Dans la deuxième moitié du XVIIIe siècle, la pauvreté afflige les populations en France et la région de Toulouse n'est pas épargnée. Les habitants du diocèse doivent souvent compter sur l'assistance paroissiale à différentes périodes de l'année. Dans ce cadre, les cures de paroisses deviennent des témoins de premier plan de la précarité dans laquelle vit cette population. S'occupant autant des affaires spirituelles de la paroisse que des affaires quotidiennes du temporel, ces acteurs sociaux sont bien insérés dans le milieu ou ils oeuvrent. Ceci leur donne une perspective privilégiée de la pauvreté des habitants. La perception qu'ils en ont s'observé dans une enquête diocésaine commandée en 1763 par le nouvel archevêque de Toulouse, Loménie de Brienne. Celle-ci dévoile, à travers questions et réponses, l'importance de la pauvreté au sein des paroisses, les causes spécifiques du problème et les moyens d'y remédier. Évaluée à la lumière du discours que tiennent sur le sujet les élites religieuses de l'époque, la vision de la pauvreté des membres du bas clergé s'en démarque.

Living among the people of war has left an indelible mark on my life. During the Bosnian war, I journeyed with the faith group leaders of local ethno-religious communities in their struggle not only to survive the open conflict among their peoples but also to somehow find a way to rise above it in the hopes of sharing a more secure and prosperous future together. Over the course of time an identifiable impulse among deployed chaplains toward an external ministry of reconciliation began to emerge. Albeit, ad hoc in nature, it has raised questions of the viability of such ministry among local religious leaders in conflict zones and its strategic value with respect to the accomplishment of missions. As such, this thesis will reply to the following two-part hypothesis: (1) Among operational chaplains in conflict zones there is an emerging sense of agency to seed reconciliation by building relation among estranged religious leaders and their faith communities resulting in a need for a new self-understanding expressed both theologically and in praxis; and (2) the writings of Miroslav Volf and Vern Neufeld Redekop can provide the basis for a framework that will enable the creation of strategic and operational structures that will allow reconciliation praxis to be sustainable and to grow. The methodology unfolds naturally in the structure of the thesis itself: context, theory and application. In establishing context, relevant data from a variety of chaplaincy resources is consulted with a view to identifying the beginnings of what is believed to be a paradigm shift in operational ministry. Documented case studies from both the Bosnian and Afghan theatres of operation are offered as a means of establishing the context. Of significance, the theory developed here may be generalized to other contexts. The theoretical component initially draws on the theology of Miroslav Volf. His theme of exclusion discloses the evils frequently characteristic of ethno-religious groups in conflict, often manifested in alienation, subjugation, demonizing and, sadly, extermination of the other. Additionally, Volf's theme of embrace yields a theology of reconciliation whereby the estranged religious other, and by extension their respective faith communities, discovers the will to embrace in an effort to rise above conflict and/or alienation to that of relation. Redekop's contribution resides in his ability to transition from the theological to the theoretical, tangibly identifying the dynamics of deep-rooted conflict. Through dialogue the mimetic modeling of acceptance of all by the chaplain is seen to move the religious other beyond a wounded subjectivity toward mutuality. Relation building sees the eclipsing of the structures of mimetic violence (exclusion) by those of mimetic blessing (embrace). Such seeding of reconciliation enables the self a renewed vision of the humanity of the other. Application draws on both theology and theory bringing them together in the formulation of the External Ministry of Reconciliation Paradigm, a contextual theology supported by a theoretical component pertinent to the external operational ministry of chaplains among estranged local religious leaders and their faith communities. Theory and praxis are then applied to both the Bosnian and Afghan case studies. Concrete and strategic operational structures emerge from the ad hoc, as the sustainability of the seeding of reconciliation becomes a viable ministry for deployed chaplains in conflict zones. Pivotal to this thesis is the will to embrace, understood to be the in-breaking of transcendence as the agency of chaplains mimetically model mutuality in relation, a manifestation of grace. The rigidity of the satisfaction of strict (retributive) justice as a prerequisite to engagement is deemed an injustice in and of itself due to its holding hostage any movement toward relation. An attending to justice will come to fruition in the journey toward mutuality. The chaplain's genuine receptivity of the other, demonstrated through hospitality and the creation of a safe place in which to share, reflects his/her aspiration for the empowering of the other , lead[ing] to creative and ever-expanding options oriented toward life (blessing). Both ritual and symbol factor significantly into the establishing of operational structures drawn from the hosting culture: an interfaith celebration, the breaking of bread together and the Shura are presented as examples. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

