Pastoral Relationship with People with Intellectual ... - Theses

140disabilities and their families that enable questions of life anddeath, reality and meaning, fear and hope, to be articulated in amanner that encourages an exploration of such issues in an honest,caring environment. 386This principle defines the existential component of chaplaincy and pastoralministry in terms that are inclusive of all people, recognising spirituality as thatwhich gives meaning and purpose to all beings. This implies a respect for peoplethat transcends denominational or religious orientation. Existential issuesconcerning life and death, reality and meaning, fear and hope, are detailed in theiruniversal context. In so doing the people with intellectual disabilities who areaccommodated in the institutions in question are located in an all-inclusivepastoral context.The third principle is Pastoral Care:Pastoral care is a caring resource (available) at the client’s point ofneed. It allows the client to ‘set the agenda’, with the chaplainavailable to journey with the client as a vulnerable, caring,listening fellow human being. The chaplain may provide aspiritual perspective and a liturgical resource as a tangible adjunctto pastoral ministry. 387Apart from being practised in a holistic, caring context, as well as having regardfor the spirituality of all people, pastoral care does not principally seek to imposean agenda on the individual. The agenda for the pastoral care offered is based onwhat the pastoral carer hears and discerns through careful listening to speechand/or non-verbal cues, as well as past information gleaned about the individualfrom previous pastoral engagement. The notion of pastoral care as journeyindicates an ongoing relationship that seeks pastoral engagement in an ‘all of life’context. Here, individually generated issues for pastoral engagement may includethe gamut of joys, sorrows and ordinary, incidental experiences that are thecontent of human life. All such experiences can be points of necessary andneedful pastoral engagement. The pastoral carer engages with the individual as avulnerable fellow human being. This serves to indicate that the shared sense ofhumanity between pastoral carer and individual is a necessary ingredient in a386 ibid., sec.2.387 ibid., sec.3. Bracketed word is that of author.