Unaccommodated man: the pastoral care of the mentally handicapped

Abstract

This thesis attempts to look at the issue of pastoral care of the mentally handicapped from various angles raising question like the following: “Is it necessary to care pastorally for mentally handicapped people?” ”Can they be regarded as persons?” “If so, what are their special needs and how can we meet them?” “Is it possible for them to develop their potential?” “Are they educable so that they can be helped to do this?” “What methods can best be used to help them achieve this potential?” “How will an understanding of such methods affect the pastoral care of such people?” “Have they any contribution to make to the church and their community?”.The method used to raise these questions and to arrive at some of the answers is one of personal reflection upon actual experience coupled with current thinking on the issues involved in philosophy, psychology, education, theology and spirituality. From this approach it is hoped to demonstrate that he answer to the questions above can be positive, and that a key factor in developing the potential of the mentally handicapped, as for anyone, is the relationship which an individual has with other people and with God. If we do justice to what we discover by examination we will see that the potential contribution of the mentally handicapped to the church is vitally important at three levels, namely, theological, spiritual and practical (i.e. in terms of actual workship). We will see that a church which has no place for such people is deficient and unbalanced. We will also discover that the community is similarly deficient if it cannot provide the opportunities for these people to develop their potential and if it cannot accept the vital contribution they have to offer.