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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 18
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 18

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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Issue Date:
Page:
18
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PITTSBURGH POST-GAZbll SUNDAY, JUNE 13, 1W (Mf 13 III Till CLIHGY Burnout, low pay lead some to bolt the cloth just does not have the prestige or the pay it did 40 years ago." Lacking the gifts By the time Messina graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 1981 and had spent five years ministering, he discovered he was very good at public speaking. The problem, the 50-year-old Messina said, was, "I always felt inadequate and ill-equipped for the pastoral call, the situation where you're there visiting in a hospital and the mother turns to you and says, 'Why is my child dying of There is no answer for that" He left the active ministry of the United Methodist Church in 1986. "I wanted to be able to help people in some way, but I just didn't have the tools," he said. "I never felt I was given the other theological gifts to be a pastor." Dropouts among clergy, however, haverrt affected seminary attendance. In fact, seminary enrollment has increased 3 percent in the past five years among the 229 member schools of the Pittsburgh-based Association of Theological Schools, the accrediting agency for graduate theological education in North America.

The latest figures show 65,416 students in Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox graduate schools of theology in the United States and Canada. ii I u.i. in. iiiiii I f. to.

$.. from the Jesuit order in 1975. For years, he said, his theological focus had been on the role of lay people in the church. "I sort of had the feeling that to pursue that focus I was going to have to be one, and to do that would require a change in my life. It was very existential," he said.

"I had to live there as a layman to find out how do you live this faith in the midst of having to pay bills and daily responsibilities. I love the Jesuits; I just didn't like being a priest. The role alienated me from the very people I wanted to work with." Until that realization, Hanigan had been satisfied with his career choice. At the time he decided to train for the priesthood, priests were held in high esteem and his Family was happy with his choice. "You become convinced that God's nudging you in that direction," he said.

"I couldn't really imagine saying 'no' to what one perceives to be a call to try it." The Jesuit program requires seven years of study, followed by three years of teaching and another three of studying theology. Hanigan went on to earn his doctorate in religion from Duke University and then teach for several years at Syracuse and Marquette universities. During those years, it became increasingly clear to Hanigan that it was time to make a change. But when, he wondered, and how? "It's a question of whether want to live in good standing with the church," he said. "I wanted to leave with permission and in good standing." The departure from the order can be lengthy, sometimes taking years.

Hanigan had to complete a questionnaire and write a letter about his reasons for leaving. "I tried to explain that I've tried to live this life as best I can," he said of the letter he wrote. "But instead of filling me with peace it was making me bitter." The most difficult aspect of leaving the order was getting approval for his petition to be laicized, or released from his obligations. Such approval can come from only the Pope. Hanigan received his release in a matter of months from Pope Paul VI.

He overcame the myriad troubles he faced after leaving the order no credit history, no job, no savings and found a teaching job at the now-defunct Villa Maria College in Erie, run by the Sisters of St. Joseph. Two years later, he married although he stresses that the desire to get married was not what motivated him to leave the priesthood. In 1979, he came to Duquesne, where he became director of graduate studies for 10 years and chairman of the theology department for three. He now teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in social and sexual ethics.

"My own personal take on spirituality, on ethics, on moral life, on how to combine periods of reflection and thoughtfulness with action and how to read yourself is largely influenced by that Jesuit training," he said. "I don't regret a moment of it. CLERGY FROM PAGE A-1 merous reasons that some people drop out of ministerial work, including low pay, dissonance between expectations and reality, burnout and lack of societal respect Adair Lummis, a sociologist at Hartford Seminary's Center for Social Religious Research, said many ministers who drop out today are second-career clergy who also were dissatisfied with their first jobs. "People are going into other occupations and then looking at seminary," said Lummis, who co-authored a 1996 study that interviewed more than 4,500 former ministers in 15 Protestant denominations about their reasons for leaving the clergy. "They're not happy in the corporate world or the technical world.

They say to themselves, 'I want to do something real with my life. I want to go to "And then when they get out in the world they find out, 'Oh my God; it's not that They expect their life will be like they think the life of their minister or rabbi is. Reality sets in." And, Lummis said, "Unlike secular professionals with graduate education, clergy's salaries in most denominations start lower than that of other recent graduates and do not increase with experience to anywhere near the same degree. Ministry as a career Clerical studies dorft always lead to ministry By Steve Levin Post-Gazette Staff Writer Joel Pfeffer never had any intention of being a rabbi, yet spent 10 years in yeshiva studying for his smicha, or ordination. All the years of study for the Pittsburgh native were not for a career in the synagogue but part of his commitment to his religion.

