Pastoral Care and Counselling

This paper looks at the journey of eleven counsellors in marital counselling centres in French-speaking Belgium, from the creation of the centres in 1953, to the 1970s, when contraception became legal, and abortion became a public issue. At the time of Humanae Vitae, groups of volunteers, working within Catholic organisations where counselling took place, began to structure their activity around Carl Rogers’s ethics of client-centred therapy, placing their religious ideology in a secondary position to focus on the problems experienced by the couples and women they were receiving in the centres. These were often challenges they were experiencing themselves in their own lives. The reiteration of the Catholic orthodox view on contraception through Humanae Vitae marked a gap between the counsellors and the Church. This contribution questions the identity-related tension of Catholics working in conjugal counselling centres and the type of commitments they made to both the conjugal centre...

The intention of this paper is to interpret the ontological conditions of youth identity crisis missionally. This is first done by conceptualising identity crisis as a psychological phenomenon using frameworks of authenticity and attachment to explain the impact of early attachment abuse, abandonment depression, insecure attachment anxiety with God, and self-regulation on the identity formation of the youth. Secondly, the paper introduces a missional hermeneutic that provides an interpretative framework for coping with the crises of identity amongst young people. A missional hermeneutic of care for coping with the crisis of identity formation, therefore, elaborates on the missional basis of biblical interpretation as a powerful framework within which to interpret a skewed, conflicted identity. The author herewith proposes a missional opportunity that can activate the missional consciousness of young people in their time of crisis and identity formation. Furthermore, the author insists that this missional methodology can be a very useful strategy for producing therapeutic change in young people and can help youth ministry workers and pastoral caregivers to reframe the crisis of youth identity from the perspective of 'missio Dei'.

This essay explores the self-reflexivity and particularity of an individual army chaplain in providing spiritual care with a soldier experiencing the effects of moral injury. With attention paid to pastoral identity and pastoral authority, the goal is to name how the embodied locations that are implicit in providing spiritual care are important for a chaplain’s own self-reflexivity. It is not enough to say that the chaplain is an officer, for example, but to name how this impacts the counseling relationship. Since chaplains do not exist in a vacuum, why are denominational resources essential in providing care? Through the use of case study, I argue how an army chaplain is critical in rebuilding moral identity

Social changes in the contemporary era have directly influenced human life and existence, especially the meaning of marriage. In light of these contemporary developments, researchers have emphasized the urgent need to deconstruct marriage and re-constitute it, fundamentally altering its traditional characteristics and meaning in the process. Conversely, the Orthodox Church views the essence of marriage with an interminable consistency and continuity characterized by the mysterion of love in Christ. Is it viable to live the meaning of this mysterion in today’s postmodern era? To examine this issue, this study initiates an interdisciplinary dialogue between postmodern perspectives on marriage and family on the one hand, and the vision of Orthodox theology on the other. This new and unexplored dialogue endeavors to contribute to the positive engagement of the Orthodox Church with the postmodern world.

