Strategies for Designing Clergy and Spouse Obesity-Related Programs

Purpose: Clergy have influence on the health of congregations and communities yet struggle with health behaviors. Interventions tailored to their occupation-specific demands and unique needs may provide a solution. Qualitative methods were used to identify opportunities and resources for the development of an effective obesity-related program for clergy. Approach: Ninety-minute focus groups were held with clergy (3 groups) and spouses (3 separate groups). Discussion explored: Program target(s); Opportunities and barriers that influence diet, physical activity, and stress-reduction practices; Empowering and culturally relevant health promotion strategies. Setting: All study activities took place in Memphis, TN. Participants: Eighteen clergy and fourteen spouses participated. All clergy were male, all spouses were female. Method: Previous research with clergy informed the interview guide and the PEN-3 framework aided in organizing the coding of clergy and spouse focus groups. Focus groups were audio recorded and transcripts analyzed using NVivo® 12. Results: Themes included: 1) Intervention targets—clergy, spouses, congregations; 2) Opportunities and barriers—making time, establishing boundaries, church traditions, individuals who support and hinder behavior change; 3) Intervention strategies—tools for healthy eating, goal setting, camaraderie, combining face-to-face with eHealth modalities. Conclusion: The relationship between clergy, spouse, and congregation make it important for obesity-related programs to target the unique needs of both clergy and spouses. Strategies should focus on healthy eating and personal connections no matter the modality used.

Anglican Clergy Husbands Securing Middle-Class Gendered Privilege through Religion

Traditionally, clergy wives have been obliged to assist the Church in an unpaid capacity; such work has been feminised, associated with the assumed competencies of women ( Denton 1962 ; Finch 1980 , 1983 ; Murphy-Geiss 2011 ). Clergy husbands are a relatively recent phenomenon in the Church of England, emerging when women started to be ordained as deacons in 1987 and priests in 1994. Based on interviews with men whose wives were ordained as priests in the Church of England, this article will explore the dynamics of class and gender privilege. Most clergy husbands were middle class, defined through educational, occupational and cultural markers ( Bourdieu 1984 ). The narratives highlighted how gender and class privilege was maintained and extended through the clergy spouse role. The interweaving dynamics of class and gender privilege secured preferential outcomes for participants, outcomes that were less evidenced in relation to working-class spouses. Using Bourdieu's (1984) concepts of habitus, field and capital and Verter's (2003) conceptualisation of spiritual capital, this article will highlight the complex ways in which gender and class advantage is perpetuated and sustained, using the Anglican parish as the analytical context, thereby emphasising the role religion plays in consolidating privilege.

An Exegesis of the IRC §107 Housing Exclusion

ABSTRACT The tax treatment of clergy housing allowances continues to be at the forefront of criticism and debate, on the premise it results in taxpayer inequity. IRC §107 allows clergy to exclude a parsonage allowance from gross income. A historical context and modern-day application of the law, based on clergy (spouse) interviews, is provided. The current legal tenor suggests the housing allowance is unconstitutional because it violates the Establishment Clause. Entanglement (based on the three-prong Lemon Test) is analyzed. The analysis results in a double-edged sword. It appears the exclusion fails the Establishment Clause, but abolishment of the exclusion would create additional taxpayer inequities. We propose both abolishing IRC §107 and amending IRC §119.

Married to the Minister: The Status of the Clergy Spouse as Part of a Two-Person Single Career

Clergy spouses have long been considered unpaid partners in two-person single careers, but a number of social forces may have begun to challenge that, including the ordination of women and increasingly accepted alternatives to traditional family forms. This study surveyed more than 3,000 United Methodist clergy spouses to assess the status of that role, focusing especially on gender, age, and region of the United States. It was determined that gender has the strongest effect, as male spouses are significantly more likely to be nontraditional than their female counterparts. To a lesser degree, younger spouses and those not from the South are also more likely to act in nontraditional ways. Higher income and higher education were also found to be correlated with nontraditional behaviors. Although the large majority of respondents continue to replicate the traditional clergy spouse model, changes seem to be underway, led primarily by the male spouses of clergy women.