Pastoral Supervision: Managing Psychosocial Challenges in Priestly Ministry
Selvam, S.G. (2022). Pastoral Supervision: Managing Psychosocial Challenges in Priestly Ministry. In S. Fernando, J. & Jeyaraj, (eds.) Care for the Priests (pp.21-34). Chennai: Don Bosco Publications.
Engagement in pastoral commitments involves intrapersonal and interpersonal experiences of psychosocial nature. These include: dynamics of euphoria and dysphoria following public engagements, emotional overload and affective enmeshment, transference and counter-transference, and power disparity. Priests, especially those young in ministry, might mistake these states for boredom, depression, temptations, and discouragement. Seminary formation does not prepare them adequately to handle these nuanced experiences. Without understanding what is happening to them, they might get into a downward spiral of addictions and unhealthy relationships. What could be a support system that they can rely on. The current chapter proposes pastoral supervision as an institutional system of offering support to priests. Pastoral Supervision accompanies individuals in ministry to process their experiences and grow in wisdom. It consists in one-to-one conversations with an experienced or trained person where the priest shares how his ministry affects him personally as an individual.
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