Why Pastoral Counselling and what does it mean?

I am at times asked by a few of my peers, why I have an interest in Pastoral Counselling, since I do not require it for my practise. I take questions asked of me more seriously than before, perhaps because an important aspect of my practise is active listening. We are all the product of everything that has touched us. We are never the same after any experience. We change sometimes for the better and sometimes for worse. Change is constant unless there is no change at all and that I think is impossible. We are a reflection of all that has been imposed on us and what we have imposed on ourselves. Religion, Politics and Sex, three things that may cause great and interesting arguements are part of that experience of life. To ignore or dismiss any part of a person is in my opinion not healing for the entire person. I think it is important to understand the spirituality and religion of the person because it is a very important part of that person. Sometimes there is trauma associated with the "three non topics." People come from cultures where there is no freedom. People come from cultures where they have been raped and dismissed of any individuality. People come from cultures where they have been exploited. People are frightened of their sexuality because they have been raised to think of it as dirty, they have been sexually abused; they have been exploited. People come from religious backgrounds where they think they need to be subservient, or not worthy of love or full of sin. We live in a world where there are so many ideas, values, and possibilities for opportunity. Yet we live in a world where too many are obstructed from finding their true self. They do not know who they are because they have not been allotted the opportunity to find themselves, even from their own homes. In my opinion Pastoral Counselling is counselling with love of the person. It is counselling with acceptance of the person as who and she is regardless of the respective past and confusion. It is in my opinion, providing a hand and walking with the person through the wilderness so that the person is not alone and comes out finding his or her promised land. There is no need for candles in my opinion or literal prayer because the journey is a prayer. Pastoral Counselling is going beyond the science by incorporating all the possibilites that may be. Pastoral Counselling means different things to different people because that is who we are. We come from different places with different baggage good and not so good and that too is brought into the counselling room. So, do I need to be a Pastoral Counsellor. No. I do not. I am quite functional and effecient as a Registered Therapist. However, I want to be able to be an inviting figure to someone from any faith so he or she can come to me and share their experiences and spirituality without judgement or disbelief. You see, I believe my clients with all that is brought to me. As a Pastoral Counsellor, I accept their confusion and lost of hope based on the conflicts they feel from the after effects of their own perspectives from their religion. Do I need this? Perhaps I just want this for myself and my clients who have their own spirituality and religion aspiration, confusion, etc..... to feel comfortable to bring it to the table and be taken seriously. This weekend why not take some time to reflect on what you believe and why? Do you feel that your beliefs are healthy? Do you feel that you have been judged harshly? Do you believe you are better than someone else who believes differently? Have you been rejected because you are from a different faith than your family of origin? Have you married someone from a different faith which is confusing to your children? How do you cope with what is happening to you? Are you happy where you are at? Where do you want to go to? Have a nice weekend and do something nice for someone you love. Spending time with that person may be all that is required. That is the greatest gift.