Trade and Commerce, termed in general Market, has been a major thrust for the overall development of Globalisation. While Market in general has played an important role in the progress of the society, the present economic ideology pursued by the market, being capitalistic in nature, overlooks stable growth and development ‘for all’. Hence, economists have addressed this market ideology as “Market Fundamentalism.” The endeavour of this essay would be to address the challenges MF has on developing nations; with special reference to the poor, and its implications for Pastoral Care and Counseling. This concern stems from the fact that, though free market economy has almost come to stay, “liberalisation of the international economy and the deregulation of domestic economies have had serious effects in Asia and in the emerging financial markets, leading to economic crisis, unemployment and impoverishment.”
1. MARKET FUNDAMENTALISM
The term “Fundamentalism, is a complex phenomenon” . One of the main features of fundamentalism is the “reference to a holy text that is considered infallible and inaccessible to critical interpretation. Fundamentalists do not only express their faith in their holy text, but also [engage] in their own capacity to understand its contents and apply it to themselves, and to others.” Fundamentalists, whether political, economic, cultural, ecological or religious, “do not allow their beliefs to be questioned.”
Applying this observation to MF; it “refers to an ideology that places an almost religious faith in the workings of the free market. The cornerstone of this philosophy...is the belief that the pursuit of private interest through unregulated markets is all we need to promote the public good, because markets inevitably create efficiency, growth and stability.” The presupposition that “markets by themselves work efficiently and are self-adjusting” Economist Joseph Stiglitz states, “neglects the fact that markets work poorly when institutions are weak and economic information is not widely available.” Stiglitz's theorizing about these issues earned him the Nobel Prize in 2001.
Meanwhile Arbuckle assert that “contained in the fundamentalist mythology of the neo-capitalist culture is the Social Darwinist assumption that the poor are poor through their own fault and that the rich have a fundamental right to become richer....Welfare services only make poverty worse and reduce the incomes of the wealthy, so they must be reduced.” These fundamentalistic outlooks of the economy necessitate both a critique and the need to draw implication for pastoral ministry.
2. THE IMPACT OF MARKET FUNDAMENTALISM
It would be unfair to state that India has not gained from the resurgence of economic policies. As Stiglitz states, “some countries have benefited enormously from globalization, even some countries in the developing world.” Yet, this essay postulates that though MF has been optimistic about; development, transformation of social life and empowerment of the poor, the impact of “free-market theology has been devastating...and [has] made the world more vulnerable,” especially in the developing countries.
2.1 Development
In case free market economy speculates development, then according to Sen, “development requires the removal of major sources of unfreedom: poverty as well as tyranny, poor economic opportunities as well as systematic social deprivation, neglect of public facilities as well as intolerance or over activity of repressive states.” But “despite unprecedented increase of overall opulence, the contemporary world denies elementary freedom to vast numbers-perhaps even the majority-of people.” Not only is there is so much inequality in development, MF has also weakened States freedom to monitor development. Sociologist T.K.Oommen states that such policies have “restructured government institutions, dismantling the developmental bureaucracy and de-emphasising states participation in economic activities.” Therefore the “state is increasingly compelled to share its sovereignty...this is evident from the success with which WB, IMF, the WTO and such other agencies can impose their conditionalities on the Indian State.”
For the deprived, development is a misnomer; rather it’s seen as displacement. Except for the social activist and the NGO’s very little effort has been taken to highlight the injustice of development-induced IDP’s. It was only in 1994 that the Indian government admitted that “ten million people displaced by dams, mines, deforestation and other development projects were still ‘awaiting rehabilitation.” Roy shares that “of the tens of millions of IDP’s...- refugees of India's "progress"- the great majority are tribal people... Over the past five years or so, the governments of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal have signed hundreds of MOUs – all of them secret – with corporate houses worth several billion dollars... In order for the MOUs to translate into real money, tribal people must be moved.” So, social activist insist that “industrial development through Special Economic Zones would need special vigil across the country as this type of economic growth [is] not ‘inclusive’.” While a progressive government in India which had “championed ‘India Shining,’ was voted out,” the increase in the number of poor farmers, rural labourers, urban unemployed, slum-dwellers refugees, street children, ironically reflects a growing darkness; consequences of MF which governments and such policies undermine.
