we find a striving to provide care which is more profoundly human, compassionate and respectful. To care with the full heartedness of the foot-washing scene in the Gospel requires each of us to divest ourselves of those layers of protection which insulate us from the mysterious evocation present in another person’s suffering. As in 1

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Wordsworth’s Lines Composed above Tintern Abbey, we intuit in reading these chapters … something far more deeply interfused whose dwelling is in the light of setting suns, and the round ocean and the living air and the blue sky, and in the mind of man. Along the uncharted journey of bringing this collection of essays to completion I have met many inspiring and creative pastoral care scholar-practitioners in the public square and in the academy. I first acknowledge the vision of Robin Baird-Smith of Bloomsbury for this collection, as he is the person who first had the idea. Without his patience and understanding in the face of challenging deadlines, the project may not have come to completion. I would particularly like to thank my colleagues in All Hallows College (Dublin City University) who have been at the forefront of pastoral care graduate training for several decades, especially Drs Kevin Egan and Michael O’Sullivan who have been leaders for the MAs in Leadership & Pastoral Care and Applied Christian Spirituality, respectively. The other contributing authors from Europe – John Butler, Annemie Dillen, Maria Duffy, Debbie Ging, Benny McCabe, James O’Higgins-Norman, David Smith – were unreservedly kind and generous in their collaboration regarding the tedious and fine details of publishing style and format. Similarly Sharon Thornton would like to thank the contributing authors from the United States: Herbert Anderson, Rita Nakashima Brock, Susan Suchocki Brown, Brita L. Gill-Austern, Karen Lebacqz, Gabriella Lettini, Andrew Sung Park, Julia Prinz and Craig Rennebohm. Each of these scholars writes from the heart, mind and soul. They are deeply engaged and involved in the subject matter of their reflections. I am honoured to be their colleague and am grateful that in the midst of their busy schedules and ongoing commitmentsu they were willing to contribute to this volume. They represent some of the best expressions of contemporary pastoral care and theology today. Bernadette Flanagan Dublin

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Part 1

European Trends and Themes

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Pastoral Care Today: Widening the Horizons Kevin Egan

As I review the literature in this field along with my own experience as a pastoral care practitioner I notice that the field is defined by a number of interrelated terms and that the definition of these terms has changed as the horizons of the field have widened. I will begin by reviewing the terminology, as this is a basic to defining the parameters of the discipline and the role, functions and practices of pastoral care.

Terminology The term pastoral care is made up of an adjective and a noun. The adjective pastoral comes from the Latin Pastorem and refers to someone who is a shepherd. It has roots in the Old and New Testaments. It carries resonances of Psalm 23, Ezekiel 34 and John 10. Jesus used the metaphor to refer to the care that God has for each of his flock and the extent to which God will go to rescue the one who is in danger. While the term has a rich theological tradition, it is open to misinterpretation and no longer expresses what is distinctive about this field. The word care has its origins in the Old Gothic word kara. As a noun it referred to a burdened state of mind. As a verb it meant to be troubled about someone. It conveys the idea that to care about someone is to be troubled with regard to that person. Caring is a complex process. It consists in an attitude which gives rise to concrete acts and a unique attachment relationship referred to as a caring relationship. Traditionally, pastoral care is considered to be the type of caring which is an expression of the life of the Christian community or of persons who are representative of that community. It is considered to be an expression of agape or Christian love. It is a term with a history, whose meaning continues to change. William Clebsch and Charles Jackle in their landmark text Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective offer the following definition: â€˜Pastoral care consists of helping acts, done by representative Christian persons, directed towards the healing, sustaining, guiding and reconciling of troubled persons whose troubles arise in the context of ultimate meanings and concerns.â€™1 5

