Pastoral Relationship with People with Intellectual ... - Theses

292Thompson’s call for the Christian to develop a consciously-consideredunderstanding of the place of people with disabilities in the world bears closerelation to the institutional context described in this extended reflection, and theplace of people with intellectual disabilities and the pastoral carer in that setting.Due cognisance of institutional power structures and their effect needs todetermine the pastoral carer’s relationship to those power structures and thepeople with intellectual disabilities who are duly oppressed.Therefore, for the pastoral carer who shows due awareness of structuralrelationships and influences, who seeks a position of immanence and mutualitywith those with whom they exercise care, pastoral care is observed to not be asimple engagement in some form of benign, uncritical, good deed. To thecontrary, by moving close to the individual, the pastoral carer is consciouslymaking a political protest against established modes of relationship that generallyexist between professional carers and administrators and those for whom theybear responsibility.Furthermore, the deliberate decision to move close to the individualcomes as a response to not just seeing and understanding the oppressive effect ofinstitutional structures and practices upon individuals. It comes throughunderstanding the effect of those structures and practices upon the wholecommunity of people for whom the institution bears responsibility. In comingclose to the individual through Immanent Thou-ness one is being expressive of apersonal commitment to and care for an oppressed community. It is at this pointthat we can speak of the necessity of regarding the care of the individual and thecommunity as indivisible. Holistic care involves caring for each and every part ofthe body. 726It is also at the point of drawing near through confession that our gazemoves from a self-absorbed sense of self to focusing on the person with thedisability for who they are, both as a human being and as one living in theinstitutional context. With this clarity of vision, we see the other as both a flawedyet loved and forgiven human being, which is also what we see in ourselves. Wesee the other from the perspective of their whole human identity. We are able tosee the person specifically within the context of the institution in which they live726 Forrester, Truthful Action, 79.