VirtueOnline: ENGLAND: Evil-minded parishioners making life hell for clergy

Irritable Clergy Sydrome. Here is a quote from a recent Virtueonline post regarding a new clergy malady: "Churches in Britain are a 'toxic cocktail' of bullying and terror, as parish priests struggle to lead congregations dominated by neurotic worshippers who spread havoc with gossip and manipulation. The 'dark side' of parish life is detailed in a report published by the Church of England, which describes how peace and love are in desperately short supply in the pews of churches this Christmas. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is among the contributors to the report, The Future of the Parish System: Shaping the Church of England for the 21st Century. One of the authors, Sara Savage, a psychology and religion researcher at the University of Cambridge, reports how increasing numbers of ministers are going down with a new illness, irritable clergy syndrome. Priests are being torn by the pressure of having to be nice all the time to everyone, even when confronted with extremes of nastiness, she says." I laughed when I read this. I wonder what the DSM-IV characteristics are for Irritable Clergy Syndrome. I'm sure I have it. I've been irritable for years. Why do they have to be nice all the time? Is "nice" a Biblical virtue? What about when St. Paul says about the heretics mandating circumcision in Galatians that he wished they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves. All said in Christian love of course. Maybe we need a few more clergy like the famous Peter Cartwright, known to fight with drunkards and once said to then General and future President Andrew Jackson, "that he would be damned to Hell just as quickly as any other man if he did not repent." Maybe we need to stop being so nice at church and bring back church discipline. Just a thought. Irritable Clergy Syndrome . . . you gotta be kidding me. This could be from LarkNews.com.