Spiritual Dryness and Celibacy in Catholic Priests – Discernment of Ongoing Spiritual Journeys from Relational and Psychosexual Immaturities

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 605-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Baumann ◽  
Eckhard Frick ◽  
Christoph Jacobs ◽  
Arndt Büssing
2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arndt Büssing ◽  
Andreas Günther ◽  
Klaus Baumann ◽  
Eckhard Frick ◽  
Christoph Jacobs

Spirituality/religiosity is recognized as a resource to cope with burdening life events and chronic illness. However, less is known about the consequences of the lack of positive spiritual feelings. Spiritual dryness in clergy has been described as spiritual lethargy, a lack of vibrant spiritual encounter with God, and an absence of spiritual resources, such as spiritual renewal practices. To operationalize experiences of “spiritual dryness” in terms of a specific spiritual crisis, we have developed the “spiritual dryness scale” (SDS). Here, we describe the validation of the instrument which was applied among other standardized questionnaires in a sample of 425 Catholic priests who professionally care for the spiritual sake of others. Feelings of “spiritual dryness” were experienced occasionally by up to 40%, often or even regularly by up to 13%. These experiences can explain 44% of variance in daily spiritual experiences, 30% in depressive symptoms, 22% in perceived stress, 20% in emotional exhaustion, 19% in work engagement, and 21% of variance of ascribed importance of religious activity. The SDS-5 can be used as a specific measure of spiritual crisis with good reliability and validity in further studies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arndt Büssing ◽  
Klaus Baumann ◽  
Christoph Jacobs ◽  
Eckhard Frick

2016 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 1018-1031 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arndt Büssing ◽  
Jochen Sautermeister ◽  
Eckhard Frick ◽  
Klaus Baumann

Author(s):  
James O. Juma ◽  
Danie Du Toit ◽  
Karen Van der Merwe

This study aimed to provide an in-depth description and interpretation of African Roman Catholic Church priests’ experiences integrating African and Western worldviews into their lives and works as Roman Catholic Church priests through the lens of Jungian constructs. Fifteen African priests were purposely selected and interviewed in depth. Additional sources of data were reflexive notes and observation notes. Data were subjected to various iterative cycles of analysis. Most participants (80%) indicated that, in one way or another, they were experiencing conflict in terms of the cultural values of manhood and Roman Catholic Church prescription. Findings suggest that a more concerted and serious effort should be undertaken by the Roman Catholic Church to support and guide its priests on a path of healing, which includes the priests risking cultural openness and being true to themselves and God.


2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (141) ◽  
pp. 16-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
René d’Ambrières ◽  
Éamon Ó Ciosáin

After the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, hundreds of Catholic priests and religious were forced into exile on the Continent, with many seeking refuge in France, Spain and the Spanish Low Countries. For some, refuge was temporary while awaiting political developments and toleration in the home country; for others, it was permanent. The sheer numbers involved – in the hundreds (see below) – mark this as a new phenomenon in the migration of Irish Catholics to France. Although large numbers of Irish soldiers arrived there in the late 1630s and again from 1651 onwards, as Ireland was cleared of regiments connected with the Confederation of Kilkenny, the volume of priests and seminarians migrating to France had hitherto been on a much smaller scale than that of the military.


1989 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 259-277
Author(s):  
Donal A. Kerr

In the spring of 1848 a number of respected English vicars-general, William Bernard Ullathorne of the Western District, John Briggs of the Northern District, and Thomas Brown of Wales decided that one of them, together with Fr Luigi Gentili, the Rosminian missioner, should proceed immediately to Rome. Their object would be to support, by personal intervention with Pius IX, a memorial drawn up by Briggs, signed by twenty Irish and three or four bishops in Great Britain, which was solemnly presented to the Pope by Thomas Grant, President of the English College in Rome. This memorial ran: we most... solemnly declare to Your Holiness that British Diplomacy has everywhere been exerted to the injury of our Holy Religion. We read in the public Papers that Lord Minto is friendly received... by Your Holiness At this very time, however,... the first Minister of the British Government, the Son in Law of Lord Minto is publicly manifesting in England, together with his fellow Ministers, his marked opposition to the Catholic Religion and the Catholic Church. Another cause of our serious alarm is the very general hostile and calumnious outcry now made in both houses of our Parliament and throughout Protestant England against the Catholic Priests of Ireland, falsely charging them with being the abettors of the horrible crime of murder whilst as true Pastors they are striving t o . . . console their... perishing people and like good shepherds are in the midst of pestilence giving their lives for their flocks.