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As we will see in the course of this chapter, this definition of pastoral care would be considered too restrictive as a description of the field we encounter today. The definition names the four traditional functions of pastoral care which no longer reflect the diverse ways pastoral carers function today. Many would find the definition too confining, in the sense of equating pastoral care with the care of individuals without reference to communities. Furthermore, the representative role of the pastoral caregiver is understood very differently today, when the majority of pastoral caregivers are no longer ordained clergy. Finally, there is the assumption that pastoral care is particular to the Christian tradition, whereas the practice of pastoral care extends beyond the confines of that tradition. There is a long history of guidance and care in, for example, the Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim traditions. In the context of theological education, pastoral care exists as a subset of practical-pastoral theology. It can be defined as a form of practical-pastoral theology that attempts to integrate theory and practice for the purpose of supporting believers in the living of their Christian life. I have decided to use the hybrid term practical-pastoral theology rather than attempting to draw a precise distinction between them. Both terms are not exactly synonyms and have different histories.2 The term practical theology is rooted in the German Protestant tradition and essentially involves reflecting theologically on Christian practice. Its approach is by and large inductive. Sometimes it starts with ideas and examines their implications for practice. Alternatively it may explore practice and look at how this might affect ideas and concepts.3 Pastoral theology could be said to be a more restrictive term, understood as ‘a practical theology of care’.4 It reflects on Christian praxis in the context of giving care. One of the key figures in the field, Seward Hiltner, proposed that pastoral theology be considered as a ‘formal branch of theology resulting from the study of Christian shepherding’.5 The term is used in both the Catholic and the Protestant traditions, especially among North American authors and practitioners. Stephen Pattison and James Woodward, having compared both terms, find that, while they have a different emphasis, the definitions overlap and there is much common ground between them. They conclude that it is ‘probably futile to try and separate these areas either definitionally or in practice’.6 One of the distinct characteristics of practical-pastoral theology and its practical manifestations in pastoral care and counselling is its interdisciplinary nature. This is especially true of pastoral care that, since the beginning of the last one hundred years, has been heavily influenced by the discipline of psychology. During the 1960s and 1970s many observers concluded that psychology had taken the place of theology as the dominant discipline and that pastoral theology was in danger of losing its identity.7 While no one will dispute the contribution psychology has made to the effective delivery of 6

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quality pastoral care, many contend that it has narrowed the horizons of the discipline.

Pastoral Care and Pastoral Counselling While pastoral care and pastoral counselling have both drawn on psychology and its related disciplines, pastoral counselling has done so to a greater extent. A related development is that pastoral counselling has itself become more influential in the practice of pastoral care, and has tended to dominate the field.8 I will attempt to map the historical development of these two practices because I consider this essential to understanding the issues that confront the pastoral care field today. Pastoral counselling in the United States developed in the 1950s and 1960s as a specialization of pastoral care. The establishment of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors (AAPC) in 1963 historically institutionalized the difference between pastoral counselling and pastoral care.9 The formation of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) in 1967 further accentuated this difference. It was focused more on institutional chaplaincy and on training. While these developments served to accentuate the difference between pastoral care and pastoral counselling, other developments, for example in Canada, served to keep the two together. In Canada, pastoral care and counselling are two streams under one association, namely The Canadian Council for Supervised Pastoral Education (1965), renamed the Canadian Association for Pastoral Practice and Education (CAPPE) in 1994,10 and more recently The Canadian Association for Spiritual Care (CASC).11 The influence of North American trends on pastoral-practical theology in Britain has been significant.12 The Association for Pastoral Care and Counselling (APCC), founded in 1972, is a division of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). This link with the other professional bodies has lent credibility to the profession of pastoral counselling. A separate organization, The British and Irish Association for Practical Theology (BIAPT), was formed in 1994. There is a good level of cooperation between the different organizations. I attended a joint conference, ‘Forgiveness: Psychological, Spiritual and Theological Perspectives’, in 2007. As pastoral care came into its own, this distinction has become more pronounced. ‘Pastoral counselling has become increasingly separate from pastoral care by its location, identities of practitioners and means of remuneration.’13 While it has contributed to a greater specialization of pastoral care and improved training for practitioners, it is not without its critics. I plan to return to this point later when I will critically reflect on these developments, especially on the professionalization of pastoral care. It is sufficient at this stage to acknowledge the distinction between pastoral care and counselling, 7

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where pastoral care is the more inclusive activity, is less structured and takes place in both formal and informal settings while pastoral counselling is more limited in focus and more structured. Pastoral counselling is considered to be a speciality of pastoral care. The distinction between these different specialities reflects the extent to which the interdisciplinary nature of the care relies on the discipline of theology or psychology. In pastoral counselling the practitioner is heavily reliant on psychology and identifies more with that discipline. Many pastoral carers are uncomfortable with the growing intrusion of counselling into the traditional areas of pastoral care. For example, there seems to be an assumption that one is not qualified to give care to the bereaved unless one is a trained grief counsellor; likewise one should not extend pastoral care to families unless one is a qualified family therapist. Many pastoral carers possess the skills to do short-term and brief counselling with the bereaved and with families. Pastoral carers by nature of their role frequently offer more ready access to such people, especially as a first point of contact.

