CPSP Pastoral Report

Participants were assigned to small groups where they presented their professional and clinical work for consultation. Time was also scheduled for each participant to report on his or her learning to the larger group. This exercise serves to inculcate in the participant ownership of his/her own learning and enables an assessment of the participant�s openness to supervision. Furthermore, the learning is shared with those who were not in the presenter�s small group.

The Tavistock group relations session, with Raymond J. Lawrence, Jr. as consultant, is an ongoing model of group theory and practice during NCTS events. This model continues to offer invaluable insight into the �here and now� conscious and unconscious dynamics of group in relation to leadership and authority. It also provides participants with the space to exercise their personal authority and leadership if they so choose to. During this event, resistance to the authority of the consultant both by the participants and the training staff was identified as the dominant posture of the group. Concerns pertaining to the dichotomy of supervisors and trainees within the group were raised and the question about commitment in light of the fact that some of the participants were not there for the Tavistock relations session.

We were honored by the presence of Dr. Lester Ruiz, Assistant Dean and Professor at New York Theological Seminary. He shared with us an inspiring presentation on Problems in Theological Reflections in Pastoral Supervision. He presented substantive issues that we face in terms of pastoral theology. He stated the need to articulate clinical experiences in religious language. He invited us to struggle with the two possible places where problems occur (1) meta-theoretical (plurality and difference) and meta-theological (how do things hang together). He further shared vignettes of his own training during his CPE residency. He gave critical comments on the �Benchmarks for a Pastoral Diagnosis� by Raymond Lawrence.