Minister's Ministers?

[cadfael]

Ministers are people too. We/they have needs, desires, problems, and unfortunately, crises, just like everybody else. Who can they turn to without creating a dual relationship, i.e. minister/friend, friend/confessor, friend/therapist, etc.?

Comments

[hypanebliss.livejournal.com]

Excellent question. :) I'd have to say a third party. One who is diassociated from the community wherein the minister operates. Perhaps a minister from a different faith. That would imply that the other party knows at least something about the types of concerns and cares particular to that role.

Forming a dual role relationship isn't a bad thing. As long as the person who is councilling could be objectice. I think that is pretty hard to do. It's not easy for people to see their ministers as real people. They want them to be infallible. Without fault. We never want to believe that the people we look up to are human.

Good to see you on here. I absolutely love that user picture. :)

Minister's Ministers?

[wild-place-king.livejournal.com]

Good reply! There's probably no one, right answer. We all have dual roles, especially in the Pagan community. We just don't have the same type of standards that the mainstream religions have. Nor do many of us want them - that's why most of us left. But, clearly, with the mainstream faiths in the "abuse spotlight" lately, our abuse quotient must be scary.

[onyxtwilight.livejournal.com]

I don't have an answer for you, other than 'we turn to each other, of course, because whom could we trust more?' but I absolutely LOVE that picture, O King of the Wild Places. >:-)

[amber-phoenix.livejournal.com]

I almost always turn to someone with a dual relationship, for religion specific things I turn to my friends within the tradition of appropriate rank to discuss whatever's involved, for other things it's friends and lovers regardless of tradition. Because I view the world for a peer-based vantage point, this tends to work out well, although almost all my relationships are complex :)