A Shared Methodology Charles Gerkin was concerned that the evolving field of pastoral care/ pastoral counselling was in danger of losing its theological identity. He welcomed the emphasis given to human experience and the different disciplines used to explore experience. However, he was concerned that the voice of the tradition was being ignored. A number of related questions are at stake here: What weight is to be given to human and theological tradition in the related fields of practical-pastoral theology and pastoral care? How should pastoral counselling be related to pastoral care and pastoral theology?14 In his Widening the Horizons: Pastoral Responses to a Fragmented Society, Gerkin proposed a hermeneutical model for pastoral care. He drew a parallel between the interpretive life of Christians generally and the interpretative task of pastoral care. ‘Pastoral care finds its purpose in the interpretation of ordinary human affairs in ways that give ordinary life coherence because it is seen as enacting a Christian story.’15 In this light the central task of pastoral care is the facilitation of the interpretative process of the people of God.16 As well as being concerned about preserving the integrity of pastoral care, Gerkin shared a related concern with regard to protecting what was distinct about the pastoral role. He acknowledged that this role could be carried out in a wide variety of relational contexts.17 The parish pastor carries out his role for a local community, the hospital chaplain does so in the context of giving care to the sick, and the pastoral counsellor carries out the role by extending care to individuals and families. I first came across Gerkin’s writings while teaching on a Master’s 8

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programme in Leadership and Pastoral Care at All Hallows College, Dublin City University. I was struggling with questions such as: What makes caregiving pastoral? What skills are required for the role of pastoral carer? In Gerkin’s model the carer needs skills in interpreting the human condition, skills in interpreting the Christian tradition and skills in bringing both into dialogue. His definition of pastoral care is indicative of his efforts to unify the field and at the same time to provide a wider horizon. Pastoral care involves not only the care of individuals and families, but also the care of the community itself. Pastoral care also entails the thoughtful reinterpretation of the tradition that shapes Christian identity as that tradition is brought into dialogical relationship with contemporary culture and its impact on the community of Christians as well as individual members.18 While I agree with Gerkin’s emphasis on the interpretive role of the pastoral carer, it is not enough to stop at interpretation. One needs to move forward into practice and ask: What do I (we) need to do here? Barbara McClure speaks of the pastoral carer needing to move from being a listener to stories to becoming a ‘participant’ where the careseeker is empowered to participate in the transformation of the social order.19

Context in Pastoral Care Attention to context has an important part to play in the hermeneutical task proposed by Gerkin. Concern with context is a developing theme in all recent writings in pastoral care. John Patton’s book Pastoral Care in Context: An Introduction to Pastoral Care (1993) describes context as ‘the whole situation, background, or environment relevant to a particular circumstance or event’.20 Bonnie Miller-McLemore expands Anton Boisen’s metaphor of ‘the living human document’ to ‘the living web’ as a focus of pastoral attention to indicate the network of relationships and systems that need to be the focus of care.21 Larry Kent Graham entitled his book Care of Persons, Care of Worlds: A Psychosystems Approach to Pastoral Care and Counseling (1992) to make the point that pastoral care needs to focus not just on the care of persons but on the environments in which they live.22 A similar point is made by Barbara McClure, who refers to the need for pastoral theology, care and counselling ‘to be more attentive to the social order and its effects on those who come for care’.23 The contexts that have received most attention in the writings of pastoral theologians are race, culture, gender and power. Feminist pastoral counsellors bring a feminist perspective to their work. The key insight of such a perspective 9

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is â€˜the belief that our culture, society, and religious communities have been and are still patriarchal, and that this creates ecclesiastical, political, economic and personal oppression of all peopleâ€™.24 When one takes this stance, empowerment and liberation have become the goals of the pastoral care agenda.