2.2 Social Life
Civil unrest and protracted wars are termed as the ‘internal security threats’ in India. But hardly does one recognise that these unrests are signs of struggles for survival. Social instability “revealed by ongoing wars, ethnic conflict, fundamentalist attitudes...large-scale disruption of communities...reflect a lack of global leadership and a failure to achieve basic human rights for more people in the world.” It is deplorable that the State is even prepared to battle for “multinational corporations on the prowl for 'sweetheart deals' that yield enormous profits” ; a battle “against the poor who dare to question their lot instead of accepting the crumbs that are flung at them” and “simply because [they] refuse to vacate their land and homes.”
One cannot also ignore, with the onslaught of MF, other issues that affect the society, be it “cultural invasion and assimilation and the disappearance of original local practices and cultures, large scale migration and ‘brain drain’ from developing countries leading to the loss of local sufficiency and continuing dependence on developed nations.” Isn’t it true that these “vested interests colour the way one would want to see the world and the ‘reality’ we believe we have to deal with.” Indeed, private interests have seldom had public good at heart.
The advent of liberalisation has affected families too. Family Therapist Shobha Pais, states that ‘modern life-styles, changing professional and personal expectations are impacting relationships of marriage and commitment, divorce rates are increasing especially in cities, inter-generational relationships get strained, and teenage pregnancies are reaching an all-time high along with increase of teenage abortion.’ India is no more new to live-in relationships and single parenthood; seen as outcome of the influences and pressures of MF.
Disparity of social life is moreover seen when an affluent generation of families live side by side with those who “struggle to meet the basic needs and their failures continue to diminish the joy of living in family context.” Many members of the family are therefore being abused for gain (e.g. child labour) and stories abound of families’ suicide because of their inability to live satisfactorily. Suicide, “as studies according to Emil Durkheim had shown, is the product of the anomie and alienation caused by modern urban living.” An affluent society, that’s not guided, gives little priority to those in the same community who struggle for dire needs.
2.3 Poor
The poor pay the consequence of all fundamentalistic issues. The displaced find little space as they move to cities for survival. The growing slums in India is a “logical outcome of the capitalistic path of development....While greatly contributing to the national economy and the wealth of the rich by cheap labour, the slum dwellers are victims of low wages...The city, up to a point, is able to absorb them as cheap labour, but is not built to accommodate them.” Zeki Ergas summarises the crucial and negative social implications MF has on the poor;
“a) the privatisation of essential services- such as, water, electricity, health, education, transportation and telecommunications - and the suppression of state subsidies that make them affordable for poor people; b) the reduction (if not the complete elimination) of budgetary deficits as a prerequisite for IMF or WB loans- because controlling inflation and achieving a stable and convertible national currency are judged to be more important than the alleviation of poverty; and c) the lack of protection of poor farmers (for example,100,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide in the last ten to fifteen years) and of ‘infant’ industries.”
No wonder, a UN 2008 report on India expressed concern that “high levels of poverty as well as serious food insecurity and shortages persist in the country, disproportionately affecting the population living in the poorer states and in rural areas.” Fundamentalistic claims -that pursuit of private interest through unregulated markets is all we need to promote the public good- has overlooked the poor, and has been evidently critiqued worldwide.
Have Christians ignored these concerns? Raja Chelliah urges that “Christians with like-minded people have to explain to the population at large when they have been taken for a ride...and that there is a large role for the State to supplement the market economy to make it more pro-community, pro-poor and to mitigate the possible damage it can do to the fabric of society as well as to natural resources. These contexts do necessitate implications for pastoral ministry.
