Attachment to God: Narratives of Roman Catholic Priests

Abstract

This narrative analysis was aimed at exploring the attachment to God narratives of 28 middle-aged Roman Catholic Religious priests rendering their service in various settings in South India. The study found that majority of the Roman Catholic priests had developed representations of a secure attachment to God. Twenty-six priests had developed representations of a secure attachment to God, and two priests of an insecure attachment to God. The Majority of the Roman Catholic priests had developed representations of a secure attachment to more than one spiritual attachment figures. Along with God, most priests had also developed representations of a secure attachment to the Virgin Mary. All the major themes related to attachment to God were found in the narratives of the Roman Catholic Priests.

Keywords

attachment attachment to God Roman Catholic clergy

Attachment Theory

The attachment theory (Ainsworth et al., 1978; Bowlby, 1988) states that attachment relationship with the primary caregiver, who is always available and responsive to the infant’s need, is crucial for the infant’s survival. According to Bowlby (1979), the attachment figure serves multiple functions of safety and security to the child. Since the attachment figure is older than the child, the child considers the attachment figure to be stronger and wiser, feels safe and secure in the presence of the attachment figure, and because of these benefits maintains proximity to the attachment figure. In moments of threat and anxiety, the child uses the attachment figure as a safe-haven (Bowlby, 1982), and in the absence of threats, as a secure base. The child by periodically checking whether the attachment figure is available and responsive or not would explore the surrounding environment (Ainsworth et al., 1978; Bowlby, 1979, 1982, 1988; Granqvist, 1998; Granqvist et al., 2012; Kirkpatrick & Shaver, 1990; Rowatt & Kirkpatrick, 2002). The security by the attachment figure enables the child to explore and expand its comfort zone (Ainsworth et al., 1978) to the other relevant aspects of life (Granqvist et al., 2012). This pattern of secure behavior tends to persist throughout the individual’s life (Granqvist et al., 2012). Individuals who lack a secure base would experience intensive loneliness across various moments in life (Bowlby, 1979). The availability and responsiveness of the attachment figure and the experience of the security of the attachment, encourage the person to value and to continue the relationship with the attachment figure (Kimball et al., 2013).

Bowlby (1982), who did an extensive study on the attachment system, found that the attachment system would get activated when the child faces frightening or alarming incidents, encounters strangers, experiences fatigue or hunger. It also activates in the moments of threats of separation from the attachment figure (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2008). And the attachment behavior would get terminated on the sight of the attachment figure or with a happy interaction with the attachment figure (Bowlby, 1979, 1982). Bowlby (1979) found that attachments cause highly intensive emotions. People experience love both at the time of formation, and during the maintenance of the attachment relationships, grief at the time of disruption of the same relationships (Bowlby, 1973, 1979; Granqvist et al., 2010), anxiety, anger and protest at the time of threats of separation from the attachment figure (Bowlby, 1973, 1979; Kirkpatrick, 1992; Rowatt & Kirkpatrick, 2002).

Internal Working Models

The infant can replicate the attachment relationship with the primary caregiver to other significant individuals. Bowlby (1982) stated that based on the repeated interaction, and the availability and quality of responsiveness of the primary caregiver in childhood (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016; Kirkpatrick, 1998), the infant develops internal working models of attachment (Kirkpatrick & Shaver, 1990). These internal working models would become stable over time and resist change (Bowlby, 1982; Granqvist, 1998), and work as a cognitive map for all future attachment relationships with other significant people (Granqvist et al., 2012; Miner, 2009) and with the marriage partner. Because of this, attachment patterns continue to persist in the individuals’ entire life (Bowlby, 1979, 1980). Once an attachment is formed, despite the new attachments developing with time, the older attachments would continue to be operative (Bowlby, 1979; Granqvist et al., 2012).

