By Ashley Gipson
c. 2008 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) As the market mayhem continues to rock Wall Street, dazed employees in the financial sector who have lost their faith in the economy are turning to religious leaders for guidance.
“People who still have their jobs are asking, `Am I next?’ They are much less certain of their place in their company and in the world,”
said Mary Ragan, a psychologist at the Psychotherapy and Spirituality Institute in New York.
Houses of worship in New York City are providing programs to help employees manage the stress of the market meltdown, including immediate counseling, job training and long-term direction for those who still have jobs but aren’t sure for how long.
Ragan will be leading sessions at a high-profile Episcopal parish, Trinity Wall Street, on “Coping With Stress in Uncertain Times,” which was started just as the market started to convulse. David Jette of Trinity Wall Street said registrations have already doubled.
The church said it plans to reach out over the next several months with not only personal counseling but also job coaching to help people prepare for what Ragan called “the ripple effect.”
“The meltdown on Wall Street is very new, and it will take some time for people to feel the effects of what this really means,” Ragan said.
“They are wondering about the secondary consequences. Every area of the economy is affected.”
Michael Bedarski, a career coach at Ragan’s institute, will hold a seminar called “Navigating Career Transitions,” which Ragan said has mushroomed in size because people “fear the unknown and are looking for practical solutions” alongside spiritual guidance.
Rabbis who have already been working with high-power executives on Wall Street held emergency sessions for executives and employees.
“People came and expressed the feeling of stress that goes along with uncertainty,” said Rabbi Henry Harris, who offers regular counseling to the financial sector through the Jewish outreach agency Aish.
Many attendees at the emergency sessions were entry-level employees worried about keeping their jobs and paying their bills. “It was an opportunity for them to talk back,” Harris said said.
The turmoil in the markets has raised many questions about the ethics and morals of big business. Gil Stricklin, founder of Marketplace Chaplains USA, said business chaplains could have helped in this situation.
“We set a moral tone for big business. They need someone there who is holding up that flag of morals,” said Stricklin, whose company does not employ chaplains on Wall Street, but now wonders if that might have helped.
“Even if the business executives don’t believe in prayer, they want someone around them who believes in prayer and will pray for them,”
Stricklin said.
Because New York’s economy is directly linked to the financial industry, any decline in lower Manhattan has ripple effects across the region, said the Rev. James Martin, associate editor of the Jesuit magazine America.
“I’ve already met people from outside the parish who are terrified,”
said Martin, who regularly preaches at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola on New York’s Upper East Side.
Before his ordination as a Catholic priest, Martin worked in corporate finance with General Electric, and said the blame for the market woes is spread far and wide.
“It’s more a symptom of environments where people seem much more interested in making money than in making sensible decisions,” he said.
Top-level executives made “obscene amounts of money making bad investments,” he said, and there were no incentives not to continue.
Institutions foolishly took unreasonable risks and CEOs were blinded by unbridled greed.
“They were carried away by greed and that trumped rational responsibility,” he said. “They should have known better.”
Copyright 2008 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.
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posted September 19, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Isn’t that what Chaplins, Rabbi’s etc. are supposed to do? Be available for those in need.
posted September 19, 2008 at 9:22 pm
This article tends to give the impression it wasn’t religious people who got us into this, but business people, I think, tend to be religious; probably about as religious as the nation. It’s scientists who tend to be less religious and they haven’t gotten us into anything like this.
I have no doubt there are financial workers who’ve seen their investments and jobs slipping away fast and some of them are in shock. I probably would be, too.
There may be small parts of Christianity and Judaism that seriously inveigh against greed but I sure don’t get the impression that’s a big part of most sermons. In fact I presume it’s the wise preacher/priest/rabbi who encourages the wealthy to feel at home in his h.o.w. Where else will the shiny new buildings and higher salaries come from?
posted September 19, 2008 at 11:19 pm
‘Top-level executives made “obscene amounts of money making bad investments,” he said, and there were no incentives not to continue.’
‘Institutions foolishly took unreasonable risks and CEOs were blinded by unbridled greed.’
I’m sorry, but if there were no incentives not to continue making bad investments, then how could CEOs be blinded by unbridled greed, seeing as how they made ‘obscene amounts of money’ no matter how badly their job performance was?
‘Isn’t that what Chaplins, Rabbi’s etc. are supposed to do? Be available for those in need.’
The answer is an astounding YES; right along side plumbers, firemen, AC repairmen, police officers, loan officers, bank tellers, contracters, engineers, doctors, teachers, etc. They all have one thing in common: to be available for those in need. Too often in this country clergymen and women get a bad rap (a loose-loose situation) where as they don’t get any recognition for the good they do, seeing as how they’re ‘supposed to’, yet on the other hand, get scrupulously ridiculed for any perceived mistakes or transgressions they make, overlooking the fact that they’re human.
‘It’s scientists who tend to be less religious and they haven’t gotten us into anything like this.’
Look at all the pharmaceutical companies who are getting sued when drugs like Vioxx, HPV Vaccines, and others get approved on the basis of false research? Granted it’s a hybrid of businessmen and scientists; either way they’re guilty of omission in the least (not speaking out on false claims by the Big Pharma Execs themselves.)
Although scientists aren’t as faith-oriented as the population as a whole, many still have faith. Lots of people believe there’s plenty of room for both science and religion here on planet Earth!
posted September 19, 2008 at 11:55 pm
What part of “tend to be less religious” made you think I was implying the falsity of “many [scientists] still have faith”? In fact I’m sure many do.
And yes, I also thought many clergy would see this as part of their job. And of course an opportunity.
And yes, as science has gotten more remunerative too many scientists have abandoned truth as what should be their highest goal. “Too many” may well still be a relatively small number.
I just hope for companies taken over by the government or which go bankrupt no golden parachutes are allowed to open.
posted September 20, 2008 at 1:32 am
It’s not that I thought you were implying the overall lack of faith in the scientific community; but it did seem as though you were trying to imply a direct correlation between problematic outcome and religiousity (1st paragraph.)
‘This article tends to give the impression it wasn’t religious people who got us into this.’
I’m just curious (as a lot of other readers probably are as well) as to how you arrived at this conclusion. Merely because clergy are taking an interest in councelling those adveresly affected by the declining market, how would that give the impression it was or wasn’t religious people who ‘got us into this?’ It never would’ve occured to me that the authors of this article tried to blame or absolve ‘religious people’ (don’t see the connection.)
‘”Too many” may well still be a relatively small number.’
I pray that it is.
posted September 20, 2008 at 2:28 pm
“I’m just curious (as a lot of other readers probably are as well) as to how you arrived at this conclusion [that .'This article tends to give the impression it wasn't religious people who got us into this.']
Well I got that impression because it was talking of providing religion/religious counseling to people in the industry which would imply they didn’t already have it available, i.e. weren’t involved in a church. Of course the people most guilty were the big chiefs in the industry and there’s little mention of them so it’s possible I over-interpreted.
I think you are optimistic to think there are “lot of other readers” who even might wonder about something in here.
posted September 20, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Thank you for the clarification; will try and maintain a sense of realism.
posted September 20, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Financial sector chaplains seems as paradoxical as military chaplains. And yet, that is where there is the greatest need. As in so many situations the chapels are empty until there is a crisis. Well, as with lifeguards, firehouses, and police officers, at least thre is someone waiting and there to help catch those who feel like they are about to fall.
Blessings on the chaplains in this crisis.