The Pastoral Care Relationship Appreciation of the influence of gender, race, culture and power has contributed greatly not only to our understanding of the context of care but to our understanding of the nature of the pastoral care relationship. The therapeutic model of pastoral care contributed significantly to an understanding of the relationship dynamics operative in the caring relationship. Pastoral carers learned to appreciate the impact of transference and countertransference on the caregiver and the careseeker. Today, thanks to the work of pastoral theologians such as James Poling and others, we are alerted to the power imbalance present in the relationship. We are also more aware of the power attached to the pastoral role itself and the danger for those in that role of abusing that power. Today a key ethical question for pastoral carers is: Am I aware of the power attached to my role and how do I use it? In the past, boundaries were viewed with a certain suspicion. Now there is a growing appreciation of their role in protecting the vulnerable, who can be either the one giving care or the one receiving care. The modern understanding of the pastoral relationship is that it is a professional relationship between a person with power and authority and a person who is vulnerable. It is a relationship that can give rise to intense feelings on the part of either. It is a relationship that conveys respect and communicates the love of God.25 I work in a pastoral care training programme, and much of its work is devoted to helping students to understand the nature of the pastoral relationship and to providing them with the knowledge and skills to function effectively in that relationship. Maintaining appropriate boundaries is one of the greatest challenges facing pastoral carers. The ethical dimension of that relationship is receiving much more attention. I have to admit that our increased understanding of the nature of the pastoral care relationship is largely due to our painful awareness of damage caused by unethical behaviour on the part of pastoral caregivers. In the past there was an assumption that, because pastoral workers professed to work from a religious ethos, they adhered to the highest standards of care. This assumption is no longer warranted. The credibility of pastoral caregivers, and the institutions that they belong to, has been seriously damaged by revelations of sexual abuse perpetrated by pastoral carers.26 Acknowledgement of this shadowy

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side of pastoral care means that we can never again do pastoral theology or pastoral care in the way we once did.

The Relationship of Pastoral Caregivers to the Wider Community All definitions of pastoral care make reference to the carer’s relationship with the Christian community where the carer is often referred to as being in a ‘representative’ role. The parameters of this relationship were clear when those practitioners of pastoral care were ordained persons. Today this is not the case, as some of those who identify themselves as pastoral workers may have a very tenuous – if any – relationship with a religious community. Do the terms pastoral counsellor/carer signify an ecclesial connection, and, if so, what is the nature of that connection? Recent research would seem to indicate that pastoral counsellors are themselves deeply ambivalent about the answer. A research project carried out among 85 pastoral counsellors asked whether they considered pastoral to be a function of their relationship with their church. Ordained clergy responded in the affirmative, whereas the non-ordained respondents tended to interpret pastoral as a personal attribute: ‘Pastoral is who I am, not what I do.’ Commenting on this finding, Loren Townsend makes the point that caregiving is ‘not made pastoral because it is an extension of an essential personal quality … One’s sensibility of what is pastoral is insufficient in isolation from a community of practice and interpretation.’27 Some pastoral counsellors would regard their community of practice, for example their professional association, as taking the place of their church community. It seems to me that, going forward, pastoral workers will be looking for their community of support in such bodies rather than in their religious denomination. There are also changes taking place in the nature and composition of professional bodies. One of the identifying marks of a professional body is the provision of structures of accountability. These consist of codes of ethical practice, along with procedures for processing complaints and setting out requirements for professional development. Initially there was a certain reluctance among pastoral groups to set up these procedures and for a long time they were playing catch-up to their secular counterparts. Progress in this area is not uniform. For example, it is a requirement for all pastoral counsellors to avail themselves of supervision for their work. This does not equally apply to parish pastoral workers and chaplains. These developments point to the changing context and culture that surrounds the field of pastoral care. It is reflected in the changing answers given to the following questions: Who are the pastoral carers and how do they enter the field? How do they understand their pastoral identity and how do they identify themselves? What does

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pastoral mean if one is working in a public institution without any ecclesial accountability?28

Towards a Critique of Pastoral Care I have outlined some of the major developments in the related fields of pastoral care and pastoral counselling, It is not surprising that the criticisms of the emerging field address many of these developments. Many of the criticisms centre around the ‘individualization’ of pastoral care. Stephen Pattison speaks of pastoral care as having become trapped in ‘apolitical individualism’.29 This is attributed to a number of factors: 1 The manner in which pastoral counselling has come to dominate the field of pastoral care and the increased ‘professionalization’ of pastoral counselling. This has resulted in a business model of pastoral care and counselling characterized by the fee for service contract. This trend would seem to be less pronounced in Britain than in North America.30 2 The way that psychology has become the dominant partner in the interdisciplinary endeavour. 3 It would seem that Freudian and post-Freudian theories such as objectrelations and self-psychology have been among the main resources used in contemporary pastoral counselling, and these have contributed to a failure to give due attention to the social nature of the self and the social context of suffering.31 4 While many pastoral carers make use of family systems theory to inform their practice of care, it has been less influential than the other theories and has not addressed the structural realities beyond the family that impact on their clients’ lives.32 5 Pastoral carers and counsellors have placed too much reliance on personal insight as the goal of pastoral care, resulting in persons merely adjusting to their oppressive context rather than seeking to transform that context for themselves and others. Insight in itself is not sufficient for sustained and systemic change that is necessary for true human flourishing.33 This critique leads one to ask whether true pastoral care can be delivered through the individualistic theories and practices that been dominant in the field up to now. 6 One of the characteristics of pastoral care is that it is a moral undertaking with its own distinctive values and commitments. These include a belief in the value and potential of the human person, a commitment to address their needs and support them in their suffering, and a belief that in doing this one is reflecting the love of God. In the view of James Poling, pastoral care and counselling function with ‘middle-class, 12