Surrogate Attachment

According to Bowlby, the attachment system continually monitors the availability, proximity, and responsiveness of the attachment figure (Bowlby, 1982; Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016; Granqvist et al., 2010). In perceived environmental dangers, if the attachment system perceives the lack of proximity, availability, and responsiveness of the attachment figure, it will then search for a substitute attachment figure (Bowlby, 1982; Granqvist et al., 2010). Ainsworth (1985) stated that children who are not able to form secure attachment relationships with their parents use other available individuals as attachment figures. These children will form secure attachments to older siblings, teachers, youth leaders, or any other available adult with the qualities of an attachment figure. Even though Ainsworth did not include God in the list of substitute attachment figures, one can reasonably assume that God has all the qualities of a perfect attachment figure, and God could become a substitute attachment figure (Cicirelli, 2004; Granqvist, 1998; Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016; Hall, 2007; Hall et al., 2009; Kirkpatrick, 1998; Miner, 2009; Murunga et al., 2017; Rowatt & Kirkpatrick, 2002; Sim & Yow, 2011).

God as an Attachment Figure

Monotheistic religions hold a belief in the personal God (Proctor et al., 2009), who is accessible and responsive to people’s needs (Granqvist, 1998). The devotee also views God as someone willing to enter into a deeper emotional relationship with the people and support them in their life journey (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016). In addition, many religious traditions and mystics also define God’s relationship with the people in the form human love, where God is perceived as someone loving, comforting, caring, and protecting the devotees (Cicirelli, 2004; Granqvist, 1998; Granqvist et al., 2010; Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016; Kirkpatrick, 1998). All these devotees’ descriptions of God have a strong resemblance to the qualities of an earthly attachment figure (Limke & Mayfield, 2011).

Kirkpatrick and Shaver (1990) proposed that one can understand the devotees’ relationship with God from the attachment theory perspective. They argued that many of the Christian traditional images of God resemble the secure attachment figure (Granqvist et al., 2010). The literature on attachment to God shows that God would meet the defining criteria for an attachment figure (Cicirelli, 2004; Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016; Hall, 2007; Miner, 2009; Rowatt & Kirkpatrick, 2002), and secure attachment to God provided the same psychological benefits as a secure attachment to an earthly attachment figure (Granqvist et al., 2012; Huguelet et al., 2015).

Even though often some devotees relate to God as a kind of psychological paternal figure, the image of God is formed with the combination of stereotyped paternal and maternal qualities (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016). According to Granqvist and Kirkpatrick (2016) in the Christian traditions along with God, the Virgin Mary, guardian angels or any of the saints can serve as attachment figures. The Catholic tradition portrays the Virgin Mary as the maternal attachment figure (Granqvist and Kirkpatrick, 2016).

Literature indicates that devotees maintain proximity to God through prayer (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2008, 2016; Granqvist et al., 2010; Kimball et al., 2013; Kirkpatrick, 1992), and, through visits to the holy places where God is believed to be present (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016). They use God as a secure base during threats or frightening events (Cassibba et al., 2008; Granqvist, 2010; Granqvist & Hagekull, 2000; Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016; Kirkpatrick, 1992). Devotees tend to turn to God for support for the same events that tend to activate the attachment system in children (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016; Kirkpatrick, 1992; Miner, 2009); and experience security and consolation from God (Beck, 2006; Kirkpatrick, 1992; Rowatt & Kirkpatrick, 2002). According to the attachment theory, the child perceives the attachment figure as stronger and wiser (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2008); some authors see similar patterns in the devotees’ attachment to God. These authors argue that devotees perceive God as someone strong, wise, and powerful (Cassibba et al., 2008; Granqvist, 1998, 2010; Granqvist et al., 2010; Kimball et al., 2013). Granqvist and Kirkpatrick (2016) emphasized that God who is considered to be “simultaneously omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent can provide the most secure of secure bases” (p. 921) to the devotees. None of the human attachment figures can provide the same secure base that is strong, powerful, and always available and responsive (Granqvist, 2010). A few studies found that individuals with secure attachment to God reported perceiving God as a secure base (Kimball et al., 2013; Proctor et al., 2009). Granqvist et al. (2012) found that securely attached individuals had quicker access to God as a secure base or positive God schemas.

From the attachment theory perspective, there is an anxiety in the perceived disruption of relationship with the attachment figure (Bowlby, 1973, 1979). Even though it is difficult for devotees to experience physical separation from God, yet for many of them, the thought of separation from God would create intense anxiety (Beck, 2006; Kirkpatrick, 1992). Religious literature considers the separation from God as a most torturous experience for devotees, and this separation is often depicted as hell (Granqvist et al., 2010). From these descriptions, one can conclude that God would meet all the defining characteristics of an attachment figure and provide the same psychological advantages as that of an earthly attachment figure.

