Caring for Clergy in Difficult Calls
Writing Project:
If you are a clergy person in the midst of a challenging call or you have gone through it and would like to see the beginnings of a set of resources that might support you, please see: NECA Caring for Clergy Resource page
Upcoming:
Register for NECA/ECF Webinar Feb 12th- Caring for Clergy and Congregations
Join us Feb 12th for this important Webinar- Caring for Clergy and Congregations. This webinar is sponsored by Network of Episcopal Clergy Associations (NECA) in partnership with The Episcopal Church Foundation (ECF)
Click link to register for this free event
NECA and ECF are partnering to host this webinar as an outcome of discussion last January and following NECA’s release of 11 essays this past fall which sought to explore the challenge of challenging calls and their impact on the church. In a discussion Feb 12th which will include ECF President Donald Romanik, Canon Bonnie Anderson, and The Rev. Dr. David Gortner of VTS, the panel will explore why this tough topic is important both for the vocational health of clergy and also the congregations and diocese they serve.
To explore the essays exploring the impact of challenging calls, written in partnership with The EWC, please see: NECA/EWC Writing Project
If you are a clergy person in the midst of a challenging call or you have gone through it and would like to see the beginnings of a set of resources that might support you, please see: NECA Caring for Clergy Resource page
(for Clergy in and coming
out of difficult calls)
The essays for this project were written out of a partnership between The Episcopal Women’s Caucus (EWC) and The Network of Episcopal Clergy (NECA.) This project developed following a watershed moment when in January 2014 the Diocese of Newark passed a resolution seeking that their Bishop appoint a task force to explore issues (relating to workplace bullying) in relation to clergy. Dignity of Work Resolution 2014_AC140_03 (see page three). Each essay written is part of a collection of essays written to begin to address the challenge of challenging calls and the issue of workplace bullying. While the views in each essay are the authors own and we acknowledge that no one essay will be able to identify all the issues involved, our hope is that in and through the collection of pieces we might support what has begun locally in the Diocese of Newark and more importantly, further the conversation in the wider Episcopal church.
If you are a clergy person in the midst of a challenging call or you have gone through it and would like to see the beginnings of a set of resources that might support you please see NECA Resource Page
Why this ministry matters:
A thought
“Whistle blowing and transparency are essential weapons against abuse. They can never, however be the whole answer, because making them so puts most, if not all, the responsibility on the victim, as though it was somehow their fault. This is morally wrong, because it leaves control (with diminished responsibility) in the hands of the institution, not the victim. Therefore those who lead the institutional Church, fallen people that we are like everyone else, need to do serious intentional work to create a consistent culture of respect and justice within our own spheres of influence and authority. That defends the faith much more effectively than making snarky comments on atheist websites. Throughout the organization, in every way, as far as lies in us, we have to express values that support human dignity….This has convinced me that the only way we can transform ours is by producing and enforcing, in a publicly accountable way, routines that express these values. This will sometimes mean the organization moving ahead of people. So be it. It’s only as this is done that decency becomes the shared norm in any organization.” Bishop Alan Wilson, 2010
Please consider joining NECA to support our ongoing advocacy toward a consistent ministry of care for clergy in or coming out of difficult calls: The Network of Episcopal Clergy Associations (NECA)
I was so heartened to read this. Not Episcopalian myself but I have endured a life changing transition from ministry and can easily imagine the difference such an effort and organization would have made during my ordeals. Keep up the good work. I think there are many clergy for whom it would not require great effort to hold onto their many rich gifts of leadership. Often I think if there where just one legitimate and respected person or group that continued to call upon ones professional and vocational gifts and talents to keep a minister in the game and willing to believe in her call as she once did.
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