Ministerial burnout: motivation and renewal for mission

Clergy Resilience: Accessing Supportive Resources to Balance the Impact of Role-Related Stress and Adversity

Resilience is a helpful construct when considering how to support clergy well-being. The purpose of this study was to gain knowledge about clergy resilience, specifically those resources that clergy perceived had supported their professional resilience. The study gave attention to aspects of preservice training and professional development that helped to foster clergy resilience and initiatives that clergy desired to further support their resilience. Clergy reported multiple resources that supported their resilience including supports for spiritual life, relational supports, personal aspects, and organizational practices. Spiritual dimensions of support for resilience were prominent for clergy, especially the centrality of calling to ministry, theological meaning-making, and relationship with God. Participants also revealed helpful aspects of preservice training and professional development. Aspects of preservice training included rigorous discernment and screening of their callings and the inclusion of required practices, such as spiritual direction or mentorship. Aspects of professional development included a variety of skill development opportunities, lifelong learning, conferences, and networking with peers. Participants reported their desire for initiatives that included more wellness opportunities and an increased organizational prioritization of clergy wellness.

Compassionate Love among Catholic Priests: its Antecedents and its Influence on Affect toward Pastoral Ministry in Indonesia

What drives Catholic priests to continue to serve people? That is the main question behind this psychological study. Based on a working model of compassionate love (Underwood 2008), the priestly compassionate love model was tested to determine whether spirituality, social support, priestly commitment, and well-being simultaneously influence compassionate love, which in turn brings out a positive affect in those doing pastoral ministry. The participants were 256 Catholic priests in Indonesia. Using structural equation modeling, the results of the study showed a good fit. Spirituality was the factor that contributed most strongly to compassionate love. Receiving adequate support from multiple sources motivated the priests to love others. Moreover, priestly commitment also influenced the priests to love others compassionately. Although well-being did not significantly influence compassionate love, it still played an important role in the model because it was correlated with all factors. Finally, the results showed that compassionate love powerfully influenced the priests to be enthusiastic and eager in doing pastoral ministry. These findings are discussed theoretically and practically in the context of priestly life and ministry in Indonesia.

An Examination of Personal Health Promotion and Curricular Coverage of Health at US Seminary Schools

Seminary schools train clergy members, who have significant influence on the health-related environment of their faith-based organizations. The purpose of this study was to examine health promotion in seminary schools, including curriculum coverage of health-related topics. This cross-sectional, mixed methods study used print and online surveys. Seminary schools (n = 57) self-reported approaches to health and health-related curriculum. Most schools emphasized the inclusion of health in clerical practice, and healthy behaviors among students, and covered holistic views of health and self-care issues within their curriculum. This study provides insight into how seminary schools are training future generations of clergy on health-related topics.

Intensive OutPatient Therapy for Clergy Burnout: How Much Difference Can a Week Make?

A pre-test and post-test quasi-experimental matched pairs design was used to assess the effectiveness of a week-long multi-therapist intensive outpatient intervention process with clergy suffering from depression and burnout. Participants (n = 23) in the "Clergy in Kairos" program of the Pastoral Institute (Muse in J Pastor Care Couns 61(3):183-195, 2007) constituted the experimental variable. Clergy surveyed from United Methodist and Presbyterian denominations (n = 121) provided a control group from which 23 respondents were selected whose pre-test scores in depression and burnout were statistically equivalent to those in the experimental group. The treatment group consisted of clergy from three denominations who self-selected (or in some cases were referred by denominational officials) into the program. At the outset, clergy in both groups reported equivalent levels of conflict, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and depression. At the 6-months follow-up, clergy in the experimental group showed significant improvement of depression, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization scores. By contrast, there was no change in the burnout and depression scores in the control group at 6-months post-test. Findings suggest the usefulness of a week-long multi-therapist intensive outpatient intervention in reducing burnout and depression.