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individualistic values that too often put responsibility for change on the persons who seek care.’34 He points out that the goal of pastoral care is the transformation of persons and communities, but this goal has been largely ignored by pastoral carers as they allowed themselves to become absorbed by the dominant culture and lost touch with their prophetic role. Stephen Pattison sets out this goal in describing pastoral care as ‘that activity undertaken especially by representative Christian persons, directed towards the elimination and relief of sin and sorrow and the presentation of all people perfect in Christ to God (Col. 1: 28).’35 In Pattison’s book Pastoral Care and Liberation Theology he is also critical of the pastoral care field for failure to reflect critically on its own practice. I think his criticism was warranted at the time. In more recent years there has been a serious effort by practitioners in the field to take up that challenge. A notable example is Barbara McClure’s research, which sets out to study the ‘operative theological anthropologies’ which underlie the practice of pastoral counsellors associated with mainline Protestant denominations in the United States. She found that many of the pastoral practitioners surveyed would support the criticisms voiced. However, there continues to be a reluctance on their part ‘to attend to what is beyond the personal’.36 They fear that they will lose sight of the individual if too much attention is given to the social.37 McClure reports an ‘ambivalence’ among them about attending to the social order.38 This is not surprising, since it means abandoning the psychological model that has proved to be effective in the delivery of care and is so dominant in the caring professions.

Widening the Horizons of Pastoral Care As previously indicated, Charles Gerkin in 1986 published a book under the title Widening The Horizons: Pastoral Responses to a Fragmented Society. As I approach the conclusion of this chapter I find myself drawing on Gerkin’s title and asking myself: Is there a role for pastoral care in a fragmented society? I am convinced that there is, but at the same time I have concerns about the pastoral care field’s ability to respond to this challenge. I acknowledge that the field has a greater potential to survive by the nature of its increased diversity.39 On the positive side the field has been greatly enriched by the diversity of new entrants. There is a much greater gender, ethnic and age mix among those entering the field. The interdisciplinary nature of the field has grown, with entrants having a qualification in other disciplines besides theology or psychology. This has been helped by the field moving out of its traditional home in the seminary and attempting to establish a new home in colleges and universities. While there is a notable decline in religious practice, 13

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there is a corresponding rise in those looking to spirituality for meaning and sustenance. The field of pastoral care has been enriched by developments in the field of spirituality, both of which are concerned with practice. While it is true that the study of spirituality has been enhanced by attention to the disciplines of pastoral theology and pastoral care, these disciplines have also been enriched by the study of spirituality.40 Pastoral-practical theology and spirituality are now seen as disciplinary partners.41 In terms of practice, both strive for a similar form of presence which is characterized by a ‘not-knowing’ stance. A recent development is where pastoral workers choose the term ‘spiritual care’ and ‘spiritual care department’ because of the denominational baggage attached to the term pastoral. I choose the designation ‘a spiritual presence on the frontier’ to describe the work of a college chaplain in a publication on third-level chaplaincy in Britain.42 While pastoral care has moved away from the model of an individual ordained clergyperson to a more professional model borrowed from the field of counselling and psychotherapy, it now needs to move beyond that model once again. McClure and others propose a more participatory model of ‘care for the community and its members by the community and its members’. Here the community becomes both the recipient and the giver of care.43 In this model the pastoral carer will not just be a listener to stories and an interpretive guide, but a participant. This will mean engaging in a wide variety of practices involving interpreting, consciousness raising, coaching and advocating. It will involve a greater use of group practices than hitherto. An example would be Judith Orr’s model of pastoral care that makes use of problem-solving groups, consciousness-raising groups and social transformation groups44. This model will lead to pastoral care becoming more involved in theory and practice with issues in public policy and its impact on the lives of careseekers. In Pastoral Care and Counselling: Redefining the Paradigms, Nancy Ramsay describes the shifts that have taken place in the field between 1990 and 2004 and identifies two new paradigms that have emerged. One of these is the Communal Contextual Paradigm which attempts to balance the ecclesial contexts of care to include ‘public, structural, and political dimensions of individual and relational experience’.45 Here the clinical focus shifts to broader public and relational concerns. The second paradigm is called the Intercultural Paradigm and focuses more directly on the place of culture along with racial and religious diversity in care. This model is very applicable in modern Ireland, where pastoral practice needs to engage with a growing religious diversity.46 Pastoral care and counselling at this point in time are attempting to find a new home in the universities. Research by Paul Ballard in 2001 recorded 14

