Confidentiality, Ministers and Church Members

In recount to clearly identify the vastness of confidentiality within the church setting, it is vitally important to define the term, which tolerate mean so legion(predicate) different things to different people. northward Malony defines confidentiality as the act of protect from disclosure that which unitary has been told beneath the assumption that it will non be revealed without permission.1 In equipment casualty of the relationship in the midst of ministers and church members, confidentiality whitethorn de define as, memory information given by or about an respective(prenominal) in the social class of a professional relationship well(p) and secret from others.2 Ministers ar among those in society whose role necessitates that they are exposed to much more(prenominal) confidential information than others. Confidentiality is fundamental to the maintenance of trust between a minister and his congregation.\nThis belief of professional confidentiality has been recogn ized for thousands of years. In the Hippocratic Oath the Hellenic physician Hippocrates promised the following: What I may see or hear in the course of treatment or even outside the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will nurture to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about. (cit. Marsden, 3) 3\nConfidentiality is owed as to all people crossways the cultural spectrum; mature adults and infantile minors, as well as adults who lack the capacity to throw decisions for themselves. Essentially, we are required to keep the confidences of anyone to whom we owe a vocation of care as defined by the all-embracing scriptural concept of a neighbour (Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 19:19). The covenant to be confidential may even extend beyond the death of the individual. Joseph E bush-league states that, It is important, though, for members of the clergy to remember that their legal fringe benefit of silence and their moral craft of confidentiality are both think to the dignity and rights of those who have confided in ...