Ministering to Governor Blagojevich
The Illinois governor, trying to get in an honest day's work. (AP Photo/Mark Carlson)
I am always intrigued when “local” news makes “national” headlines. The story on Governor Blagojevich is far from over, and I love to follow the juxtapositions between how it is covered in the local media versus the national media.
In that light, a couple paragraphs in one of The New York Times stories are worth citing:
Though Mr. Blagojevich made no public statement, and his lawyer did not return phone calls, one of the ministers who prayed with him at his home said the governor professed his innocence and gave no indication he would step down.
“He feels that he’s innocent and therefore we really should let everything roll out with the process,” said the Rev. Marshall E. Hatch, of New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist church in West Garfield Park.
. . . .
“When it comes to the governor and his situation, I don’t think he was expecting what happened, and it felt to him overwhelming and abrupt,” said Mr. Hatch, the Baptist pastor in attendance. “It’s been three days and he’s still processing. In a human sense, it would be rather normal to have to have [sic] a few days to process that.”
I’m glad that Governor Blagojevich is seeking pastoral counsel, even if it’s only for show. But publicly ministering to public officials is a sticky business. That’s why, as a pastor, I find Rev. Hatch’s statements curious. I am struck that he would choose to comment on the governor’s innocence and/or guilt. My own pastoral instincts would be to focus strictly on the spiritual and emotional issues at play, as he does in the last sentence the Times quotes.
Ultimately, publicly discussing the governor’s guilt or innocence strikes me as, at best, pastorally (and politically) clumsy. Not only for Rev. Hatch’s ministry to the governor, but also for his ministry to the people of New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church.
Travis Scholl, 35, is managing editor of theological publications at Concordia Seminary. A graduate of Yale Divinity School (MDiv), he is an ordained Lutheran minister. Despite some time away, he and his wife are native St. Louisans, as is the child they are now raising. 
??
I do not understand what is at all untoward in a minister sharing his impression of what a congregant has communicated to him. He says nowhere that he himself has any opinion, or even feeling, as to anyone’s guilt or innocense.
Maybe it’s in the ellipses …
I guess I don’t understand why it’s considered newsworthy when a public figure, particularly one who is in trouble, meets with a minister.
It strikes me as praying on street corners for show, and a minister allowing himself to be a mouthpiece.
Poor choices by the minister. If he is truly providing counsel, then it is “no comment.” Professional confidence is just that.
What does this have to do with religion??????? This seems like yet another ill conceived judenscum attack to marginalize Christianity. As if there’s some connection between these two pieces of trash - a political whore and a evangelical whore and the overall religious community????
The minisiter didn’t say that he thought the Governor was innocent, he merely said that “He (the governor) feels that he’s innocent….” No big deal, he is merely talking about the Governor’s state of mind.
What does the governor’s defense lawyer have to say? What do the lawyers at Justice have to say? The musings of the governor’s pastors is silly and certainly not newsworthy.
I believe the comment by BTW is (intentionally) offensive and inflammatory. In any case, only Christians themselves can marginalize Christianity, or not.
Rev. Scholl, I am with you on this one. It’s one thing to offer pastoral care to a public figure– it is quite another thing to comment (much less to the press!) about one’s interpretation of a parishioner’s mindset.
In my experience, effective pastoral counseling depends upon a certain degree of confidentiality to be effective.
Insightful post. Thank you.
Two possibilities about Rev. Hatch and his comments:
Choice 1: he’s not used to walking out of a parishioners residence and having a microphone stuck in his face. A question got thrown at him that he wasn’t ready for, and he answered it before he realized he was being recorded. This doesn’t make him either evil or stupid. It makes him human.
Choice 2: He’s using this as a forum for his own exposure and benefit, and is doing and saying things deliberately to make a name for himself.
Sometimes, I think we’re so used to everybody we see on TV with a microphone in their face as if they were a politician with an agenda that we judge everyone as if that is what they are. Give the guy a break. I don’t know him, never heard of his church before. Don’t give me this thing that he should have known better. What do any of us know of him, or his church, or his preaching, or anything? Why judge him harshly as if he was a political figure that is spinning us?
hs,
I apprecaite your amiablity and forgiveness. I suggest they can be separate from accountability and responsibility. Forgiveness is giving up our judgment of another, not excusing their behavior.
Jesus told the woman, “Go, and sin no more.”
If the minister was out of integrity and stepped outside his commitments, we can share with him what we heard for his benefit.
We do not serve out Christian community well if we do not make the distinctions and hold to what we are committed to.
Cutting him a break dos not serve him well, or our community.
Listening is how we hold each other accountable.
If he wants to play the game with us, he will be coachable, and listen for how he is occurring to others.
Having said that, anger or righteousness has no role in that conversation, and I acknowledge you for maintaining that commitment.
Still, he screwed the pooch. When I look for what is missing in his exchange, it was sharing what he is committed to. He missed it.
Also, knowing what he was walking into he had time to prepare and seek advice. Faith is not a substitute for doing your homework.
One comment may have been, “I listened, and we prayed together for clarity, strength, and courage for himself, his family, and the people of Illinois.”