United Methodist pastors in North Carolina are more obese than their neighbors like them, an “alarming” reflection of their isolation and job stress, according to a Duke University study.
It’s the latest in a series of troubling studies on the state of clergy health, and that has experts saying that some ministers are working themselves to death — perhaps even seeing that as part of the job description.
The most recent survey says it is the first in which researchers have directly compared a set of clergy with their immediate neighbors for rates of various health conditions, and the results aren’t good.
The obesity rate is nearly 40 percent for white United Methodist clergy aged 35 to 64, according to a survey of 1,726 ministers. That’s 10 percent higher than comparable North Carolina residents (white, in the same age group, with jobs and health insurance.)
In order to be subject to the stressful conditions listed, one must cooperate with them. Also, no clergy person need be obese, or even should be.
Senior Priest is correct. I have returned to the gym after being addressed by my parishioners as “Your Circumference”.
Senior Priest is not quite on target. An immediate example: it is Sunday evening. I have just come back from supper with a fellow priest. At 9 pm his doorbell rang. Through the CCTV he could see a teenage girl. She had walked through dangerous city streets to bring him a jar of coins collected in that family’s home for a church charity. Of course he could have refused to answer the door and enter the five-minute conversation that ensued. But not to co-operate would have been hard-hearted and possibly more upsetting than going to the door. (Before you tell me this is nothing to complain about: my first callers on door or phone are often around 8.30 am, the last around 12 hours later. I routinely meet couples to discuss marriage preparation at 8.30 pm. I cannot easily fit them into already crowded weekends.)
Managing our people’s expectations is one of the most difficult tasks of our ministry. Stress does lead to overeating as a release. And yes, I am back at gym too. The problem with gym is not the physical exertion, it is the sheer boredom of treadmill and cross-trainer.
Addendum: I think that this intrusiveness is one little-noticed downside of a celibate clergy. When there is a pastor with a family in the rectory, people hesitate to intrude on what they rightfully recognize as the family’s privacy and togetherness time. A single person is not given the same privilege.
I don’t think any of you are too familiar with the Methodist itinerant system of clergy deployment. You are liable to be moved anywhere, in any given year, at the behest of your bishop and his/her cabinet.
This makes for an incredible amount of stress. Many Methodist congregations, who don’t want you there in the first place, will dig in their heels, refuse to cooperate in anything and then say “this is our church, we were here before you came and we will be here after you leave, so we will just wait you out and do what we want to after you leave.” As long as such congregations are paying 100% percent of their apportionments, the district superintendent is not going to fight them too hard, and you will soon be moved to another church.
Add to this the recent push by Methodist bishops to drop the “guaranteed appointment for elders in good standing” practice and you have just added no job security to the stress of being subject to movement at any time. Is it any wonder that Methodist pastors might turn to food in times of stress? BTW, it’s even worse for white male, orthodox pastors. They are the new untouchables in the United Methodist caste system, and I would look for Methodist bishops to be weeding them out of jobs in the near future when the guaranteed appointment system officially ends.
Daniel, I remember reading something written by William Willimon who most readers of this site would know as a wise writer and preacher. If I recall correctly, he depicted a notional Methodist pastor with children at a crucial stage in local schools being ordered to move by the bishop, and pleading to no avail to be allowed to stay, the bishop citing the pastor’s commitment to obedience. Willimon, to my surprise seemed to commend unquestioning obedience, which surprised me, even although as a Roman Catholic priest myself I am committed to obedience. Even in the Catholic Church these days there is generally a degree of consultation about appointments.
The power of bishops has always been an interesting fly in the ointment in “full communion” talks between Methodists and Episcopalians in the US. Methodists are usually uncomfortable that Bishops are an ordained office in the Episcopal Church, and are always bishops, even after retirement. Once a Methodist bishop retired or quits, he or she is no longer considered a bishop in any way, as I understand it. (I’ve had a Methodist bishop explain this to me in detail.)
Ironically, however, Methodists give their bishops a lot more power than Episcopal Bishops (at least in the US) dream of having, particularly in regards to installed clergy. Methodist bishops are closer in power structure to Roman Catholic bishops.
This always makes for fascinating ecumenical debate.
I remember a new priest in the parish who announced to us all that he would be pleased to take tea with us in our homes, but that he would not eat our cakes and cookies, so not to bake any on his account. He told us that his health was important to his ability to be a good priest. He was not diabetic. It was obvious that he owned his waistline; it was not to be subject to the good intentions of the ladies of the parish. I think his up front dealing with this was one way of reducing stress…or not permitting himself to be a victim of it.
Frances Scott
I really love religious communities because they work on the principle of assisted living communities! I would love a world in which money would not exist and everybody would just help everyone else out! A world where hard physical work is still important not looked down upon!