Liturgical Ministries

The scope of these parishioners is vast.

They are altar servers, choir members, and those who make us welcome as we enter church. Others are readers or sacristans. The seasonal preparations are the work of the environment team.

How fortunate we are to have them serving St. Theresa parish.

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This is not intended to be a review of the book "Ministry Burnout" by John Sanford, yet you may find these factual potential burnout situations interesting indicators as "red flags" for all of us ministers in the service of the common good in the community.

- The role of the ministering person is never finished.

- The ministering person cannot always tell if his work is having any results.

- The work of the ministering person is repetitive.

- The ministering person is constantly dealing with people's expectations.

- The ministering person is working with the same people, year in and year out.

- Because he works with people in need, there is a particularly great drain on the energy of the ministering person.

- The ministering person deals with many people who come to him or the church not for "spiritual food" but for "strokes".

- The ministering person must function a great deal of the time on his "persona".

- The ministering person may become exhausted by failure.

Religious ministers are particularly susceptible in their work to that feeling of joyless exhaustion popularly known as "burnout."

Their job is a never-ending one, always conducted in the public arena. They bear the grief and burdens of troubled people but are expected, for their part, to be models of charitable deportment. For these and other reasons, a minister"s life is difficult and emotionally draining.

John A. Sanford, a psychologist and an ordained Anglican clergyman, has written this wise and helpful book for victims and potential victims of ministry burnout. He deals concretely with the circumstances that give rise to spiritual exhaustion and identifies their underlying dynamics. He also suggests strategies that people can use to overcome ministerial malaise and to rediscover the joy of creative service.

Clergy and lay ministers of many different denominations will benefit from this positive and therapeutic book. Professional people in other fields of work will also be helped by its keen insights.

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