Day 42
I did nothing today. Well, I did some work-related stuff, nothing very enjoyable. I did, however, manage to get some new photos up on my DA account (madamtorsion.deviantart.com), which are all available as prints.
I watched another episode of MST3K. This time it was Prince of Space. "I have no super powers, but I can skip reasonably well!" Those crazy robots...
I simply must mention a show I've just started watching. It's called Doc Martin and it's very reminiscent of House. It stars Martin Clunes as Dr. Martin Ellingham (based on his character from Saving Grace). His character used to be a successful surgeon in London, but upon developing a blood phobia ended up as a GP in a small town in Cornwall. And the hilarity ensues. Plus, UST! I always love a good dose of UST in my dramedies. X-Files, West Wing, Ballykissangel, House - it's all there.
And finally, more research to share. Not much though, and I don't really agree with the findings, but I just want to see what you all think. This article was "Burnout Among Roman Catholic Parochial Clergy in England and Wales: Myth or Reality?" and it appeared in Vol. 45, No. 1 of Review of Religious Research. This team of sociologists used a model called the Maslach Burnout Inventory, which defines "burnout" on three levels; emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and lack of personal achievement. Questionnaires were sent out to 3,581 regular and secular Roman Catholic clergymen and 1,468 were returned, this gives them a pretty decent 41% response rate. The sample was as complete and random as you can get as they were sent to all priests in parochial ministry in England and Wales, so there was no skew to the sample (though one could have existed naturally as one type of person would be more likely than another to fill out and send back the questionnaire).
They found that a rather large portion (36%) of the sample found themselves worn out at the end of the day. One in ten report they are "at the end of their tether." Over a quarter find themselves depersonalizing the relationship with their parishoners in some way (from being frustrated all the way to simply not caring what they say). On the other hand, 90% said they "gain a lot of personal satisfaction from working with people."
With regards to the Anglican clergy, Roman Catholic priests exhibit higher numbers of burnout but have higher personal satisfaction in ministry. This could be attributed to the lower numbers of Catholic priests, thus giving them a heavier burden to bear within their parish.
Here's my problem with these numbers; the composition and location of a parish is an important deciding factor in the level of a priest's exhaustion, commitment to the parish and sense of achievement. If he's in a small parish, he may not be as tired but may also not feel as accomplished (this could be the opposite). Is the parish in a rural or urban environment? Are the parishoners poor? Affluent? Is the parish in a violent neighborhood? What is the composition of Catholics to other religions in the neighborhood?
What I'm saying is that this study gives us an idea about what the level of burnout is, but it doesn't identify what it's caused by, just that it is happening. It's identifying the problem and offering no solution. Am I wrong here or is my logic sound?
I watched another episode of MST3K. This time it was Prince of Space. "I have no super powers, but I can skip reasonably well!" Those crazy robots...
I simply must mention a show I've just started watching. It's called Doc Martin and it's very reminiscent of House. It stars Martin Clunes as Dr. Martin Ellingham (based on his character from Saving Grace). His character used to be a successful surgeon in London, but upon developing a blood phobia ended up as a GP in a small town in Cornwall. And the hilarity ensues. Plus, UST! I always love a good dose of UST in my dramedies. X-Files, West Wing, Ballykissangel, House - it's all there.
And finally, more research to share. Not much though, and I don't really agree with the findings, but I just want to see what you all think. This article was "Burnout Among Roman Catholic Parochial Clergy in England and Wales: Myth or Reality?" and it appeared in Vol. 45, No. 1 of Review of Religious Research. This team of sociologists used a model called the Maslach Burnout Inventory, which defines "burnout" on three levels; emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and lack of personal achievement. Questionnaires were sent out to 3,581 regular and secular Roman Catholic clergymen and 1,468 were returned, this gives them a pretty decent 41% response rate. The sample was as complete and random as you can get as they were sent to all priests in parochial ministry in England and Wales, so there was no skew to the sample (though one could have existed naturally as one type of person would be more likely than another to fill out and send back the questionnaire).
They found that a rather large portion (36%) of the sample found themselves worn out at the end of the day. One in ten report they are "at the end of their tether." Over a quarter find themselves depersonalizing the relationship with their parishoners in some way (from being frustrated all the way to simply not caring what they say). On the other hand, 90% said they "gain a lot of personal satisfaction from working with people."
With regards to the Anglican clergy, Roman Catholic priests exhibit higher numbers of burnout but have higher personal satisfaction in ministry. This could be attributed to the lower numbers of Catholic priests, thus giving them a heavier burden to bear within their parish.
Here's my problem with these numbers; the composition and location of a parish is an important deciding factor in the level of a priest's exhaustion, commitment to the parish and sense of achievement. If he's in a small parish, he may not be as tired but may also not feel as accomplished (this could be the opposite). Is the parish in a rural or urban environment? Are the parishoners poor? Affluent? Is the parish in a violent neighborhood? What is the composition of Catholics to other religions in the neighborhood?
What I'm saying is that this study gives us an idea about what the level of burnout is, but it doesn't identify what it's caused by, just that it is happening. It's identifying the problem and offering no solution. Am I wrong here or is my logic sound?