Principles for Managing Burnout among Catholic Church Professionals

Authors

Thomas G. Plante, Santa Clara UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-2022

Publisher

Springer Nature

Abstract

While a large body of research literature has explored the assessment, treatment, and prevention of worker burnout, much less research has focused on the unique issues associated with burnout in religious organizations, especially within the Roman Catholic Church. Catholic Church employees, whether clerics or laypersons, are embedded within a 2,000-year-old global hierarchical structure and organization that is unique in that it includes clerics with vows of chastity, obedience, and often poverty as well as ongoing crises related to clerical sexual abuse scandals, significant financial stressors, and a faith tradition that often overvalues sacrifice and suffering. The purpose of this brief article is to highlight burnout issues among Roman Catholic Church employees and offer principles and strategies for recognizing, treating, and avoiding burnout among these professionals. Five key principles for burnout management as well as several case examples are also presented.

Comments

The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-022-01039-7

Recommended Citation

Plante, T.G. Principles for Managing Burnout among Catholic Church Professionals. Pastoral Psychol (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-022-01039-7