Pastoral care basics Foundation Course

CREATING AN OPTIMUM ATMOSHERE Relax !! There’s no “Right” or “Wrong” We’re All Learners: “Art of Pastoral Care” LEARNING ENVIRONMENT CREATING AN OPTIMUM ATMOSHERE

Criteria for Assessing Pastoral Care PV Response Right PV Response Wrong No Right or Wrong !!

Effectiveness Continuum Less Effective More Effective

Introducing Self as PV Introduction FIRST STEP Two Fundamental Points: Who you are. Identify self as Pastoral Visitor Why you’re there. Explain the purpose of the visit. Introduction ESSENTIAL FIRST STEP

“Spirituality and Pastoral Identity” p. 44-51 HENRI NOUWEN CREATIVE MINISTRY

IDENTITY Doing (tasks)? Listens welling Praying well Being? Our being Our personhood Being / doing WHO AM I?

Pastoral presence MORE THAN A CLICHÉ

Fr. Melloh Notre Dame

“Incarnational Theology and Pastoral Care (Roman Catholicism)” Fr. Melloh’s Essay “Incarnational Theology and Pastoral Care (Roman Catholicism)” “Human existence is embodied. We do not have a body, but we are a body.” Dictionary of PC & C, p. 573-74

“Pastoral Presence” Three Levels of Awareness: Self-awareness Pointing beyond oneself Awareness of the other John Patton PASTORAL CARE: AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE

Pastoral / Social conversation A CRUCIAL DISTINCTION

10 Points of comparison Role Energy Attention Questions Talking Listening Empathy Acceptance Personal History Helping

Pastoral History Limited to facilitating the other’s story Sample comparison pastoral social Pastoral History Limited to facilitating the other’s story Personal History Often based on “the moment” and mutual sharing

Listening and empathy UNIVERSAL HUMAN NEEDS

GENERATES EMPATHIC CONNECTIONS empathic listening GENERATES EMPATHIC CONNECTIONS

“…identify with and experience another person’s experience” “Empathy” “…identify with and experience another person’s experience” “…by, as much as possible, suspending one’s own frame of reference …to enter the perceptual and emotional world of the other.” Dictionary of PC & C, p354 David Massey North Georgia Counseling Assoc.

Empathy is necessary nonetheless!! Empathy has limits Never complete and total Momentary, fragile and incomplete Mystery and uniqueness to each person Empathy is necessary nonetheless!!

Personal history Even if similar personal experience, listen for the distinctive contours of their experience.

Sociological factors Language – History – Culture Sensitive and knowledgeable Lack of respect compromises empathy

The Practice of Pastoral Care: Carrie Doehring The Practice of Pastoral Care: A Postmodern Approach

“Intercultural Spiritual care” “…to describe pastoral and spiritual care as a co-creative process of intermingling stories…. the interacting multilayered stories of people embedded in overlapping familial, communal, and social systems.” Doehring, The Practice of Pastoral Care, Glossary

Decoding How People Think, Lead, and Get Things Done Across Cultures Erin Meyer THE CULTURE MAP Decoding How People Think, Lead, and Get Things Done Across Cultures

Communication styles Low-Context – Precise, clear. Ex: U.S. High-Context – Nuanced, layered. Ex: Japan Analyzes 27 countries (Meyer, The Cultural Map, p. 39.)

Fr. Henri Nouwen

The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life Healing = Listening “Providing healing (listening) means the creation of an empty but friendly space where those who suffer call tell their story…” p. 67 Reaching out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life

The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life “The most important question as healers (listeners) is not, ‘What to say or to do?’ but how to develop enough inner space where the story can be received.” p. 68 Reaching out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life

“Empty but friendly space” Pastoral Visitor

“Empty but Friendly Space” Pastoral Visitor

CATHOLIC THEOLOGICAL UNION Rev. Herbert Anderson CATHOLIC THEOLOGICAL UNION Professor Emeritus

First Movement: “Pre-understanding” Attitudes we bring which help us “toward understanding” the other “THE EMPATHY PROCESS” Herbert Anderson

Wonder - Primary Attitude “The Empathy Process” The First Movement – Pre-understanding (Attitudes We Bring) (Adaptation by Theodore Smith) Herbert Anderson, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Pastoral Theology Catholic Theological Union   Wonder - Primary Attitude Rapt Attention Amazed Admiration Willingness to be surprised Openness to journey Additional Attitudes Curiosity Humility Openness to Change Hospitality

Attitudes we bring WONDER Rapt attention Amazed admiration Willingness to be surprised Openness to journey into mystery

Curiosity Humility Openness to Change Hospitality Additional attitudes Curiosity Humility Openness to Change Hospitality

“The Empathy Process” (cont.) Second Movement: “Listening” Entering the World of the Other “The Empathy Process” (cont.) Herbert Anderson

The Second Movement – Listening Entering the World of the Other Herbert Anderson, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Pastoral Theology Catholic Theological Union “The Empathy Process” The Second Movement – Listening (Combined with Henri Nouwen’s “Empty, Friendly Space”) NARRATIVE Pastoral Visitor Care Receiver Entering the World of the Other Cleaning the Clutter Receiving Observing Imaging Suspending Judgment

Entering the other’s world Cleaning the Clutter Receiving Observing Imaging Suspending Judgment

Empathy – two step process The other knows they’ve been heard Their pain is in our heart Martin Buber “Empathy demands the most intensive stirring of one’s being.”

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