 |
Be A Boundary Violation? |
|
The sacraments of Penance...Eucharist...and Matrimony do not require the priest to touch the person).
But anointing a person about to undergo surgery is also permitted...and parts of the body involved may be touched directly...if it is appropriate.
So...with the person's permission...the priest might touch the head of someone about to undergo brain surgery.... But he would not touch the genitals of a woman about to undergo a hysterectomy...whether or not he had permission.
In these cases the rubrics recommend that the ritual take place...
|
Those are the prescribed ministry boundaries for anointing the sick.
become a boundary violation?
Here's an example...
Father Philip was a well-liked pastor of an ethnic parish that revered priests and looked on their every word as gospel truth. He worked in the parish successfully for five years until a complaint of sexual misbehavior was sent to the bishop by several of his women parishioners. It seems Father Philip discovered what he thought was a loophole in the rubrics for administering the sacrament to the sick -- and he exploited it. The loophole being that the sacrament of anointing the sick could be administered to people pre-operatively -- even if they were not dying. He took the idea of touching the body part literally and generally. Over several years women came to Father Philip to have him pray over them before they underwent surgery. He told them about the anointing...which they understood as religious therapeutic touch for healing. All agreed to have Father Philip administer the sacrament. All of the administrations were conducted in private without anyone but the woman present with him. Father Philip explained that privacy was necessary because the affected body parts were intimate. One woman agreed to have her exposed breasts anointed...another her genitals...another her lower back. Later as part of their complaint the women stated that they felt uneasy but no more so than they did with their physicians. This 'ministerial' activity went on until one woman told her husband about it and informed him that several of her friends had been privately anointed by Father Philip as well. The affected families spoke together and the complaint was made. Father Philip was removed from his ministry and sent for evaluation and residential treatment. Father Philip was candid in his treatement that the anointing was supposed to be therapeutic touch and he believed it was. Though he did not think of his actions as sexual...but ministerial..he admitted frankly that the anointing procedure...as he performed it... was sexually stimulating for him. |
Boundary violations
This is an example of how important the Aristotle quote is in carefully defining the boundaries of a ministry.
Father Philip ignored the carefully defined rubrics for anointing the sick...which emphasize the public nature of ministry...just as the scriptures do.
His choice of a private room...with no one else present...violates the Location boundary.
The women who complained were not hospitalized. They were capable of having their families present at the anointing of the sick.
The priest also misled them and possibly gave them false hope in order to get them to agree to the private anointings.
He led them to believe that the sacrament of anointing the sick is a healing touch.
But it is not considered to be healing touch. Rather it prepares the person for death...not for life.
We all know that many things can go wrong in surgery...so it's appropriate to anoint people about to go 'under the knife'.
A properly conducted anointing of the sick meets the definition of ministry that you'll find on our Homepage:
both minister and people closer to God. |
The priest who carries out his ministry duties properly brings himself closer to God...and the sacrament brings the person closer to God.
But in this example the anointing of the sick is not ministry because...
the priest carried out his private anointings to get sexual pleasure...not to bring the women closer to God.
When terms like ministry are properly defined...you can tell immediately which actions are ministry and which are not.
You can return from this anointing the sick page to the therapeutic touch page .
And make sure your ministry does not wander off course. Sign up for our newsletter The Boundary Hunter. To sign up just click on the book cover below and you will also receive your FREE copy of The Ministry Audit.
SUBSCRIBE to our monthly newsletter The Boundary Hunter. To subscribe just click on the book cover below and download your FREE copy of The Ministry Audit
|
We never share your email address with anyone and only use it to send you the newsletter or answer questions and queries you submit through our contact page.
From here you can