3. IMPLICATIONS FOR PASTORAL MINISTRY
John Cobb, a theologian who reflects remarkably on Economics, addresses “economism as the first truly successful world religion,” whereby he means “that which organizes the whole of life and thought around a single vision or commitment.” Concerned about the silence of the church in the face of economism, he asks why the church has not recognized “the most powerful and successful idolatry of all time.” PCC cannot turn a blind eye to this idolatrous economic policy, for “it is not enough to relieve the symptoms of injustice, but also...prophetically and courageously point out the root causes that give rise to these injustices.” Pastoral ministry also needs to educate, empower, nurture, liberate and even compassionately resist systems which are sinful. In drawing implications for PCC, this essay would limit itself to the following three areas;
3.1 Pastoral Care and Counseling Redefined
On may wonder, what relation PCC has with issues related to economics. The traditional definition of the practice of PCC by Clebsch and Jaekle as "helping acts done by representative [religious] persons, directed toward the healing, sustaining, guiding, and reconciling of troubled persons whose troubles arise in the context of ultimate meanings and concerns” has been criticised as “implicitly individualistic in its focus; that that it emphasises helping persons rather than group or communities.” This holds true from an Indian perspective because people “exist in cultures that contain complex, extended family systems, and there is considerable emphasis on the importance of the interconnections between family members” and the larger communities. Pattison advocates a model of pastoral care that he calls effective, by paying “close attention to people, the human situation and the world in which we live”
Extending it further from families and communities, LaMothe states that “pastoral reflection, responsibility, and practice should not...avoid national political and economic policies that have consequences for people within and outside our communities.” Meanwhile, McLemore suggests “four new dimensions need to be added to Clebsch and Jaekle’s definition...to more fully reflect this growing awareness; the justice-related aspects of compassionate resistance, empowerment, nurturance and liberation.” It’s therefore pertinent that conventional understanding of pastoral counselling be reworked incorporating socio-political and economic dimensions, whereby, PCC involves in the life of “communities of people willing to love and care for their world and to challenge those who would exploit rather than care.”
3.2 Preparing an Involving Church
The Kingdom of God is the basis of the Church’s involvement in Communities. Since “the Kingdom of God is both present and future, both societal and individual, both physical and spiritual,” René Padilla shares that “eschatology is not an encouragement to escape into the distant future, but an incentive ‘to infuse the world with hope, for both this age and the next...this means that we must...respond to immediate human needs, and press for social transformation.” If pastoral care is to be seen as an agent of hope within the context of the Kingdom of God, the Church needs to be prepared for the same.
It is imperative, therefore, that pastoral reflection, responsibility, and practice should “discuss and confront (or not) moral issues, and in how we organize ourselves to care for people within and outside the congregation.” A prophetic pastoral ministry is therefore equipping the community by ‘sermons that challenge one’s pride, greed, and sense of entitlement, by discussing how the sufferings and needs of the wider communities are related to or the result of larger societal, political, and economic policies?’ Such discussions need to be also translated into action wherein the Church would “engage in healing of the wounds that (people) experience from the stress of modern life in the global economy. They must also engage in challenging the systems of power so that people will identify with the liberation struggles of the world’s people.” Rensburg states that only an active engagement ‘will empower and motivate the church to become a partner with poor communities to strategise joint efforts in combating a common enemy. In turn the church needs to also address its restless pursuit of wealth and luxury; the destructive forces of a consumer’s mentality should be exchanged for a sober Christian lifestyle.’
3.3 Empowering the Poor and Guiding the Families
Pastoral ministry in empowering the poor primarily needs to address the apathy both Church and the Nation has towards the poor. Varma states that “Indians are generally incredibly self-obsessed, wrapped in their personal world of loss or gain to the exclusion of anything else.” In international meets where countries like India seek “benefits of trade to poorer countries,” it is observed that “the same governments have a lamentable record on poverty reduction” at home.
