Easily Fooled by H. Nigel Thomas

Author:H. Nigel Thomas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Guernica Editions

18

NOW, WITH HINDSIGHT, Millington feels that ETC didn’t train them sufficiently for the counselling they were expected to do. Their tutors told them that some “light counselling” came with their vocation, and, in an unstructured way, gave them a few pointers. Most of it by Dr. Sloan, a burly white-looking Bahamian with a nose that formed a massive ridge in his elliptical, puffy face. His seagreen eyes looked unmerciful. He was a head taller than Millington, who is six-one. Millington recalls his hulk leaning against the side of the lectern as he asked each of them to say what they’d do if a parishioner confessed to them that she had been raped when she was a young girl. Millington’s hands began sweating then, and a painful spasm seized his neck and held it in a vise. Sloan made the rounds of the class. No one answered. Millington’s head was held down, so Sloan couldn’t see his face. Millington heard the sounds of students shifting in their seats. When the vise let go and he was able to look up, those sea-green eyes were fixed on him. He faked a smile and Sloan’s gaze went elsewhere.

That day Sloan told them that their role was mostly to listen. “Let your parishioners tell their story their way. It’s only when you’re satisfied that they’ve said all that they want to say that you should speak: first, words of consolation, followed by advice to seek professional help. Where such services are available, every minister should have a list of them, complete with telephone numbers, addresses, and contact persons. No matter how dire the situation, don’t try to play therapist.” Sloan didn’t say what ministers should do where such services weren’t available. He added that in some instances, they might make suggestions that would help the person gain a better understanding of the problem. But in doing so, they were to move cautiously, and if they felt hesitant, they should refrain. At the end of the lecture he handed out a list of “necessary readings” and invited any who had questions or personal problems to visit him in his office. Again, while saying so, his eyes were fixed on Millington. Millington never went to see him.

Four of Millington’s cohorts from different denominations left during the first year. CW (Charles-Wesley Joseph) was the only one he had information on. CW was one of four AMCs in their cohort. He held Marxist views that he knew would “flummox the lecturers.” When, in the course on the history of Methodism, they learned that Wesley had “deeded” Methodism to future ministers and put them under contract never to alter his teachings, CW shouted: “What! How can such a contract be valid? The man was a tyrant.” For a few seconds, no one, tutor or pupil, spoke. Of course, people before and after CW have called Wesley tyrant, despot, Methodist pope, and perhaps worse, but only after they’d completed their training and passed their probation. (Much of an AMC minister’s probation is spent studying Wesley’s sermons, journals, and letters.

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