Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Disappointment

In preparation for heading off to Ohio in a few weeks and being duly examined for ordination, I have to do a psych eval. (In my diocese, you do a psych eval before postulancy, and then again before ordination if it's been three years since you got postulancy.) This is fine, though it certainly doesn't thrill me.

Prior to said evaluation, you have to sign a release. Again, fine. I understand that the bishop will get this report, that they'll follow legal guidelines for not sharing it, etc.

Except.

I also have to agree never to try to see the results or get a copy of the report.

This bothers me greatly. If we're trying to create a process that's open, that encourages honesty and self-disclosure and gives people the confidence that that won't be used against them, we need access to reports of the state of our minds. I'm disappointed that my diocese, which mostly has a really good and safe process, requires us to waive this privilege.


On a happier note, I have just learned that I will not have to meet with the diocesan Board of Examining Chaplains to discuss deficiencies in my academic preparation and the possibility of remedial work before ordination. Thanks be to God for that.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Bad, bad diocese! That's really dumb. There is no reason why the one being tested shouldn't see the results. The end result of such a policy is to make you mistrust the diocese, to divide you from the people evaluating you... And I doubt they want that.

What are you going to do?

Beth said...

Sign the release, get ordained, and then ask politely, "WTF are we doing here, and can we please stop?"

Anonymous said...

The policy is the same here too. Despite that the process is sane and open, mostly. And, now, more than a year after my diaconate ordination, I still have no idea what the report said.
We missed you on Valentine's Day, btw.

Blessings and prayers.

Jon said...

I'm Presbyterian and, not only do we get to see the reports, but we see them first and have to sign off for them to be sent to our judicatory. Not that we are light on requirements or exemplars of a welcoming, open process...