Also PCC that facilitates healing and reconciliation for poor should recognise that “health is also a development issue, seeking liberation of the socially and economically marginalized.” Therefore the need is to “restore the ‘broken’ esteem of this discriminated people” and as counselors “recognise and affirm in word and action the spiritual foundation to self-worth.” Developing a sense of self worth and empowerment requisites perseverance as “attempts to break the shackles of poverty [when] perpetually unsuccessful, the prisoners of poverty become reluctant to keep their hope alive. This leads to an unwillingness to be encouraged or to participate in efforts to alleviate the effects of poverty. The result is an alarming complacency that could easily lead to fatalism and a perception of 'born to be poor'.” PCC needs to help them realise that rather than any fatalistic explanations, there are other dimensions of the society that is intrinsically the reason for their predicament. Therefore in empowering them, counseling “must be integral and address the whole person- psychological, social, spiritual, and economic.”
While ministering to families and communities in Asian contexts, PCC needs to take note that “Asian cultures are shame oriented cultures.” Therefore “therapeutic intervention should be delivered in a way that does not challenge the integrity of individuals and families or cause them to lose face in their families or communities.” While the Indian family cohesive system help’s in prevailing over difficulties, pastoral counselors should also prepare the Church to “give priority to those families in our communities who are most in need, who are fragmented and literally falling apart.... [because they] cannot function independently in our society [and] are directly affected by any fiscal downturn.” The Church cannot but be a supportive community both within and to others whereby it bridges the gap, the anomie and the alienation that is prevalent in today’s market ridden society.
In conclusion, this essay has taken an effort to substantiate that the present economic ideology which posits itself as resourcefully efficient for the global wellbeing, has failed miserably as it is not guided on the basis of social concerns and national priorities. Rather, efforts for development, transformation of social life or empowerment of the poor, has been disturbing and made the world more susceptible to economic crisis. Market Fundamentalism therefore matters for pastoral critique with implications because “in a society where the gap between rich and the poor continues to widen with enormous adverse consequences for poor in terms of their health and well being the need for socio-politically aware and committed pastoral care has never been greater.” PCC cannot also afford to be individualistic in its approach; rather it needs to be passionately involved in healing and empowering communities affected by forces that are fundamentalistic in origin.
ACRONYMS
IDB: Internally Displaced People
IMF: International Monetary Fund.
MF: Market Fundamentalism
NGO: Non-Governmental Organisation
PCC: Pastoral Care and Counseling.
UN: United Nations
WB: World Bank
WTO: World Trade Organisation
UN: United Nations
MoU: Memorandum of Understanding
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Augsburger, David, Pastoral Counseling across Cultures. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1986. Cited by Robert Solomon, “Pastoral counselling in Asian context,” Intercultural Pastoral Care and Counselling, 1/ (1996): 22- 25.
Benatar, SR. “Moral Imagination: The Missing Component in Global Health.” PLoS Med 2/12 (2005): e400. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0020400.
Bower, Joseph L. “The Future of Market Capitalism Introduction.” Harvard Business School Summit Report (2008):18.
Carson, David K. Sachin Jain and Sylvia Ramirez. “Counseling and Family Therapy in India: Evolving Professions in a Rapidly Developing Nation.” International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling 31/ 1(2009).
Cavanagh Robin and John Broad. “Message to the G20: Swear Off Market Fundamentalism.” Share The World's Resources (2008): 1.
Chelliah, Raja. “The Impact of the Market Economy on the Poor.” Transformation: An International Journal of Holistic Mission Studies Mission Studies 12 (1995):1.
Clebsch William R & Charles R Jaekle. Pastoral Care in Historical Perspective. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1964.
Cobb, Jr., John B. “Consumerism, Economism, and Christian Faith.” In Buddhist-Christian Meet, Tacoma, Washington (2000), www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1089.
Das, Prafulla. “Bulldozer Regime.” Frontlineonnet 27(12) (2010).
Durocher’s, John. India’s Growing Slums. Bangalore: Centre for Social Action, 2000.
