Pastoral Relationship with People with Intellectual ... - Theses

161situation, the internally-derived qualities of the one who is undertaking theextended reflection become primary tools of narrative analysis andunderstanding.One of the primary issues with constructivist reflection concerns when anacceptable conceptualisation of the reality in question has been constructed. Theresponse relies upon the analytical and interpretive skills, and internal frame-ofreferenceof the one seeking understanding. As Rodwell asserts, the search forunderstanding “... can only be undertaken in an interpretive paradigm wherevalues and intersubjective shaping are acceptable research issues.” 427 Within thisenvironment reality is regarded as having been constructed in an appropriate formwhen the reality of the people and context under consideration is perceived to bereasonable and to make sense. 428In a specifically pastoral context consideration of the interior interpretiveframework raises the issue of the qualities of this pastoral practitioner that wouldbe of benefit in constructing the reality under consideration. Whilst this matterwill become more self-evident as issues of methodology and method arediscussed later in this chapter this practitioner advocates for the prioritization ofthe following pastoral qualities: awareness of relevant theological and socio-politically derived traditions clear understanding of disability models and the nature of institutions,and their effect on people with intellectual disability commitment to respectful and mutual pastoral relationship 429 capacity to reflect analytically and imaginatively amidst pastoral action 430 capacity to reflect pastorally and theologically amidst pastoral action 431427 ibid., 33.428ibid., 27.429ibid., 9. In social science terms the author here refers to ‘mutuality of relationship’ as‘respectful egalitarianism’. See also,Sunderland, Ronald. "The Dignity of Servanthood in Pastoral Care." The Journal of PastoralCare Counseling 57, no. 3 (2003): 269-79, 274.In contradistinction to medical or charitable models of care where the focus is on helping theone who is in need, here the author speaks pastorally of a mutuality of care in which thefocus shifts to what each brings and offers to the other in the relationship. Each enters theinterpersonal relationship on an equal footing, upholding the dignity of the other, andregarding the other as a full participant in the relationship. The term will be more fullydescribed in the following chapter.430 Riessman, Catherine. Narrative Analysis. Edited by Judith Hunter. Vol. 30, QualitativeResearch Methods Series. (Newbury Park: Sage Publications, Inc., 1993).