This study is an endeavour on the cutting edge of the field of practical theology. It engages in a pastoral assessment of contemporary men and masculinities in their manifold representations and embodiments. An in-depth assessment of current schemata of interpretation (on the issue of masculinity), is done within different cultural contexts, aiming to hermeneutically put this into dialogue with a pastoral-anthropological view on masculinity. This dialogue is initiated in order to gain deeper insight into diverse masculinities and the challenges they face in their search for meaning, intimacy and vitality. The point of the dialogue here is rather to describe than to prescribe.
The dissertation analyses ‘masculinities as experienced and enacted’ in life and ‘masculinities as represented’ in the mass media as well as in other forms of pop culture, through a multidisciplinary perspective. It is further aimed at the contextual, theological deconstruction of these cultural representations and the establishment and furthering of meaningful connections between male identity, human dignity and Christian spirituality. The focus in contemporary (sociological and psychological) research on masculinity is on enactment of masculinities or ‘doing’ masculinities rather than ‘being’ masculine. The dominant cultural images of masculinity within a globalising life-order suggest and promote materialistic values such as efficiency, performance, mechanisation and functionality. These images are assessed and the interplay between it (the cultural images) and conceptualisations of God (God-images) are explored.
This study asserts that men’s identity, self-understanding and spirituality is shaped in many ways by these images, but that the image of the crucified and risen Christ can indeed serve as a meaningful and normative-critical counter-image to the macho-images portrayed by most postmodern masculinities (which many men presently experience as confusing). This counter-image of Christ can transcend the abuse of power, the focus on performance and the commodification of male embodiment, in men’s lives, as they engage in a spirituality of vulnerable courage. A pastoral-anthropological perspective is employed in order to shift the emphasis on male identity in terms of gender and sexuality, towards a spiritual understanding of male identity in terms of human dignity and human destiny (i.e. the quest for meaning). The important question of the relationship between power, masculinity and male embodiment is addressed. Essentialist ideas about masculinity are deconstructed, and a re-interpretation thereof is introduced within a view of reality that affirms and embraces an earth-centred and embodied spirituality. Masculinity and male identity is in that sense “saved” from a commercial reduction by means of an eschatological and pneumatological perspective. This theological re-interpretation of masculinity presents a critical factor on the cultural notion that manhood is something that must be validated by means of performance (especially on the terrain of sexuality).
Masculinity, viewed from an eschatological perspective, is thus more than virility that has to be manifested by doing functions. The culturally-determined understanding of masculinity - in terms of brutal power and control – is in this sense ‘emasculated’ in this study. In the light of Christ’s resurrection, there is new hope for the re-interpretation of masculinity. The postmodern man’s resurrection is therefore not guaranteed by the “Viagra-magic blue pill”, but in actual fact by the resurrection of Christ who daily unleashes and affirms new meaningful dimensions of hope in the globalised life-matrix.
The power of masculinity thus lies in embodying vulnerability and mutual relationality, contesting unilateral and hierarchical relations. Within this context manhood is not equal to the size of achievement or success, nor performances or powerful penetration, but it rather denotes the capacity for lovingly hospitable relationships and the measure of the soul’s depth of character, i.e. its capacity to embody and affirm the courage to be.

One of the most powerful tools available to pastors in
ministry, is the simple act of visiting families in the neighbourhood.
The spiritual blessings resulting from such visits, are numerous.
Family feud is settled, intractable problems between neighbours are
resolved and home fellowship is encouraged. Truly, the pastor cannot
fully understand the living conditions of his members if he does not
visit.Although seminary training always equips pastors with a variety
of tools, such as biblical languages, homiletics, church planting and
church management. However, one area that pastors are ill equipped
is the area of pastoral care. This ministry offers the cleric an
opportunity to reach the neighbourhood and minister to families in a
special way. The application of the African ubuntu philosophy not
only makes it easier for the minister to do visitations but also
communicates the high value that the cleric ascribes to his members.
This paper, using secondary sources, highlights the importance of
pastoral visitation, as a means of nurturing members' family
relationships.

Both the emotion of gratitude and the expression of gratitude produce benefits for the person who is thankful and the person being thanked. This study explores the degree to which various forms of gratitude expression are appreciated by those being thanked. In a survey-based study (N = 361), costly, private expressions of gratitude were more appreciated by people being thanked than less costly, public expressions. Higher levels of the HEXACO personality traits of Conscientiousness and Emotionality increased the degree to which people appreciated being thanked. Lower Honesty-Humility (e.g., narcissism) predicted a greater appreciation of receiving public expressions of gratitude while higher Honesty-Humility predicted a greater appreciation of receiving private expressions of gratitude. This information can be used by Christian leaders to help equip others for ministry.

Despite an interactional analysis being able to offer valuable insight into the institutional workings of pastoral care practice, pastoral care delivery remains largely unstudied. This paper will contribute new knowledge to the field of counselling and education by offering an interactional analysis of one-to-one pastoral care provision within a primary school. Much pastoral care practice is informed by theory, often accompanied by guidelines about how to deliver pastoral care activities effectively. The pastoral carer needs to convert these guidelines into talk in order to deliver the intervention as an interactional encounter. However useful these guidelines are, they cannot show what the actual delivery of those pastoral care activities might look like in real life. Using conversation analysis, we examine video recordings of pastoral care delivery to reveal the ways in which a pastoral carer supports a child’s behaviour, social and emotional well-being. The significance of the findings is that those who provide pastoral care can see in close detail what delivery might look like as a real-life encounter, imparting valuable knowledge that can then be applied alongside theory and guidelines to enhance professional practice. Of further significance is that the findings can also show how an interactional analysis of pastoral care work can be used to demonstrate social and emotional learning and that the work being done effectively supports children.

This link should allow you to download the article for free (the first 50 people):
http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/yxWnRp244xSzgj3G9bWx/full

Review of John R. Mabry, ed. Spiritual Guidance across Religions: A Sourcebook for Spiritual Directors and Other Professionals Providing Counsel to People of Differing Faith Traditions, (Woodstock, Vermont: SkyLight Paths Publishing, 2014). In Calvin Theological Journal 52, no. 1 (April 2017): 126-28.

