Examples Of Ethical Issues In Pastoral Counseling

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As shepherds of God’s flock, many pastors often receive personal requests for spiritual guidance and help with sensitive issues from parishioners that result in one-on-one pastoral counseling sessions. While engaging in pastoral counseling sessions, the pastor has the potential to be confronted with a multitude of ethical and legal issues, some of which by law are required to be reported to legal authorities. Furthermore, pastors may fall victim to the lure of temptation and experience moral failure by entering into inappropriate relationships with the counselee. Throughout the United States, most states allow pastors to maintain a certain clergy-congregant privilege in which the free flow of information between pastor and counselee remains confidential; however, the clergy-congregant privilege in not absolute (Schafer & Levine, 1996). Thus, in cases of child abuse, molestation, elder abuse, and threats of crime or bodily harm to another human being, …show more content…

(2008). Ethical issues in pastoral counseling. Christian Ethics Today, 1-10. Retrieved from http://markbeaird.org/wmlib/pdf/articles/ethical_issues_in_pastoral_counseling.pdf Hammer, R. R. (2017). The counselor and the law: A guide to legal and ethical practice. Retrieved from http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/201003/201003_048_hot_topics.cfm Kollar, C. A. (2011). Solution focused pastoral counseling: An effective short term application for getting people back on track. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. Moskowitz, S., & DeBoer, M. J. (1999, Fall). When silence resounds: Clergy and the requirement to report elder abuse and neglect. DePaul Law Review, 49(1), 1-89. Retrieved from http://via.library.depaul.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1628&context=law-review Schafer, A. G., & Levine, D. (1996, November 1). No sanctuary from the law: Legal issues facing clergy. Loyola of Las Angeles Law Review, 177-214. Retrieved from

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