Epstein Gil S. and Ira N. Gang. "Understanding the Development of Fundamentalism." Rutgers University, Department of Economics, 200222 (2002):2.
Ergas, Zeki. “Market Fundamentalism versus Sustainable Development.” Share The World's Resources (2007):1-5.
George, Joseph. “The changing pattern of the family in India: Contemporary exploration.” In The changing patterns of Family in India; A Renewed Introduction by Joseph George. Edited by P.D Devanandan and M.M Thomas. Bangalore: National Printing press, 2007.
Guha, Ramachandra. India after Gandhi. Noida: Picador 2008.
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Kelly, Francis D. “Ecumenical Issues within Christian Education Today.” Journal of Ecumenical Studies. 18/4 (1981): 588-89.
LaMothe, Ryan. “Empire Matters: Implications for Pastoral Care.” The Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling 61(2007): 422.
Mark Cooper and Barbara Roper, "Reform of Financial Markets." Consumer Federation of America 4(2009): 5.
Miller-McLemore B. J. & B. L. Gill-Austern. Feminist and Womanist Pastoral Theology. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999. Cited by John Meteyard, “Challenges Confronting Pastoral Care & Counseling In 21st Century Australia,” Australian Journal of Pastoral Care and Health 2 (2008): 6.
Mohandas, Siddharth. “Market Fundamentalism: A review of Joseph Stiglitz’s Globalization and Its Discontents.” Council on Foreign Relations (2002): 1-2.
___________, “SEZs need special vigil says Ela Bhatt.” The Hindu 4/12 (2007).
Nath, Reena and Jane Craig. “Practising family therapy in India: How many people are there in a marital subsystem?” Journal of Family Therapy 21 (1999): 390–406.
Oommen, T.K. Nation, Civil Society and Social Movements. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2004.
Padilla, René. “Integral Mission and its Historical Development.” In Justice, Mercy and Humility edited by Tim Chester. Bucks: Paternoster, 2002.
Pais, Shobha. "Globalization and Its Impact on Families." 4th Viennese Conference on Mediation, Vienna, Austria (2006), http://www.bildungsmanagement.at/download/Konferenz%202006/Pais.pdf.
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1. MARKET FUNDAMENTALISM
The term “Fundamentalism, is a complex phenomenon” . One of the main features of fundamentalism is the “reference to a holy text that is considered infallible and inaccessible to critical interpretation. Fundamentalists do not only express their faith in their holy text, but also [engage] in their own capacity to understand its contents and apply it to themselves, and to others.” Fundamentalists, whether political, economic, cultural, ecological or religious, “do not allow their beliefs to be questioned.”
Applying this observation to MF; it “refers to an ideology that places an almost religious faith in the workings of the free market. The cornerstone of this philosophy...is the belief that the pursuit of private interest through unregulated markets is all we need to promote the public good, because markets inevitably create efficiency, growth and stability.” The presupposition that “markets by themselves work efficiently and are self-adjusting” Economist Joseph Stiglitz states, “neglects the fact that markets work poorly when institutions are weak and economic information is not widely available.” Stiglitz's theorizing about these issues earned him the Nobel Prize in 2001.
Meanwhile Arbuckle assert that “contained in the fundamentalist mythology of the neo-capitalist culture is the Social Darwinist assumption that the poor are poor through their own fault and that the rich have a fundamental right to become richer....Welfare services only make poverty worse and reduce the incomes of the wealthy, so they must be reduced.” These fundamentalistic outlooks of the economy necessitate both a critique and the need to draw implication for pastoral ministry.
2. THE IMPACT OF MARKET FUNDAMENTALISM
It would be unfair to state that India has not gained from the resurgence of economic policies. As Stiglitz states, “some countries have benefited enormously from globalization, even some countries in the developing world.” Yet, this essay postulates that though MF has been optimistic about; development, transformation of social life and empowerment of the poor, the impact of “free-market theology has been devastating...and [has] made the world more vulnerable,” especially in the developing countries.