El presente documento, tiene el objetivo de mostrar
una breve caracterización sobre los itinerantes de Latinoamérica
y El Caribe, en los cuales comprenden las poblaciones de nómadas y semi nómadas como los gitanos, transportadores terrestres, recicladores y circenses . En el capítulo inicial, se considera
la importancia en definir la palabra “itinerante” y por
medio de un paralelo demostrar etimológica y conceptualmente
que “migrante” difiere al término “itinerante”.
Enseguida se identifica cada una de las categorías que
componen esta pastoral y se relacionan breves aspectos
estadísticos y sociales que pueden ayudar en la iniciación o seguimiento pastoral hacia las poblaciones que comprende este estudio preliminar.

Aan de hand van de analyse van de verhalen van een patiënte, haar dochter en de fysiotherapeut verheldert de auteur het belang van een nauwgezet onderzoek van de persoonlijke betekenissen die de betrokkenen hechten aan een aandoening, aan gezondheid en aan een mogelijke behandeling. Dit nauwgezette onderzoek legt de nagestreefde waarden van de betrokkenen bloot en hun onderlinge samenhang (of gebrek daaraan). Juist de geestelijk verzorger kan een belangrijke rol spelen bij de verheldering van deze persoonlijke betekenissen.

Lakatos's (1978) philosophy of science is used as a guide for resolving published authors' differences of opinion about interpersonal forgiveness. We first review the ancient writings and current philosophical works regarding interpersonal forgiveness. With these ideas as a foundation we then critique six published papers on forgiveness, all of which have counseling implications. It is suggested that the works are not yet grounded in the foundational writings on forgiveness. The works, thus, may need some refinement in the area of definition, or proposed consequences for a forgiver, or in the processes used to bring about forgiveness in clients. A process model of interpersonal forgiveness then is described. Implications for the use of interpersonal forgiveness within counseling are drawn.

Eine " Kirchenbank auf Reisen " 1 – so etwas hat es in den letzten Jahren in Deutschland an mehreren Orten gegeben: Gemeinden oder pastorale Institutionen lassen eine Kirchenbank durch ihre Stadt oder ihre Dörfer reisen, stellen sie in den öffentlichen Raum, in die Fußgängerzone oder auf den Bahnhofsvorplatz. Meistens verbunden mit dem Angebot, sich auf die Bank zu setzen und das Gespräch zu suchen. Die Kirchenbank als Symbol einer Welt, die normalerweise hinter den Kirchentüren versteckt ist, weihrauchgeschwängert und weltabgewandt, jetzt an einem Ort, an dem man nicht mit ihr rechnet: Verfremdungseffekt und Werbegag, gleichzeitig Info-Stand, Gesprächsangebot und das Signal: Wir gehen aus uns raus, wir sind gar nicht so weltfremd, wie es manchmal aussieht. Die Kirche gehört in den öffentlichen Raum. Nicht alle Menschen werden sich von der Kirchenbank auf Reisen angesprochen fühlen, aus biografischen, ästhetischen oder aus anderen Gründen. Sie scheint mir dennoch ein mögliches Symbol dafür zu sein, wie die Kirche auf die Straße gehen kann, aus sich heraus, mit dem Mut zur Verfremdung und zur Begegnung. Je nachdem, wo diese Bank zu stehen kommt, kann sie auch ein Beispiel für " Sozialpastoral als Selbstverwirklichung der Kirche " sein, wie ich sie heute vorstellen möchte: Als eine Kirche, die aus sich herausgeht. Nach einer ersten Vergewisserung, vor allem anhand aktueller Texte von Papst Franziskus, möchte ich ein biblisches und drei aktuelle Beispiele vorstellen, in denen es auf die Straße geht – in sehr unterschiedlicher Weise. Zuletzt werde ich diese verschiedenen Aspekte systematisch zusammenfassen, um zu zeigen, dass Sozialpastoral kein Sonderfall der Pastoral und kein zusätzliches Arbeitsfeld in der Kirche ist, sondern das Grundprojekt ihrer Selbstverwirklichung.

Although Health Chaplaincy services are well-established in hospitals in the United Kingdom and across the world, Primary Care Chaplaincy is still in its infancy and much less extensively developed. This study explored the impact the introduction of a Primary Care “Chaplains for Wellbeing” service had upon patients’ experience and perceived health and well-being. Sixteen patients participated in one-one interviews. Transcripts were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Patients reported circumstances that had eroded perceived self- efficacy, self-identity, and security manifesting as existential displacement; summarized under the superordinate theme of “loss.” “Loss” originated from a number of sources and was expressed as the loss of hope, self-confidence, self-efficacy, and sense of purpose and meaning. Chaplains used a wide range of strategies enabling patients to rebuild self-confidence and self- esteem. Person-centered, dignified, and responsive care of...

