SIR,—As Bishop Stephen Neill is not clear as to what
ought to be done about the co-operation of psychologist and priest, it will be profitable to remember efforts in this direction which have been made, some having failed and some having partially succeeded.
Some few years ago a committee of the British Medical Association recommended that a qualification should be recognised by means of which lay psycho-therapists might become qualified to aid and work with medical men. This proposal was rejected by a general vote of the B.M.A. Had it been accepted, some of those who would have taken advantage of this qualification would have been clergy, and co-operation between doctors and clergy would have been facilitated and regularised. When Dr. William Temple was Archbishop of York he appointed a com- mittee to set forward co-operation between clergy and medical men in this matter.
The Guild of Pastoral Psychology (Hon. Sec., 16 Hillside, S.W. 19). of which Dr. C. J. Jung is a patron, exists in order to promote the kind of co-operation Bishop Neill has in mind. But the recent death of Dr. Kathleen Kitchin has deprived the Guild of one of its most energetic founders and of one who was playing an increasingly important part in its development. Ecclesiastical authorities differ in policy. In some diocese certain clergy are commissioned for a special ministry for the distressed in mind: in others no such action is taken.—Yours faithfully,
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