<p> The present study examined factors for priestly commitment and the relationship between priestly commitment and well-being of Catholic priests and seminarians. While evidence for the effectiveness of assessment in identifying the suitability of applicants to the priesthood and evaluating the general psychological health of priests and seminarians has been well documented, the effectiveness of assessment in predicting commitment to the priesthood remains under question. This study addressed such an issue by identifying the individual and sets of factors for priestly commitment using a sample of 120 priests and 52 seminarians. </p><p> Through Hierarchical Multiple Regression analyses, the present study examined the extent to which demographic factors (e.g., age and vocational status), social factors (e.g., parental environment, family religiosity, and religious experience), psychological factors (e.g., big five personality traits, defensiveness, gender characteristics, and loneliness), and religious factors (e.g., religious orientation, religious coping, spiritual support, sacred view of the priesthood, and relationship with bishop/superior) affect priestly commitment. And, through Multiple Regression, this study examined a correlation between priestly commitment and well-being. </p><p> The results indicated that, when demographic, social, and psychological variables were controlled, an increased level of agreeableness, defensiveness, masculinity, intrinsic religious orientation, sacred view of the priesthood, and relationship with bishop/superior were associated with an increased level of affective commitment, whereas the increased level of parental care, extraversion, and loneliness were associated with a decreased level of affective commitment. Parental overprotection, extraversion, and loneliness positively correlated with thought of leaving the priesthood, whereas masculinity, sacred view of the priesthood, and relationship with bishop/superior had negative correlations. Extrinsic religious orientation had a positive correlation with continuance commitment. In contrast to the previous studies, demographic variables were insignificant. The study also found indirect effects of religious variables on the significant correlations between parental care and affective commitment and between agreeableness and affective commitment. </p><p> Specific to well-being, this study found that affective commitment was positively correlated with affect balance, psychological well-being, and religious well-being, while continuance commitment and thought of leaving the priesthood had negative correlations with psychological well-being. Finally, thought of leaving the priesthood was correlated negatively with affect balance.</p>

The purpose of this study was to examine the role differences between rural and urban pastors, pastors' wives, clerks, and clerks' wives on indicators of burnout and marital adjustment. In addition, the purpose of this research was to develop a pool of information relevant to the future understanding and research of the differences between clergy families in rural and urban communities. Variables analyzed included burnout and marital adjustment. Burnout was measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach & Jackson, 1981) and marital adjustment was measured by the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976). Role theory was employed as the primary conceptual framework. The sample consisted of 248 individuals composed of pastors, pastors' wives, clerks of sessions, and clerks' wives in urban and rural communities from the Presbyterian Church in America across the southeastern United States. / Data were obtained by means of mailed surveys to pastors and elders and were followed up by mailed postcards and telephone reminders. Data analysis supported findings of some previous research that pastors and their wives have a lower quality of life than clerk dyads. It was revealed, however, that distinctions need to be made according to type of community since the stresses surrounding them differ. Two way analysis of variance on husbands indicated significant main effects on both location and ecclesiastical role for Frequency of Personal Accomplishment. Results from t-tests revealed that rural pastors had a significantly higher mean on Frequency of Personal Accomplishment than rural clerks. However, there was no difference between urban pastors and urban clerks. Two way analysis of variance on wives indicated a significant interaction effect on the subscale Frequency of Personal Accomplishment. Results from t-tests revealed that urban clerks' wives had s significantly higher mean than urban pastors' wives, but that rural pastors' wives had a significantly higher mean than rural clerks' wives. Higher scores on personal accomplishment indicate a greater sense of accomplishment about one's role. Raw regression coefficients on age for husbands indicated that as age increases levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization decrease while marital adjustment and personal accomplishment levels increase. Results on age for wives revealed that as age increases emotional exhaustion and depersonalization decrease. It was observed, however, that marital adjustment and personal accomplishment decrease with age noting that wives experience a lower quality of life than husbands with the increase of age. Means on the MBI subscale Emotional Exhaustion Frequency indicated that rural pastor's wives were more emotionally exhausted than both rural and urban pastors. / Additional demographic comparisons and hypothesis testing led to conclusions that rural pastoral couples have a lower quality of life than urban pastoral couples. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-08, Section: A, page: 2669. / Major Professor: Calvin E. Zongker. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

A qualitative phenomenological study of qualified women's perceptions of leadership barriers in the Pentecostal Church

Preparing for Rural Ministry| A Qualitative Analysis of Curriculum used in Theological Education to Prepare Clergy for Ministry in a Rural Context

This was an exploratory study that investigated loneliness, depression, social support, marital satisfaction, and spiritual well-being among clergy wives to examine the levels of these variables present in the lives of these highly stressed women. A questionnaire was sent to 785 wives of ministers ordained and working in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in Arizona, Florida, Ohio, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Scales of measurement included the UCLA Loneliness Scale, an adapted Relational Assessment Scale (RAS), a six item segment of the Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ), the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWB), and a qualitatively coded statement asking for a recent loneliness experience. The scales were preceded by a short demographic section that included a Likert-type rating of the difficulty of the wife's role as clergy wife and of the husband's role as a minister. Results indicate that clergy wives exhibit higher levels of loneliness than would be expected among happily married women. Overall, they have relatively small social networks, but claim to be highly satisfied with them, a counterintuitive finding. Depression levels for this group are no higher than those found in the general population. As expected, the wives exhibit high levels of spiritual well-being. These variables are highly correlated. A multiple regression analysis produced a model composed of depression, social support network number, social support satisfaction, spiritual well-being, and marital satisfaction that explains 53% of the variance in loneliness, although the last two variables explain only 1% additional variance above and beyond the first three. The findings are congruent with nonscientific and anecdotal evidence that indicate loneliness to be a problem for clergy wives while marital dissatisfaction and depression are rare. The qualitative data support the distinctions of Weiss (1973) that there are two major types of loneliness, emotional and social loneliness. The findings also indicate that loneliness and marital satisfaction do not always co-occur, that loneliness and depression do not always co-occur, that social support satisfaction may not always be interpreted identically by participants and social scientists, and that spiritual well-being should be studied further.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, 1990. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-03, Section: B, page: 1731. Chair: Sean Sammon.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-11, Section: A, page: 4183. Adviser: John Caughlin. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 323-345) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1965. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: l. 58-59.