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Pastoral Care Today: Widening the Horizons

50 Master’s-level courses in practical theology in the United Kingdom.47 I have been director of a Master’s programme in Leadership and Pastoral Care at All Hallows College, Dublin City University. One of the benefits of that setting has been the opportunity to move out of the confines of the traditional pastoral care model to incorporate other dimensions of care, such as leadership. I like to refer to leadership as the ‘agential’ side of care. The programme has benefited greatly from the incorporation of this dimension. There are also challenges in moving to a university environment. Pastoral care has now to adjust to the demands and rigours of an academic discipline. It can lay claim to being an academic discipline precisely because it can be academically evaluated and assessed.48 The parameters of the discipline have to be defined and its methods and practices open to scrutiny. Pastoral care has had to explain itself not just to the academic community but to governmental and public bodies who supply funding and to the other professional bodies that make up the wider caring community. Once a discipline moves into a wider environment it has to ask itself new questions: Are there definable outcomes that can be validated when our primary task is dealing with matters of heart and soul?49 Can what we do as pastoral carers be measured? Do I have to use the same research methodology as my healthcare peers? Is research part of one’s calling as a pastoral carer? What language do I use to explain what I do to other professionals?50 These questions are complex and multi-faceted. Pastoral care practitioners and researchers, notably Larry Van De Creek and Leslie Francis, have risen to the challenge posed by these questions because addressing them is critical to the future of pastoral care. In an age of accountability, pastoral care practitioners need to be able to explain what they are about and what they do to the wider community and to those seeking their care. Pastoral care is about repairing relationships and one relationship the pastoral care field needs to repair is that with the wider pastoral-practical theology field. If it neglects this relationship it is in danger of losing its theological identity. The field and practice of pastoral care has changed and necessary theological conversation around the nature and significance of that change has not taken place. Not only is there a danger of pastoral care losing its theological roots but of pastoral carers losing touch with why they do what they do. Theological reflection isn’t just an activity undertaken with clients searching for a meaning in their suffering, it is an essential part of pastoral supervision where the carer reflects theologically on the experience of giving care. While there are numerous challenges facing the field of pastoral care, there is also a promise that by adopting new perspectives and practices the field of pastoral care and counselling can be taken further than where it is now.51 One can look at the different developments that have taken place 15

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The Bloomsbury Guide to Pastoral Care

in the field as a widening of the horizons. I have tried to outline some of the challenges facing the field of pastoral care. My concern isn’t that they won’t be addressed but that they will be addressed in a haphazard fashion. Many of those working in the field are busy in the areas of training, research and the delivery of pastoral care and counselling, and have little time for theorizing and critical reflection. I am concerned that valuable initiatives will falter and come to nothing because of lack of follow-through.52 It is precisely for this reason that I would appeal to the various professional bodies active in the area to ensure that the necessary conversation, study and research continue to take place.

Reflection on Pastoral Care In keeping with the inductive methodology of pastoral care, I invite you to write your own definition of pastoral care based on your experience of doing this work. I encourage you to make your definition as extensive as you can. When you have completed this part of the exercise, take the opportunity to reflect on your definition in the light of the following questions: 1

Which of the traditional functions of pastoral care – healing, sustaining, guiding and reconciling – does you definition focus on/emphasize? 2 How do you describe your ‘representative role’? 3 Does you definition focus on care in a one-to-one context or is there a community dimension? 4 How does your present definition differ from your understanding of pastoral care when you first entered this field? 5 What discipline do you mostly draw on in your practice of pastoral care? Has this changed over the years? 6 What ‘model’ of pastoral care does your definition reflect? 7 Does your definition of pastoral care have room for the practice of critical research? 8 If you were to share this definition and your reflection with others, who would you discuss it with?

