INTRODUCING THE REPORT: Presbyters & Deacons Affected by Impairment. 2006.
B’ham District Synod April 2008
I’ve sub-titled this address: Issues around impairment:
Issues: matters that need considering - practical, pastoral & theological
But also “issues” as things that are brought to birth - new understanding, new experience, new ways of ministering.
But can we first of all try to enter into what it feels like to become aware that everything is not right with you. The aching joints & tired muscles don’t get better with a hot bath & walking is getting troublesome; the trembling of the hand, scarcely noticeable a couple of months ago, is becoming a nuisance that is getting worse. The future looks increasingly uncertain & out of control & frightening.
The Irish poet & writer & former catholic priest, John O’Donohue has expressed it with stunning sensitivity in a blessing for a friend on the arrival of illness. You can find in “Benedictus” pp.76-78, completed just before O’Donohue’s premature death.
So you see to talk about issues around impairment is not to talk about conditions & categories but to talk about people.
Background.
Story of “Jean” - not her real name. A colleague of mine. Very fulfilled in an inner-city appointment. Made significant breakthroughs both in the church & the local community. Planned to extend her 5 year invitation to 10 to take her to retirement. Everyone delighted at the prospect. Then the symptoms of MS began to appear. It became clear that she could not sustain her ministry in such a busy & sometimes stressful appointment, so she moved to something quieter. Even there she had to curtail her appointment & take early retirement.
Speaking of her experience she said that she felt she had been treated with care & understanding, that there had been sensitive consultation & decisions had been jointly made, & that there was a ministry she was still able to fulfil.
That’s a good story. Sadly there are many stories round the Connexion that are not so good, with people being insensitively treated, being made to feel patronised & problematic & only fit to be bundled off into early retirement. It is not vindictive or intentionally cruel, but thoughtless, yet hurtful nevertheless especially at a time of great vulnerability, anxiety & questioning.
Following the publication & acceptance in 2004 of a Conference report on Presbyters & Deacons Affected by Impairment, a Connexional Working Party was set up to explore the issues, to bring forward proposals for action & a guide to good practice. The Report was approved unanimously & with acclaim at the Conference of 2006, and after a puzzling delay of a year, the guide to good practice was printed in CPD in 2007 & can be found on pages 788-793 in the current edition.
It was crucial that people directly experiencing the pains & frustrations we were to consider should be part of the Working Party, as well as people professionally involved in relevant fields, & included Rev. Donald Eadie & Dr. Dorothy Tesh of this District. Those of us who had access to our strength & mobility were often moved as we became aware of the costs endured by those for whom getting to the meetings, spending half a day in hard work & facing a journey home, was a massive effort. We were also aware of the frustrations of those who could not attend, & our own inadequate ways of involving them in the processes. We were all living the situation & for me as convenor & chair it was a particularly humbling & privileged experience from which I have learned & gained a great deal. I want to pay tribute to a very remarkable group of people.
So to The Report. The idea behind it was to try ensure, as far as is humanly possible, that Presbyters & Deacons who are affected by impairment are treated fairly & sensitively & in similar fashion across the Connexion. (Can I say now that I shall use the term “minister” & shall mean by that both presbyters & deacons - which is a bit of a mouthful to keep saying.)
It begins with a discussion about language. This is not to do with political correctness. We all know that a term which was quite acceptable a few years ago is felt to be insensitive & inappropriate today, & today’s terminology may not be acceptable tomorrow. The terms “crippled” & “handicapped” are obvious examples of terms once commonly used but hopefully not now. So you can’t legislate long-term about language. Currently some people are happy with the term disability - which is commonly used in official forms & documents. Others prefer impairment, saying that they are impaired but it is society which disables them, makes it difficult to participate. So the report uses both terms & declines to recommend one rather than the other. What we must ensure is that we are sensitive about the language we use, & that we don’t lump people together under the term “The Disabled”, or “The Impaired”.
