There has been some interesting articles in the National Press on the subject of bullying in the clergy and the involvement of the union, Unite. The Times had a good piece yesterday.
A bishop is among the 150 clergy and ministers who have sought protection with the trade union Unite from what it describes as a culture of bullying in the established Church.
Most of those who have sought help are in the Church of England but Roman Catholic priests, rabbis and imams have also joined Unite, according to Rachael Maskell, national officer for the union’s faith workers’ branch.
The union, which has set up a special helpline for priests intimidated by their bishops or congregations, is reviewing its clergy caseload as part of its campaign for full employment rights for clergy.
Among the 2,500 members of the faith workers’ branch are four bishops, including one “very prominent” Church of England bishop and one from the Church in Wales.
Ms Maskell told The Times that bullying and sexual harassment of clergy were serious problems that were not being adequately addressed. One cleric suffered bullying from parishioners when he refused to perform “pagan blessings”, she said. In another parish disgruntled worshippers put notices up around the village, alleging that their vicar was incompetent.
“Church of England bishops are in denial about all sorts of things that go on. Sexual harassment of women clergy is not rare; it is out there,” Ms Maskell said.
“The more they try to bury it, the more pain there will be,” Miss Maskell said. She warned that clergy who dared to raise the issue risked being put on a “black list” that would make it difficult to find work in future.
The Archbishop of Canterbury admitted that there was a problem with bullying in the Church when he spoke at a TUC conference last year. He said: “I have good reason to know from pastoral contacts with people how much of an issue it can be and I wish we were better at that.”
So if we accept that there is a problem with bullying in the clergy, what are the solutions?
1 Identifying precisely where the conflicts and bullying are manifesting. Is it a clegy/parishioner problem or is it an inter-clergy dispute? I have come across both kinds of dispute and in my experience like in society, some clergy can be bullies just as much as lawyers or human resource professionals or even mediators. If you can identify what the problems are, you have a greater chance of reaching a solution.
2 Using skilled mediation to deal with disputes. Emotion is a key driver of disputes and the ability to untangle the mess stems from the skill of the mediator to go through this. If the clergy could embrace a mediation scheme together with appointing skilled mediators, this would represent a way forward.
3 Consistently learning from the process. By looking at the nature of the disputes, obtaining feedback and seeking to improve the experience the clergy would start to enhance its relations with its community and internally.
4 Show courage in addressing the issue of bullying. This involves in addressing the causes of bullying looking ojectively at alleged conducxted perputrators and victims and seeing if there is something both parties can learn. It may be that both victims and bullies could be looking to enhance their communication skills. Training may be a possible solution.
Justin Patten, Mediator