2.1 Development
In case free market economy speculates development, then according to Sen, “development requires the removal of major sources of unfreedom: poverty as well as tyranny, poor economic opportunities as well as systematic social deprivation, neglect of public facilities as well as intolerance or over activity of repressive states.” But “despite unprecedented increase of overall opulence, the contemporary world denies elementary freedom to vast numbers-perhaps even the majority-of people.” Not only is there is so much inequality in development, MF has also weakened States freedom to monitor development. Sociologist T.K.Oommen states that such policies have “restructured government institutions, dismantling the developmental bureaucracy and de-emphasising states participation in economic activities.” Therefore the “state is increasingly compelled to share its sovereignty...this is evident from the success with which WB, IMF, the WTO and such other agencies can impose their conditionalities on the Indian State.”
For the deprived, development is a misnomer; rather it’s seen as displacement. Except for the social activist and the NGO’s very little effort has been taken to highlight the injustice of development-induced IDP’s. It was only in 1994 that the Indian government admitted that “ten million people displaced by dams, mines, deforestation and other development projects were still ‘awaiting rehabilitation.” Roy shares that “of the tens of millions of IDP’s...- refugees of India's "progress"- the great majority are tribal people... Over the past five years or so, the governments of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal have signed hundreds of MOUs – all of them secret – with corporate houses worth several billion dollars... In order for the MOUs to translate into real money, tribal people must be moved.” So, social activist insist that “industrial development through Special Economic Zones would need special vigil across the country as this type of economic growth [is] not ‘inclusive’.” While a progressive government in India which had “championed ‘India Shining,’ was voted out,” the increase in the number of poor farmers, rural labourers, urban unemployed, slum-dwellers refugees, street children, ironically reflects a growing darkness; consequences of MF which governments and such policies undermine.
2.2 Social Life
Civil unrest and protracted wars are termed as the ‘internal security threats’ in India. But hardly does one recognise that these unrests are signs of struggles for survival. Social instability “revealed by ongoing wars, ethnic conflict, fundamentalist attitudes...large-scale disruption of communities...reflect a lack of global leadership and a failure to achieve basic human rights for more people in the world.” It is deplorable that the State is even prepared to battle for “multinational corporations on the prowl for 'sweetheart deals' that yield enormous profits” ; a battle “against the poor who dare to question their lot instead of accepting the crumbs that are flung at them” and “simply because [they] refuse to vacate their land and homes.”
One cannot also ignore, with the onslaught of MF, other issues that affect the society, be it “cultural invasion and assimilation and the disappearance of original local practices and cultures, large scale migration and ‘brain drain’ from developing countries leading to the loss of local sufficiency and continuing dependence on developed nations.” Isn’t it true that these “vested interests colour the way one would want to see the world and the ‘reality’ we believe we have to deal with.” Indeed, private interests have seldom had public good at heart.
The advent of liberalisation has affected families too. Family Therapist Shobha Pais, states that ‘modern life-styles, changing professional and personal expectations are impacting relationships of marriage and commitment, divorce rates are increasing especially in cities, inter-generational relationships get strained, and teenage pregnancies are reaching an all-time high along with increase of teenage abortion.’ India is no more new to live-in relationships and single parenthood; seen as outcome of the influences and pressures of MF.
Disparity of social life is moreover seen when an affluent generation of families live side by side with those who “struggle to meet the basic needs and their failures continue to diminish the joy of living in family context.” Many members of the family are therefore being abused for gain (e.g. child labour) and stories abound of families’ suicide because of their inability to live satisfactorily. Suicide, “as studies according to Emil Durkheim had shown, is the product of the anomie and alienation caused by modern urban living.” An affluent society, that’s not guided, gives little priority to those in the same community who struggle for dire needs.