An American minister introducing himself to a new congregation, said “You may wish to refer to me as disabled, or you may wish to refer to me as impaired. I really don’t mind which, but I would much rather you referred to me as Phil.” As we’ve already noted all people affected by impairment are people, distinct individuals with a name, with gifts, experiences & abilities; with hopes, fears, expectations as we all have. We need always to try to see the person behind the eyes - “Phil”, not “our disabled minister”. The impairment is not the sole defining characteristic.
Then come theological starting points. I will string some quotations from the Report together which I’ll put under the headings of image - gifts - calling
IMAGE : We are all made in the image of God, who loves, rejoices in & anguishes over the whole creation. God has created diversity: it is at the heart of the one we know as F, S & H/S, distinctly 3 & profoundly 1. Therefore at the heart of God …. is a community of love, for love needs another to share it. Because God calls all people to share in that community of love we should all cherish, value, love, listen to & respect everyone as far as we are able. This has particular implications for the way the Church responds to ministers who have disabilities, for one aspect of diversity may be vulnerability & wounding. The unique XTN understanding of the nature of divine love is focused in the Cross, where we see God sharing & taking into the godhead all human pain & vulnerability in the broken body of Jesus XT. The way the Church responds to the vocation & ministry of a person must reflect our understanding of the Cross & our belief in a vulnerable & wounded God.
GIFTS : in Paul’s discussion of gifts in 1 Cor. 12 he makes clear that the Spirit endows everyone with gifts, all of which are important. All gifts necessary for the Church’s life & mission are present within the community of faith. Our task is to recognise & draw out God’s gifts in one another. However, ministers with disabilities are often seen as people who bring problems to be solved, people who will need special pastoral care, rather than as those who bear gifts, who can themselves offer care. Their gifts are rooted in the wholeness of their being as well as in the specific experience of their condition.
CALLING : A sense of vocation does not disappear with the onset of a potentially disabling physical or mental condition. Therefore one of the important tasks for the minister & church is to work out together how best that person’s vocation can continue to deepen, develop & be fulfilled, & their gifts used.
The GUIDE TO GOOD PRACTICE which follows in the report sets out ways in which the Church may do that , doing justice to the whole person, to their continuing sense of vocation, to their network of family & support, & to the continuing life & mission of the Church.
In general it emphasises the vital importance of good communications between the relevant Church authority & the person concerned & their family, friends & carers, ensuring of course that there is appropriate confidentiality, & that due regard is paid to disability legislation & current best practice. The importance of training was noted, especially for Chairs, Supers, Warden of the Diaconal Order & Ct. Stewards, which can easily be done within the context of meetings such office holders already attend; and with the help of people who can give support like the District Disability Advisors, & members of the Connexional Medical Committee.
There follows a section on Candidature which I don’t propose to speak about except to say that all members of every District Candidates Committee should be familiar with what it says, though I will quote 2 sentences which have applications in all sorts of circumstances:
It must be remembered that the call is not for the person despite the disability, but rather for the whole person, with the disability seen as one attribute of the whole self-offering. The candidature process should help the church community to understand that our differences enrich the whole.
Now what about stationing ? This is one area which affects Circuits & local churches - so at some point may affect all of you here this morning. Imagine then that your Circuit is looking at the possibility of a minister with an impairment coming among you & with particular responsibility with your section of the Circuit - coming to your church. You will remember that they come to you with a sense of vocation that has been recognised & affirmed by the Church in their training & ordination. Yes there may well be some practical problems to be dealt with in terms of access to the Manse ( you will of course have made sure several years ago that there is full access in your church buildings, clearly printed labels & notices, loop-system, decent lighting etc.) but the really significant thing is that this person comes bringing gifts & experiences & abilities that will enable them to work with you to enhance the life & work of your church. Please don’t make assumptions about what they can & can’t do. One minister with Parkinson’s disease was told by a steward that of course she wouldn’t be able to hold the babies in baptism because she would drop them. It wasn’t meant unkindly but it was actually hugely patronising, as she knew perfectly well whether or not she could hold a baby. Much better to ask what help the minister feels they need in the various activities of their ministry. So it is important that the minister is open about the way their disability impacts of their life & what they perceive to be needed in order for them to fulfil their pattern of ministry. But remember at all times you are dealing with “Phil” or with “Jean”.
