• Module 1 - Attitudes
  • Introduction
  • The Function of Attitudes
  • Opportunites for Discussion
    • Ambivalence
    • Faith Tradition
    • Youth Experiences
    • Case Study
    • Final Reflection
• Module 2 - Awareness
  • Introduction
  • General Awareness Information
  • Salient Features
  • Stages of Alcoholism
  • Physiological Impact
  • Other Options
  • Handouts
• Module 3 - Assimilation
  • Introduction
  • Roles of Religious Leaders
  • Codependency
  • Class Activity
  • Case Study
  • Handouts
• Module 4 - Action
  • Introduction
  • General Considerations
  • "The Twelve Steps" Information
  • Factors
  • Phases
  • Additional Possibilities
  • Handouts

Module 1: Attitudes

Opportunity for Discussion - A Case Study

 

Competency 10 – Be able to acknowledge and address values, issues and attitudes regarding alcohol and other drug use and dependence in:
Oneself
One's own family

Once again, the inclusion of these optional opportunities is contingent upon the amount of time you have available for this module. A case study helps to concretize the material and information that is covered and discussed in class.

Case Study

This case study can be reproduced for class, if you so choose, and can be used as you see fit as an instructor. You may want to adapt this case study to your religious tradition. Its purpose is to accentuate and impress upon students how the presence of alcoholism or another form of addiction in a household can impact someone doing ministry.

The Pain of Blaine

Blaine was the third of four children in a family considered as blue collar in a large metropolitan city. The family would attend Mass on holy days and sporadically throughout the rest of the year. His mother worked part-time as a waitress. Blaine's father worked two jobs in order to help support the family, so he was infrequently at home during Blaine's waking hours. As he grew older, he came to experience the impact of his mother's drinking and was often awakened by the screaming and the slapping as his mother and father would fight. He could never make out the words, but he heard the anger and was fearful of what might happen. His older sister and brother did not say much about what was going on because it was too embarrassing to talk about. None of the children felt comfortable bringing friends to their home because they were never sure in what condition they would find their mother.

At times when she was drinking, she would become abusive with the children. She seemed to lay heavy responsibilities on Blaine's sister who was the oldest of the children. His sister often functioned as the mother in the family, seeing to the welfare of her three younger siblings. His older brother would react violently when his mother was drinking and they often engaged in physical skirmishes, at times even drawing blood. Blaine felt protective of his baby sister, but when she came toddling into the room, she would deflect the intensity of what was going on, as she was so cute.

Blaine grew in his fear of his mother and he made every attempt to either appease her or stay out of her way. He was so fearful of conflict and a nasty encounter, that he unconsciously developed a style of life that basically was peace at any price! He was always obedient when his mother asked him to do something, even if he thought it outrageous, because he could not stand the thought of conflict. He was frightened by the prospect of his mother and father getting a divorce. He was frightened that maybe his family would have to split up, and he didn't know what would happen to him.

Even though his mother and father were not terribly religious, they did want to see to it that he was instructed in their religious tradition, so he was enrolled in some classes leading to his inclusion as a confirmed member of his religious community. He found some solace in being in his place of worship. It distracted him from the pain and personal fears that beset him every day and night. As he grew into his teenage years, he was not a rebellious child because he was fearful of conflict, so he dutifully obeyed his parents, his priest and others who were in authority. In the years he was growing into adulthood, his mother's drinking increased, her actions became more bizarre, her moods more unpredictable. He hated the way she treated his father and his siblings. He hated the fact that she basically ignored him as though he were invisible.

He also learned to conform to the wishes, desires and commands of others as a way of precluding conflict and experiencing what he thought was some modicum of peace in his life. One day after he had served at the altar with his priest, the priest asked him whether he sensed a calling to the priesthood. Blaine had not thought about that, but he began to fantasize about what it would be like to finally be out of the home, to enter a profession where he believed there was little or no conflict where he could help people and hopefully keep them from living the horrible lifestyle he saw in his mother. The idea grew on him and after high school he decided to enter a college affiliated with his faith tradition and thereafter to enter seminary and study for the priesthood. For Blaine, this was in his mind a ticket to freedom, an opportunity to serve God and others, a vocation that presumably he thought was virtually bereft of conflicts and trouble. So he entered a theological seminary and began his studies to become a priest.

Questions to Stimulate Dialogue Related to the Case Study

(As you address these questions, remember that no one intervened to help Blaine either by referring him to Alateen, Al-Anon or a student support group at school.)

1. How did the alcoholism of Blaine's mother impact him developmentally?
   
   
2. What conflicting attitudes were evident as he thought about his mother?
   
   
3. What role did his religious tradition play both in his life and in his vocation?
   
   
4. As a leader in a religious community, how do you think he will respond to people committed to his care who may be suffering from alcoholism?
   
   
5. How will his attitudes towards alcoholics, alcoholism and perhaps even alcohol itself, affect his pastoral identity and his understanding of pastoral care?
   
   
6. Is his call to ministry invalid?
   
   
7. What will be necessary for him to do in order to become a whole person and an effective priest in his religious tradition?

Without a doubt there will be students in your class who will feel that this is their story and not only Blaine's story. They have been shaped, formed and molded by growing up in an alcoholic family. Should you have such students in your class, referral for counseling and assistance is in order to help them come to terms with the impact on their lives of childhood experiences so they do not carry the attitudes created by their family history into their ministerial work.

The rationale for placing this module first was to encourage students to be honest about their attitudes regarding alcohol, alcoholics and alcoholism. Hopefully, in whatever time you have available, you will have impressed upon them how critical it is to be honest about their attitudes growing out of their social matrix or communal setting, their religious training/experience or lack thereof, the experiences that they have had growing up in a particular household, and the personal experiences they have had whether with members of their own household, friends or others in their community. The way in which they appropriate the rest of the material in succeeding modules having to do with their knowledge of the disease, their role as religious leaders and what is possible for them to do in their own settings as religious leaders is all contingent upon the attitude that they bring, whether that of caring of or condemning.

 

Module Home • Introduction • Function • Ambivalence • Faith Tradition • Youth Experiences • Case Study • Final Reflection

 

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