Pastoral Relationship with People with Intellectual ... - Theses

135diffusion of moral influences and value systems, along with the growing potentialfor significant disparity between the values of social systems and institutions, andthe individual private values of those constituted within those systems andinstitutions. 372In this extended reflection, the pastoral carer, who represents and upholdsWestern Judeo-Christian values and theological presuppositions, 373 finds himselfor herself needing to take account of the secular, Western values of theinstitutions in which he or she exercises pastoral care. There also needs to be anaccounting for the effect that these values have on the individual lives andcollective life of those accommodated in the institutions. It is amidst theseinfluences that the pastoral carer seeks to develop a liberating model of pastoralcare. Amidst such a potential disparity in value systems, the pastoral carer isrequired to account for his or her values and to be cognisant of how they can bebest interpreted and implemented at the individual and corporate levels of theinstitution.4.1.3 What of any ‘Abiding’ Pastoral Perspective?Given the pluralist context in which pastoral care often occurs today, 374 itis worth considering whether there are theologically-based presuppositions orvalues that remain as meaningful and helpful constants in terms of contemporarypastoral understanding.Campbell raises the question as to whether, under the scrutiny of postmoderncritique, there is anything from pre-modern eras that legitimately informscontemporary understandings of pastoral theory or practice. 375 There seems to belimited consensus on this issue. Speaking from a Reformed tradition, Campbelldoes proffer a case for the pastoral role of teacher and, in particular, thetraditional role of the minister as catechist and preacher to the congregation.372 Browning, The Moral Context of Pastoral Care, 27.373 Western Judeo-Christian values are taken as the reference point here given that thepastoral carer in this extended reflection is representative of such values. However, it isacknowledged that other pastoral carers may engage in institutional pastoral care from analternative religious or non-religious value system.374 The phrase often occurs is used in order to acknowledge that, whilst pastoral care doesoccur within the values and structures of a pluralist society, there are pastoral contexts andinstitutions where pastoral care is exercised in accord with a more dogmatic, traditional andconstantly-held value system. For example, this might include pastoral care offered within aninstitution that dogmatically upholds a fundamentalist and/or authoritarian religiousperspective where values may be regarded as unyielding in character.375 Campbell, Rediscovering Pastoral Care, 2.