2.3 Poor
The poor pay the consequence of all fundamentalistic issues. The displaced find little space as they move to cities for survival. The growing slums in India is a “logical outcome of the capitalistic path of development....While greatly contributing to the national economy and the wealth of the rich by cheap labour, the slum dwellers are victims of low wages...The city, up to a point, is able to absorb them as cheap labour, but is not built to accommodate them.” Zeki Ergas summarises the crucial and negative social implications MF has on the poor;
“a) the privatisation of essential services- such as, water, electricity, health, education, transportation and telecommunications - and the suppression of state subsidies that make them affordable for poor people; b) the reduction (if not the complete elimination) of budgetary deficits as a prerequisite for IMF or WB loans- because controlling inflation and achieving a stable and convertible national currency are judged to be more important than the alleviation of poverty; and c) the lack of protection of poor farmers (for example,100,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide in the last ten to fifteen years) and of ‘infant’ industries.”
No wonder, a UN 2008 report on India expressed concern that “high levels of poverty as well as serious food insecurity and shortages persist in the country, disproportionately affecting the population living in the poorer states and in rural areas.” Fundamentalistic claims -that pursuit of private interest through unregulated markets is all we need to promote the public good- has overlooked the poor, and has been evidently critiqued worldwide.
Have Christians ignored these concerns? Raja Chelliah urges that “Christians with like-minded people have to explain to the population at large when they have been taken for a ride...and that there is a large role for the State to supplement the market economy to make it more pro-community, pro-poor and to mitigate the possible damage it can do to the fabric of society as well as to natural resources. These contexts do necessitate implications for pastoral ministry.
3. IMPLICATIONS FOR PASTORAL MINISTRY
John Cobb, a theologian who reflects remarkably on Economics, addresses “economism as the first truly successful world religion,” whereby he means “that which organizes the whole of life and thought around a single vision or commitment.” Concerned about the silence of the church in the face of economism, he asks why the church has not recognized “the most powerful and successful idolatry of all time.” PCC cannot turn a blind eye to this idolatrous economic policy, for “it is not enough to relieve the symptoms of injustice, but also...prophetically and courageously point out the root causes that give rise to these injustices.” Pastoral ministry also needs to educate, empower, nurture, liberate and even compassionately resist systems which are sinful. In drawing implications for PCC, this essay would limit itself to the following three areas;
3.1 Pastoral Care and Counseling Redefined
On may wonder, what relation PCC has with issues related to economics. The traditional definition of the practice of PCC by Clebsch and Jaekle as "helping acts done by representative [religious] persons, directed toward the healing, sustaining, guiding, and reconciling of troubled persons whose troubles arise in the context of ultimate meanings and concerns” has been criticised as “implicitly individualistic in its focus; that that it emphasises helping persons rather than group or communities.” This holds true from an Indian perspective because people “exist in cultures that contain complex, extended family systems, and there is considerable emphasis on the importance of the interconnections between family members” and the larger communities. Pattison advocates a model of pastoral care that he calls effective, by paying “close attention to people, the human situation and the world in which we live”
Extending it further from families and communities, LaMothe states that “pastoral reflection, responsibility, and practice should not...avoid national political and economic policies that have consequences for people within and outside our communities.” Meanwhile, McLemore suggests “four new dimensions need to be added to Clebsch and Jaekle’s definition...to more fully reflect this growing awareness; the justice-related aspects of compassionate resistance, empowerment, nurturance and liberation.” It’s therefore pertinent that conventional understanding of pastoral counselling be reworked incorporating socio-political and economic dimensions, whereby, PCC involves in the life of “communities of people willing to love and care for their world and to challenge those who would exploit rather than care.”
3.2 Preparing an Involving Church
The Kingdom of God is the basis of the Church’s involvement in Communities. Since “the Kingdom of God is both present and future, both societal and individual, both physical and spiritual,” René Padilla shares that “eschatology is not an encouragement to escape into the distant future, but an incentive ‘to infuse the world with hope, for both this age and the next...this means that we must...respond to immediate human needs, and press for social transformation.” If pastoral care is to be seen as an agent of hope within the context of the Kingdom of God, the Church needs to be prepared for the same.