Aims and Objectives of the Study

The main objectives of this study were to explore the attachment to God narratives of the Roman Catholic priests. The Roman Catholic Church firmly holds the belief that God personally calls individuals to the priesthood (Dewar, 1991; Hankle, 2010). In the Roman Catholic tradition, the believers consider the priest to be a spiritual father (Congregation For The Clergy, 2017), Christ’s minister, and ambassador who forgives the believers’ sins in Christ’s name (Weigel, 2002). With this one can conclude that the Roman Catholic priest holds a lot of spiritual influence on the believers’ life, and for the people who profess faith in the Roman Catholic Church, the very nature of the priesthood is spiritual, and the priest is called to act in the name of God, through the sacraments connecting people to God and bringing God’s forgiveness to them. In this context, this study aims to understand the nature of Catholic priests’ relationship with God. Even though literature has stated that God can be a perfect attachment figure (Cicirelli, 2004; Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016; Hall, 2007; Miner, 2009; Rowatt & Kirkpatrick, 2002), the researchers chose to explore the attachment to God narratives of the Roman Catholic priests. The main reason for the study is because, unlike the general population, Roman Catholic Priests are a special group of people who have chosen a path of a lifetime commitment to priestly ministry, and later on, went through more than 10 years of specialized training (Congregation For The Clergy, 2017) in spiritual practices and pursued academic studies related to faith, scriptures, and spirituality and other secular studies. Because of this, the researchers found it deemed to carry out this study on the Roman Catholic priests.

Method

Participants

As the current study is qualitative in nature, the purposive sampling method was followed to select the participants. Twenty-eight Catholic priests belonging to various religious congregations from the five South Indian states, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu took part in the study. All the participants were men, as only men can be ordained to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church. The participants’ ages ranged from 40 to 63 years, with the mean age of 48.82 years and a standard deviation of 7.55; and their service in the priesthood ranged from 6 to 30 years. With regard to the studies in the field of Scriptures, theology and spirituality eight participants acquired licentiate degrees and two acquired Doctor of Philosophy. And with regard to academic studies, 10 participants acquired Bachelor’s degrees in Arts and nine in Education. Sixteen participants acquired post-graduate degrees in Arts. Three participants acquired a Masters of Philosophy in academics, and two acquired Doctor of Philosophy and one completed Post Doctorate in academics.

Procedure

The primary author personally contacted each of the participants before data collection and explained the aims and procedures of the study, while requesting them to participate in the study. After obtaining their preliminary consent, he met them on the following day to collect data. At the time of data collection, he once again explained the aims and procedures of the study and, the ethical concerns, and obtained their informed consent. After obtaining their written informed consent, he conducted a semi-structured interview with each of them. All the interviews were audio-recorded and later transcribed verbatim for thematic narrative analysis. The transcribed texts were coded with the help of the online software Dedoose.

The researchers followed Reissman’s narrative thematic analysis to code the qualitative data. According to Riessman (2014) and Riessman and Speedy (2007), the narratives can be organized thematically. According to this approach, the data are interpreted based on the themes developed by the investigator (Riessman, 2008). The thematic narrative analysis also provides the advantage of finding the common themes across the cases, which can then be used for developing a theory (Riessman, 2005). Unlike the other narratives that look at how the narrative is said and for whom it is said or the structure of the narratives, the narrative thematic analysis focuses on what is being said by the narrator (Riessman, 2005, 2008). Based on this approach, the study focused on what was said by the narrators about their relationship with God. The major themes for this study, “seeking and maintaining the proximity to God, God as a haven of safety, God as a secure base, and perceiving God as stronger and wiser,” were adopted from the already existing relational categories for attachment to God (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2008, 2016; Granqvist et al., 2010; Kirkpatrick, 2005).