 Porque siempre tiene que estar presente, aún en las expresiones más especializadas de la pastoral. "Los planes de pastoral orgánica, a cualquier nivel, no deben prescindir nunca de tomar en consideración la pastoral de la familia" (FC 70).

[AMAZON LINK BELOW TO BOOK ITSELF -- TOC and book intro in downloadable .pdf] 

"It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it." --John Steinbeck Scientific research confirms what people have always known: answers, ideas, and inspiration do come to us in dreams. Harvard psychologist and world-renowned dream specialist Deirdre Barrett, Ph.D., offers this rich collection of examples of how the world's most creative practitioners in art, music, film, science, literature and other fields have used the revelations of their dream life to inform their work. Dr. Barrett offers insights showing us how to encourage lucid, meaningful dreaming, and how to apply the meanings of our dreams to solving problems--from the everyday to the extraordinary. This is the stuff dreams are made of. In the visual arts, Jasper Johns couldn't find his unique artistic vision until he dreamed it in the form of a large American flag. Salvador Dali and his colleagues built the startling new genre of surrealism out of dreams. Kubla Kahn dreamed the design for his stately pleasure dome; thousands of years later, Lucy Davis, chief architect at a major firm, continues the tradition of dreaming designs into life in her extraordinary buildings. Film is a fertile avenue for dreams: "Twice I have transferred dreams to film exactly as I had dreamed them," confides director Ingmar Bergman, as have Federico Fellini, Orson Welles, Akira Kurosawa, Robert Altman, and John Sayles. From Mary Shelley's terrible nightmare, which became Frankenstein, to Stephen King's haunting dream as a little boy, which led to his first bestseller, countless writers have consulted the Committee. Musicians from Beethoven to Billy Joel and Paul McCartney have whistled the Committee's tunes. In science, physiologist Otto Loewi dreamed the medical experiment that earned him the Nobel Prize. In sports, Marion Jones dreamed she'd broken a world record, then brought the dream to life. Gandhi translated his dream of resistance into a movement that changed the world. Since Freud, we take it for granted that our dreams reflect our past. In The Committee of Sleep, Barrett reveals how dreams can also tell us about our future potential--and how to reach it.

On the surface, assertiveness appears to contradict Christian ideals of self-sacrifice and concern for the interest of others  (Phil 2). Yet rightly conceived, assertiveness is part of the image of God, as an expression of personhood and God-given voice. In this article, biblical texts and a pastoral care insight from Gregory the Great is  brought into brief dialogue with Ivan Nagy's contextual therapy for a fresh look at assertiveness.

Aucun livre n’a été un sujet de conversation, de controverse, de respect et de persécution comme la Bible. Beaucoup ont sacrifié leur vie pour elle. D’autres ont consacré le leur à son service et à sa conservation. Nous ne trouverons jamais un autre livre comme la Bible, ni avec une histoire semblable. Des réformes énormes ont été alimentées par la Bible, des empires sont tombés, et malheureusement de fausses interprétations ont été faites à la demande, cédant à l’abus, créant de fausses théologies comme la théologie de la libération, la théologie féministe, le capitalisme, même le marxisme était enraciné en quelque sorte dans Bible.

The Old Testament book of Job has often been referred to or (mis)quoted in Christian counselling. The picture of Job the unfortunate victim being patiently assessed and taken apart by his three friends is an image that continues to linger in our minds when we think about the counselling process. The supposedly cathartic course of action taken by the three friends is frowned upon because of their failure to diagnose and consequently bring healing to their patient. Before we brush aside the 'failure' of the three friends, we should re-look the book of Job and see what we can learn about the dynamics and practice of Christian counselling.

“As we know, well-led groups provide many member benefits: feelings of universality, a sense of hope, altruism, acquisition of knowledge and skills, and mutual support...This text is affordable, easy to use, and very suitable for providing group work material in BSW or MSW practice courses.”

— Greg Tully, West Chester University



AN EXPERIENTIAL APPROACH TO GROUP WORK
Second Edition

Rich Furman, University of Washington, Tacoma
Kimberly Bender, University of Denver
Diana Rowan, University of North Carolina, Charlotte

An Experiential Approach to Group Work is not your typical group work text! Using dozens of exercises that build practice-tested skills, the authors' approach is in perfect step with CSWE's competence-based education requirements. The book is organized into three sections—the first addresses stages of group practice, the second looks at major types of groups, and the final section looks at examples of group work practice with special populations.