It is imperative, therefore, that pastoral reflection, responsibility, and practice should “discuss and confront (or not) moral issues, and in how we organize ourselves to care for people within and outside the congregation.” A prophetic pastoral ministry is therefore equipping the community by ‘sermons that challenge one’s pride, greed, and sense of entitlement, by discussing how the sufferings and needs of the wider communities are related to or the result of larger societal, political, and economic policies?’ Such discussions need to be also translated into action wherein the Church would “engage in healing of the wounds that (people) experience from the stress of modern life in the global economy. They must also engage in challenging the systems of power so that people will identify with the liberation struggles of the world’s people.” Rensburg states that only an active engagement ‘will empower and motivate the church to become a partner with poor communities to strategise joint efforts in combating a common enemy. In turn the church needs to also address its restless pursuit of wealth and luxury; the destructive forces of a consumer’s mentality should be exchanged for a sober Christian lifestyle.’
3.3 Empowering the Poor and Guiding the Families
Pastoral ministry in empowering the poor primarily needs to address the apathy both Church and the Nation has towards the poor. Varma states that “Indians are generally incredibly self-obsessed, wrapped in their personal world of loss or gain to the exclusion of anything else.” In international meets where countries like India seek “benefits of trade to poorer countries,” it is observed that “the same governments have a lamentable record on poverty reduction” at home.
Also PCC that facilitates healing and reconciliation for poor should recognise that “health is also a development issue, seeking liberation of the socially and economically marginalized.” Therefore the need is to “restore the ‘broken’ esteem of this discriminated people” and as counselors “recognise and affirm in word and action the spiritual foundation to self-worth.” Developing a sense of self worth and empowerment requisites perseverance as “attempts to break the shackles of poverty [when] perpetually unsuccessful, the prisoners of poverty become reluctant to keep their hope alive. This leads to an unwillingness to be encouraged or to participate in efforts to alleviate the effects of poverty. The result is an alarming complacency that could easily lead to fatalism and a perception of 'born to be poor'.” PCC needs to help them realise that rather than any fatalistic explanations, there are other dimensions of the society that is intrinsically the reason for their predicament. Therefore in empowering them, counseling “must be integral and address the whole person- psychological, social, spiritual, and economic.”
While ministering to families and communities in Asian contexts, PCC needs to take note that “Asian cultures are shame oriented cultures.” Therefore “therapeutic intervention should be delivered in a way that does not challenge the integrity of individuals and families or cause them to lose face in their families or communities.” While the Indian family cohesive system help’s in prevailing over difficulties, pastoral counselors should also prepare the Church to “give priority to those families in our communities who are most in need, who are fragmented and literally falling apart.... [because they] cannot function independently in our society [and] are directly affected by any fiscal downturn.” The Church cannot but be a supportive community both within and to others whereby it bridges the gap, the anomie and the alienation that is prevalent in today’s market ridden society.
In conclusion, this essay has taken an effort to substantiate that the present economic ideology which posits itself as resourcefully efficient for the global wellbeing, has failed miserably as it is not guided on the basis of social concerns and national priorities. Rather, efforts for development, transformation of social life or empowerment of the poor, has been disturbing and made the world more susceptible to economic crisis. Market Fundamentalism therefore matters for pastoral critique with implications because “in a society where the gap between rich and the poor continues to widen with enormous adverse consequences for poor in terms of their health and well being the need for socio-politically aware and committed pastoral care has never been greater.” PCC cannot also afford to be individualistic in its approach; rather it needs to be passionately involved in healing and empowering communities affected by forces that are fundamentalistic in origin.
ACRONYMS
IDB: Internally Displaced People
IMF: International Monetary Fund.
MF: Market Fundamentalism
NGO: Non-Governmental Organisation
PCC: Pastoral Care and Counseling.
UN: United Nations
WB: World Bank
WTO: World Trade Organisation
UN: United Nations
MoU: Memorandum of Understanding
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