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MEDICINA CLERICA TO PASTORAL PSYCHOLOGY
have great need of a third kind of professional man:
psychotherapists who have had a thorough, all-round training in
mental treatment. They need not be physicians, but, like a
physio-therapist, they should have medical recognition and
work only under medical direction. . . . Their education should
be undertaken by the universities to ensure that it is well
balanced and complete.” In conclusion he remarks: ‘There is
naturally no reason why priests as well as physicians should not
take courses of instruction in psycho-therapy.” This seems to
imply that it should be possible for spiritual advisers to
undertake psychotherapeutic work, provided they are aware of its
limitations and conditions as Schou defines them.
It seems clear that the conflict of interests between religion
and medicine, between ‘caring for souls’ and ‘the healing of
souls’, would be resolved for some schools of thought if spiritual
advisers underwent training as psychotherapists and worked in
both spheres but kept the two types of activity strictly apart.
Many have tried to do this.
But is a development of this kind desirable? Among many
who were at first captivated and fascinated by the possibilities
of the art of mental healing, the conviction is growing that our
present need is to discover and develop a specifically Christian
method for the care of souls; a method grounded in the
Christian faith and as unique as that faith, having its own history and
its own task, and clearly aware of its own purpose. This is the
point from which we must begin: the Christian care of souls
must become conscious of itself as an essential ministry, having
its own peculiar responsibility and opportunity. What the
Christian spiritual adviser of today needs is not primarily a
course of instruction in psycho-therapy, but a deeper
consciousness of the purposes and possibilities of his own task. The
. urgent need is for a clearer understanding of the practical
problems that the care of souls in the modern world presents,
greater familiarity with the treasures of wisdom and knowledge
that past experience has provided, and a fuller sense of purpose
that will enable the spiritual adviser to make more conscious
use of all the opportunities presented to him by the desperate
plight of a civilisation that is running to seed.
In short, the first qualification of a spiritual adviser is a new
dedication and sense of vocation. Without this there is grave
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