Paschal B. Baute, 0.5.8.
A Report on Pastoral Counselor Training
Results of a survey and an evaluation of courses m pastoral counseling at Loyola University
Questions and problems raised by priest-students in th" pastoral psychology workshop at Catholic University ( 1961) and in the counseling and psychology courses at Loyola Uni¡ versity of Chicago (1961-1963), both in class and in many informal discussions, gave rise to research by the writer in¡ vestigating the effectiveness of the training program. Certainly the professors were well-trained and competent, but the feeling not infrequently was that they were not realistic in view of parish exigencies. The writer has sought to discover the I¡elevancy of this training to pastoral life; how helpful, adequate, or practical was the training? Research was designed to begin at the empirical level, in terms of the priest-trainees' actual experience in the parishes. The investigation of the training in pastoral counseling was found to be the first of its kind in either Catholic or Protestant programs. The instrument used was the mail questionnaire, 181