Notes 1 W. Clebsch and J. Charles, Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective. 2nd edn (New York: Aronson, 1983), 4. 2 J. Sweeney, G. Simmonds and D. Lonsdale, ‘Introduction’, in Keeping Faith in Practice: Aspects of Catholic Pastoral Theology (London: SCM Press, 2010), 1. 3 S. Pattison and J. Woodward, ‘An Introduction to Pastoral and Practical Theology’, in The Blackwell Reader in Pastoral and Practical Theology (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2000), 13.

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Pastoral Care Today: Widening the Horizons 4 D. Browning, ‘Pastoral Theology in a Pluralistic Age’, in The Blackwell Reader, 89. 5 S. Hiltner, ‘The Meaning and Importance of Pastoral Theology’, in The Blackwell Reader, 28. 6 S. Pattison and J. Woodward, ‘An Introduction to Pastoral and Practical Theology’, in The Blackwell Reader, 6. 7 B. J. McClure, Moving Beyond Individualism in Pastoral Care and Counselling: Reflections on Theory, Theology and Practice. (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2010). 8 Ibid., 24. 9 T. St. James O’Connor, ‘Pastoral Counseling and Pastoral Care: Is There a Difference?, The Journal of Pastoral Care and Counselling, 57/1 (2003), 3–14. 10 Ibid. 11 Online at http://www.spiritualcare.ca/ (accessed 2 July 2013). 12 P. Ballard, ‘The Emergence of Pastoral and Practical Theology in Britain’, in The Blackwell Reader, 66. 13 B. J. McClure, Moving Beyond Individualism, 83. 14 G. Lynch, ‘The Relationship between Pastoral Counseling and Pastoral Theology’, in The Blackwell Reader, 223–32. 15 C. V. Gerkin, Widening the Horizons: Pastoral Responses to a Fragmented Society (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1986), 47. 16 Ibid., 103. 17 Ibid. 18 Ibid., 118. 19 B. J. McClure, Moving Beyond Individualism, 227. 20 J. Patton, Pastoral Care in Context: An Introduction to Pastoral Care (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993), 55. 21 B. Miller-McLemore, ‘Practical Theology and Pedagogy: Embodying Theological Know-How’, in D. Bass and C. Dykstra, (eds), For Life Abundant: Practical Theology, Theological Education, and Christian Ministry (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2008), 179. 22 L. Kent Graham, Care of Persons, Care of Worlds: A Psychosystems Approach to Pastoral Care and Counseling (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1992). 23 B. J. McClure, Moving Beyond Individualism, 80. 24 C. Doehring, ‘Developing Models of Feminist Pastoral Counseling’, The Journal of Pastoral Care, 46/I (1992), 23–31. 25 R. Gula, Just Ministry (New York: Paulist Press, 2010), 129. 26 K. Egan, Remaining a Catholic after the Murphy Report (Dublin: Columba Press, 2011), 26. 27 L. Townsend, Introduction to Pastoral Counseling (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2009), 62. 28 Ibid., 69. 29 S. Pattison, Pastoral Care and Liberation Theology, Cambridge Studies in Ideology and Religion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 208. 30 P. Ballard, ‘The Emergence of Pastoral and Practical Theology in Britain’, 67. 31 B. J. McClure, Moving Beyond Individualism, 157. 32 Ibid., 161. 33 Ibid., 251. 34 J. Poling, ‘Pastoral Care in Time of Global Market Capitalism’, The Journal of Pastoral Care and Counseling, 58/3 (2004): 179–85. 35 S. Pattison, Pastoral Care and Liberation Theology, 13. 36 B. J. McClure, Moving Beyond Individualism, 245. 37 Ibid., 252. 38 Ibid., 106.