2006 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
SHANE SINCLAIR ◽  
SHELLEY RAFFIN ◽  
JOSE PEREIRA ◽  
NANCY GUEBERT

Objective:Although spirituality as it relates to patients is gaining increasing attention, less is known about how health care professionals (HCP) experience spirituality personally or collectively in the workplace. This study explores the collective spirituality of an interdisciplinary palliative care team, by studying how individuals felt about their own spirituality, whether there was a shared sense of a team spirituality, how spirituality related to the care the team provided to patients and whether they felt that they provided spiritual care.Methods:A qualitative autoethnographic approach was used. The study was conducted in a 10-bed Tertiary Palliative Care Unit (TPCU) in a large acute-care referral hospital and cancer center. Interdisciplinary team members of the TPCU were invited to participate in one-to-one interviews and/or focus groups. Five interviews and three focus groups were conducted with a total of 20 participants.Results:Initially participants struggled to define spirituality. Concepts of spirituality relating to integrity, wholeness, meaning, and personal journeying emerged. For many, spirituality is inherently relational. Others acknowledged transcendence as an element of spirituality. Spirituality was described as being wrapped in caring and often manifests in small daily acts of kindness and of love, embedded within routine acts of caring. Palliative care served as a catalyst for team members' own spiritual journeys. For some participants, palliative care represented a spiritual calling. A collective spirituality stemming from common goals, values, and belonging surfaced.Significance of results:This was the first known study that focused specifically on the exploration of a collective spirituality. The culture of palliative care seems to foster spiritual reflection among health care professionals both as individuals and as a whole. While spirituality was difficult to describe, it was a shared experience often tangibly present in the provision of care on all levels.


This interdisciplinary collection investigates the forms that authority assumed in nineteenth-century Ireland, the relations they bore to international redefinitions of authority, and Irish contributions to the reshaping of authority in the modern age. At a time when age-old sources of social, political, spiritual and cultural authority were eroded in the Western world, Ireland witnessed both the restoration of older forms of authority and the rise of figures who defined new models of authority in a democratic age. Using new comparative perspectives as well as archival resources in a wide range of fields, eleven chapters show how new authorities were embodied in emerging types of politicians, clerics and professionals, and in material extensions of their power in visual, oral and print cultures. Their analyses often eerily echo twenty-first-century debates about populism, the suspicion towards scholarly and intellectual expertise, and the role of new technologies and forms of association in contesting and recreating authority. Several contributions highlight the role of emotion in the way authority was deployed by figures ranging from O’Connell to Catholic priests and W.B. Yeats, foreshadowing the perceived rise of emotional politics in our own age. This volume stresses that many contested forms of authority that now look ‘traditional’ emerged from 19th-century crises and developments, as did the challenges that undermine authority.


2021 ◽  
pp. 009164712110494
Author(s):  
Amanda Edwards-Stewart ◽  
Tim Hoyt ◽  
Sam Rennebohm ◽  
Fiona B. Kurtz ◽  
John S. Charleson ◽  
...  

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) is often utilized to assess the suitability of ordination candidates by a religious organization. Published MMPI-2 scale scores for Roman Catholic priest, Episcopal, Presbyterians, and United Methodist ministry samples exist. However, previous research has not provided MMPI-2 scale scores for Free Methodist ordination candidates and has not provided a statistical comparison of scale scores between religious groups. The this study reports on MMPI-2 scale scores for Free Methodist ordination candidates and compares this group’s scores to Roman Catholic priests, Episcopal and Presbyterian ordination candidates, and a United Methodist sample. We found statistically significant differences between Free Methodist and Catholic Priests, Episcopal, Presbyterian ordination candidates on MMPI-2 Hs, Pd, Pt, and Sc scales and L, Pd, Mf, Pa, Pt, Sc, and Ma differences between Free and United Methodist groups. These results seem to indicate that Free Methodist candidates have fewer non-organic health concerns, less obsessive thoughts, positive social relationships, and more readily submit to authority when contracted with other comparative ordination candidates or ministry sample.


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