Indian catholic priests' identity, relational autonomy and attachment to god: A narrative analysis

Indian catholic priests' identity, relational autonomy and attachment to god: A narrative analysis

Psychology

A thematic narrative analysis was carried to explore the 28 South Indian Roman Catholic religious priests’ identity, relational autonomy and attachment to God. Fourteen participants were selected from the structured priestly ministry settings namely education ministry and, another 14 participants from the semi-structured priestly ministry settings namely parish and priestly formation ministry settings. The qualitative data collected through the interviews were analyzed through the narrative thematic analysis method. The thematic narrative analysis found five major themes, influence on the priestly identity, value-oriented life, purpose in life, priestly celibacy and challenges in the priestly ministry and 46 subthemes for the participants’ priestly identity narratives. For relational autonomy, the study found five major themes, impactful childhood, the influence of priestly formation, interpersonal relationships, relationship with the person in authority and decision making and 42 subthemes. For attachment God, it found six major themes, God as an attachment figure, seeking and maintaining proximity to God, God as a haven of safety, God as a secure base, perceiving God as stronger and wiser, and individual differences in attachment to God, and 24 sub-themes. The study results revealed strong support for the correspondence pathway, as the majority of the participants had narratives of correspondence between the attachment to their parents and their attachment to God. It also found evidence for the theme of compensation in three participants’ narratives.

Reddy, D Rajagopal - 1750070

CHRIST (Deemed to be University)

English

PhD