Features of the Second Edition

    Expanded! Discussion of the theory of group process and dynamics
    New! Content regarding Canadian, British, and Australian group work practices
    New! Chapters on anti-oppressive practice, group work with immigrants, and macro-practice group work
    New! Content on the use and development of technology to aid group work
    Contains customized exercises for each group work topic, designed to build the student and practitioner’s skills for use in group work sessions
    Special emphasis on how to bring individual sessions or groups to closure
    Provides examples of group work in specialized settings: conflict resolution groups within elementary schools, pregnant teens, Latinos, and HIV/AIDS clients

Faith community nursing and health ministry programs in congregations have increasingly been recognized as having a significant impact on the health and well-being of individuals. Based on a case study in Omaha, Nebraska, Transforming Lives: Health Initiatives in Faith Communities documents how nurses and health ministers touch and transform the recipients of their services and the participants in activities they organize. Alexander Rödlach argues that much of their success is due to their ability to collaborate with leadership in congregations and health systems. These programs have the potential to become significant partners with health systems and governments in providing health services to communities.

Pope Francis' post-synodal exhortation AMORIS LAETITIA is the latest teaching of the Catholic Church on marriage and family life. Fruit of a widespread consultation involving the people of God in the synodal process, AMORIS LAETITIA calls for renewed pastoral care of today's baptized families, by listening to, and accompanying them, and by discerning with them the different ways God's gift of intimacy in marriage can be lived.

This chapter reports on a year-long action research project aimed at developing an ‘ethic of care’ (Noddings 1984) in a single classroom during ‘tutor time’ in an English independent middle school. It explores the longstanding commitment to give children an emotionally, socially, intellectually and spiritually broad education – and recent challenges to its realisation – in English schools. Two broad strands of theory in educational dialogue are distinguished: between a focus on pedagogy, a means to an end of improving learning; and a focus on building ethical relationships with others and the world, considered an end in itself. The latter strand is presented as supporting and deepening Noddings’ theory of ethics and moral education. This combined theory formed the basis and aim of the teacher/researcher’s practice: to build a culture of openness and mutual support in which students could address present and future challenges through dialogue. Illustrative examples from student dialogues show a range of both pedagogically and relationally dialogic moves, which create a space of openness, vulnerability and mutual support in which emotionally risky topics can be discussed safely and valuably.

True humanness reaches its fulfillment in Christ. It is faith that enables one to appreciate fully that gift of humanness, its value and its meaning, as well as to realize the marital-familial vocation. Testimony given to Christ in the Christian family takes on a more visible form as it harmonizes with the mature testimony of humanness. An important role of testimony in the family expresses itself in the objectives of this testimony. The testimony of humanness expresses itself in the task of building a community of persons and lasting marriage, respect towards persons and the human body, and commitment to maturing love and the realization of parenthood. Testimony of faith is connected with the task of professing God’s Word, realization of one’s baptismal priesthood, love and apostolate. Sacramental grace and prayer enable spouses and other family members to fully
discover and realize these tasks.

This publication is a collection of essential tools for practical ministry in jails and prisons. It includes scores of Christian ministries and other faith-based organizations that offer free Bibles, books, literature, and other important resources for correctional chaplains.

What are the key factors in successful aging? Dr.
Vaillant, a noted psychiatrist, researcher, and director
of the Harvard Study of Adult Development,
provides a lucid summary of the findings from the
longest longitudinal study of adult development.
He offers readers a comprehensive look at a wide
range of data in the context of developmental theories.
He supports the quantitative findings with
salient participant examples that enhance his conclusions
and make the work highly readable.

Hengeveld voor de kansel in de Fortkerk. De Fortkerk op het Fortplein, waar Hengeveld in 2002 en 2010 tijdelijk dominee is. FOTO'S MARGO GROENEWOUD Een kokosplantage op Cacnipa Island in de Filipijnen waar Hengeveld in de zestiger jaren in de 'middle of nowhere' een Nederlandse katholieke missionaris tegenkwam die zijn leven sterk beïnvloedde. San Francisco, de 'hippiewijk' waar Hengeveld verbleef. Een medewerker van Epafras zette deze foto op internet. Het illustreert de omstandigheden waarin de pastoraal gezanten de gevangen in het buitenland bezoeken.