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The Bloomsbury Guide to Pastoral Care 39 L. Townsend, Introduction to Pastoral Counseling (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2009). 40 M. McCarthy, ‘Spirituality in a Postmodern Era’, in J. Woodward and S. Pattison, The Blackwell Reader, 204. 41 C. Wolfteich, ‘“Practices of Unsaying”: Michel de Certeau, Spirituality Studies, and Practical Theology’, Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality, 12 (2012)” 161–71. 42 K. Egan, ‘A Spiritual Presence on the Frontier’, in P. McGrail and J. Sullivan (eds), Dancing on the Edge: Chaplaincy, Church and Higher Education (Chelmsford: Matthew James, 2007), 109–24. 43 B. J. McClure, ‘Pastoral Care’, in B. J. Miller-McLemore, The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Practical Theology (Oxford: Blackwell, 2012), 275. 44 J. Orr, ‘Ministry with Working Class Women’, Journal of Pastoral Care, 45/4 (1991): 350. 45 N. J. Ramsay, ed., ‘A Time of Ferment and Redefinition’, in Eadem, Pastoral Care and Counseling: Redefining the Paradigms (Nashville, TN; Abingdon Press, 2004), 1. 46 P. Claffey, ‘Building Bridges: Pastoral Practice in a Changing Culture’, Doctrine and Life 57/5 (2007): 2–12. 47 Z. Bennett, ‘Global Developments – Britain’, in B J. Miller-McLemore, The WileyBlackwel Companionl, 482. 48 S. Pattison, Pastoral Care and Liberation Theology, 251. 49 W. Baugh, ‘Spirituality and Data: The Need for a New Paradigm’, in Larry Van De Creek, ed., Professional Chaplaincy and Clinical Pastoral Education: Should Become More Scientific: Yes and No (Binghampton, NY: Haworth Press, 2002), 11. 50 P. S. Bay, ‘To Be, Or Not To Be More Scientific? That Is the Question: Yes, Absolutely, But …’, Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, 12/19 (2002): 19–27. 51 B. J. McClure, Moving Beyond Individualism, 225. 52 D. McLoughlin and G. Simmonds, ‘Pastoral and Practical Theology in Britain and Ireland: a Catholic Perspective’, in Keeping Faith in Practice, 26–44.

Bibliography and Further Reading Bass, Dorothy and Craig Dykstra (eds), For Life Abundant: Practical Theology, Theological Education, and Christian Ministry (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2008). Clebsch, William and Jaekle Charles, Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective. 2nd edn (New York: Aronson, 1983). Egan, Kevin, Remaining a Catholic after the Murphy Report (Dublin: Columba Press, 2011). Gerkin, Charles V., Widening the Horizons: Pastoral Responses to a Fragmented Society (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1986). Graham, Larry Kent, Care of Persons, Care of Worlds: A Psychosystems Approach to Pastoral Care and Counseling (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1992). Gula, Richard, Just Ministry (New York: Paulist Press, 2010). McClure, Barbara J., Moving Beyond Individualism in Pastoral Care and Counselling: Reflections on Theory, Theology and Practice (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2010). McGrail, Peter and John Sullivan (eds), Dancing on the Edge: Chaplaincy, Church and Higher Education (Chelmsford: Matthew James, 2007). Miller-McLemore, Bonnie J., The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Practical Theology (Oxford: Blackwell, 2012).

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Pastoral Care Today: Widening the Horizons Pattison, Stephen, Pastoral Care and Liberation Theology, Cambridge Studies in Ideology and Religion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994). Pattison, Stephen and James Woodward (eds), The Blackwell Reader in Pastoral and Practical Theology (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2000). Patton, James, Pastoral Care in Context: An Introduction to Pastoral Care (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993). Ramsay, Nancy, J., (ed)., Pastoral Care and Counseling: Redefining the Paradigms (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2004). Sweeney, John, Gemma Simmonds and David Lonsdale, Keeping Faith in Practice: Aspects of Catholic Pastoral Theology (London: SCM Press, 2010). Townsend, Loren, Introduction to Pastoral Counseling (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2009).

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DR. DAVID TOREVELL Associate Professor,Theology and Education, Liverpool Hope University, UK

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Cover design: Jane Tetzlaff Cover photographs: © Ghislaine Howard – ‘The Washing of the Feet’ from the Methodist Modern Art Collection, © TMCP, used with permission.

THE BLOOMSBURY GUIDE TO

PASTORAL CARE

EDITED BY BERNADET TE FLANAGAN & SHARON THORNTON

EDITED BY

B E R NA D E T T E F L A NAG A N & S H A RO N T H O R N TO N

The Bloomsbury Guide to Pastoral Care Extract

Published on Jan 20, 2014

One-stop reference work for clergy, pastoral workers, and all those in caring professions for whom healing and spiritual growth in the midst...

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