All this is straightforward & seems largely common sense. Much more potentially tricky is when an impairment begins to develop during the course of a person’s ministry. If the minister is up-front & open about it it makes things much easier, but sometimes ministers, like many other people, don’t want to acknowledge what is happening to them. It can be frightening, profoundly disturbing when, as someone once said to me, your body which you thought was your friend, doesn’t feel friendly to you any more. You can feel vaguely & irrationally ashamed at no longer feeling adequate for your own high ideals of ministerial work. That you are letting people down, that you are putting your colleagues under unfair pressure & extra work. No wonder that people go into denial. This needs very sensitive handling in helping the minister to feel loved, affirmed & valued in coming to terms with what is happening.
When it is possible to talk about how things are & how things might work out in the future- this may be with District Chair, Super, Ct Stewards - the report gives some help in the process of discernment & enabling an on-going pattern of ministry, with a series of questions about how their life-long vocation to ordained ministry can be worked out, about how God can best be served in the situation, how best the person’s gifts &and experience can continue to be used, what training & practical matters need to be addressed, how can the local church & circuit be best helped to understand enable & support any changes that need to be made ?
The answers to some of these questions can only come with time & through further discovery of the nature of the impairment. Flexibility belongs to the nature of this process. And at all points concern about how it is all impacting on the family who should be consulted & included at all appropriate stages.
The final section of the Guidelines concerns EARLY RETIREMENT. We used to refer to people who retired early on health grounds as “Junior Supernumeraries.” Conference approved the proposal that the term be replaced by the term “early retired”, for the following reasons: “junior” implies young, inexperienced, not able to make mature decisions. Quite good may but not yet the real thing - so a junior tennis player may be good for their age, but not yet a mature player. When applied to an adult it is a very patronising word. Supernumerary means superfluous to requirement. When you put those 2 words together & apply them to someone who, at a much earlier time than they anticipated is struggling with having to give up deeply-loved work that they have sought to fulfil in a mature & valued ministry, it is clear what an appropriate term it is.
It is obvious that people facing early retirement need time & space to come to terms with it. & that help & support is offered in preparation in that process of & of course that detailed & accurate advice & information be given about pensions, housing possibilities, part-time work & earnings & tax-position & so on.
Above all it must be clear that early retirement is not seen as a quick & easy option in the face of perceived awkward difficulties.
The guidelines end with two paragraphs that I’m going to read, the second one written by someone coping with major impairment problems:
1. The presence of presbyters & deacons affected by impairment enriches the church. We are called to live in that holy society of the whole wide diversity of God’s people, & the more that ordained ministry reflects this, the richer the gift it is to the service of the Church. At all stages in ministry there needs to be awareness of the needs & understanding of the issues for those in ministry in such situations.
2. - written by a minister who has struggled for many years with Parkinson’s Disease: It should not be assumed that people will feel guilty, angry, traumatised - or indeed hopeful, defiant & upfront. These & many other feelings are stages & signposts on the journey of ministry by those so affected, but there should be the openness in the procedures of the Church to enable any such feelings to be honoured, attended to & transformed as God gives grace through the Spirit.
I sub-headed this talk “Issues around impairment” - issues being practical, pastoral & theological matters that need attending to; and issues as things brought to birth - new understandings, new experience, new ways of ministering. I believe the Report, & I hope my presentation of it, has done justice to both. My prayer is that the aspirations of the Report, & the sensitivity, realism & hope expressed in the blessing we began with may be experienced by the men & women we’ve been thinking about & that God will give us to grace to enable it to happen.