"To live a life of Torah values you must engage in the study of Talmud and Jewish law," Pfeffer said, referring to the vast compilation of laws and commentaries. "Part of my commitment was being able to teach and speak publicly about Torah, and to do that I had to educate myself and become knowledgeable. "It creates a responsibility in my personal and professional life to set an example for others to follow." Unlike many other clergy who drop out of the profession because of negative expenences, Pfeffer is an example of a smaller group who undertake clergy studies to enrich themselves and A key trend: Slightly more than 50 percent of all students were 35 or older. As recently as two decades ago, Lummis said, the majority of students were in their 20s. Increased age and its attendant health issues can play a role in clergy dropout Carol E.

Lynn of Hampton was 49 by the time she was ordained in 1986 after graduating frorrt Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. But the effects of a neuromuscular disease prevented her from receiving a local church assignment because church leaders felt she could not keep up with the physical demands of the ministry. She is a project manager with the University of Pittsburgh for research studies about the relationship of smoking and lung health. Yet Lynn still sees herself as a minister. "What I'm doing isn't as important as how I'm doing it," Lynn said.

"Ministering is the reality of a certain way of living. It doesn't matter where you work I hope that some way at some time I have been ministering through this job." Feeling betrayed Lummis' study concluded that the main cause of clergy dropout was their sense that they did not get enough support from ordained leaders. In fact, the study found, the clergy often felt "betrayed." "They had obviously expected their bishop, district superintendent, conference minister, presbyter, or judicatory deployment officer to be on their side in church fights, not on the side of nasty good old boys on the congregational governing boards or supporting their unethical or unfair senior pastors," the report said. Larry Young, an associate professor of sociology at Brigham Young University and co-author of the 1993 book "FUU Pews and Empty Altars," said that in the Roman Catholic Church today, for every 10 who are ordained, four drop out. The most prominent reasons, he said, are burnout and a desire to marry.

As the number of priests declines in relation to the number of church members, Young said "There is more stress and more work demands on priests than at any other time in recent memory." After working at churches in Wilkinsburg and McKeesport, Messina hoped that the Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church would allow him to be a traveling evangelistic preacher. When it didn't happen, Messina left active ministering with the designation of "honorable location," which allows him to keep his ordination and officiate at funerals, weddings and baptisms. Last summer he officiated at the weddings of two daughters of his clients. "It's full service," he joked. "Do their taxes and marry their kids." But Messina is serious about his disenchantment with full-time ministering.

He feels that the church has lost its "mystique" through the "trivializing" of God, and says the church hierarchy has a penchant for inhibiting the growth of individual churches by placing too much responsibility on ministers. mm mis- those around them, without becoming rabbis, ministers or priests. After his ordination, Pfeffer joined his father's foam rubber business for two years before entering the University of Pittsburgh's Law School in 1982. He said he decided to become a lawyer to "work together with people and help them with their problems." "I did not go into law because I couldn't make a living as a rabbi." During his last two years of law school he served as rabbi for a small Squirrel Hill synagogue on Bartlett Street known as the Russian shul. He enjoyed being part of the mostly elderly congregation, talking with them and leading the morning prayers before his law classes, and the afternoon and evening prayers afterwards.

"I tried to be involved in people's lives as much as I could," Pfeffer, 46, said. "I was not doing this for a living so there were limitations to what I could do." As a partner of Meyer Unkovic Scott, Pfeffer works primarily in immigration and corporate law, estate planning and probate matters. But he also sees clients about living wills and termination of life support, issues which sometimes are very upsetting for them. "I often encourage them to seek counsel from their clergy," Pfeffer said. "If I feel that it's something they would appreciate knowing, I tell them about my being a rabbi." 220 MINUTES FOR $35 500 MINUTES FOR $50 800 MINUTES FOR $70 1400 MINUTES FOR $100 4" "UH "But 1 a teacher, rm comfortable in that social role relating to students and teachers.

I didn't like being a cleric." For more information, (all the store nearest you. Business Customers (all (412) 395-1111 for an appointment. www.aeriall.(om Annie O'NeillPost-Gazette photos James Hanigan "I love the Jesuits; I just didn't like being a priest." "The modern-day minister in the church has too much depended on him," he said. "The minister should not be there to do for the congregation; he should be there to do things with them, to help them go where they want to go." Regional offices of some denominations, including the Presbyterian Church USA and the Disciples of Christ, reported that they hadn't had any examples of clergy dropout. Neither has the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, said the Rev.

James S. Ruggiero, secretary for clergy and religious. "We are definitely seeing a reduction in the number of priests, but it's happening in terms of death or retirement," he said. The diocese provides support groups, continuing education classes, retreats and counseling for priests to help prevent burnout "so no one feels like a Lone Ranger" Ruggiero said. Priesthood didn't fit In Hanigan's case, it wasn't the hierarchy, celibacy or burnout that led to his departure You called.

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