To establish the trustworthiness of the data, 30% of the transcripts were coded by two independent coders, and the interrater reliability between the coders was established through Kohen’s Kappa. The Kappa value for the interrater reliability was k = .90. The high Kappa value indicates that the interrater reliability between the coders was high. Only those codes that were agreed upon by both the coders were included in the final results. The researchers further improved the trustworthiness of the codes through member checks. The purpose of the member check is to improve the accuracy of the themes as it provides an opportunity for the participants to validate the themes or to suggest alternative themes (Miles et al., 2014). The excerpts along with the corresponding themes were emailed to the participants for member checks. The participants were once again contacted through electronic text messages and over the mobile phone. The participants were given 2 weeks to respond to the mail. Twenty-six participants responded, 22 stated that the themes accurately reflected their deep-felt thoughts and feelings regarding their relationship with God, and 4 suggested minor changes to the themes, which were incorporated into the final study. The member check has once again validated the trustworthiness of the developed themes.

Results

The study found 26 participants’ narratives had representations of a secure attachment to God. Most of these participants, along with God had also developed representations of a secure attachment to the Virgin Mary. Only two participants’ narratives in the study did not have any representations of a secure attachment to God, of which one participant, had representations of an insecure attachment to God, and the other had representations of an avoidant attachment to God. These two participants also did not develop any representations of a secure attachment to the Virgin Mary. Most participants while discussing their attachment relationship with God, used the term God, and six participants also used the term Jesus. One participant described representations of his secure attachment to God in the following narrative:

For me He is like someone you know, I can fight with Him, I can scold Him, at the same time I can go back to Him, I can beg Him, I can ask Him, and I feel He is very kind and very gentle and very loving. (Participant 21)

Seventeen participants viewed God to be a parental figure. Sixteen participants perceived God to be a paternalistic figure, and one to be a maternalistic figure. In the following narratives, the participants expressed their relationship with God in the human attachment language. “He is my father that is what I believe” (Participant 1). “I call Abba father . . . He is a father. He is loving and forgiving, that I always felt” (Participant 5). “God is for me like, He is like my father” (Participant 11). “He is my daddy” (Participant 16). “I would say God is my father” (Participant 18). “I always feel that we are the children of the creator” (Participant 23).

Besides forming representations of a secure attachment to God, 20 participants had formed representations of a secure attachment to the Virgin Mary. All the qualities of attachment to God were also found in these participants’ attachment to the Virgin Mary narratives. All the participants, who had developed representations of a secure attachment to the Virgin Mary, also had formed representations of a secure attachment to God. In the following narrative, one participant described how he would use the Virgin Mary as a safe haven while facing frightening or alarming events:

As a student, I was always praying to her, and then maybe examinations time . . . I myself have written [a letter to the Virgin Mary requesting her intervention that] I need to get these results. [I] write a letter asking the mother Mary to intervene, and then [I have passed in the examinations]. It is a kind of miracle. On three occasions I had [written a letter to her and in the exams I] came through. So, that is the divine experience that I have, and that’s why [in moments of struggles I am] more likely to go through mother Mary. (Participant 20)

Another participant who was seriously affected by the troubles of his family of origin described how he turns to the Virgin Mary for support and consolation. His narrative indicates that the problem experienced by his family members was beyond his capacity to solve. His narrative indicates that he turned to the Virgin Mary whom he considered to be stronger and wiser than him:

Mother, you accepted seven sorrows, you know what is life, as a priest, do you want me to suffer like this, most of the time the people are cause for their sorrows, but in my family, a priest like me is not a cause, but then my brother is a cause, but then why? Do you want your son to be always a suffering priest because of the family? That is how I talk with her. (Participant 19)

In the following section of the results, the findings for all the four major themes of the attachment to God are presented. The four major themes, seeking and maintaining the proximity to God, God as a haven of safety, God as a secure base, and perceiving God as stronger and wiser were adopted from the already existing relational categories for attachment to God (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2008, 2016; Granqvist et al., 2010; Kirkpatrick, 2005).

Seeking and maintaining proximity to God

The participants maintained proximity to God through free conversation with God, meditation, prayer, scriptures, and the Holy Eucharist. All the participants who had developed representations of a secure attachment to God used more than one approach to maintain proximity to God. Eighteen participants maintained proximity to God through prayer, 17 through Scriptures, 13 through meditation, 12 through spontaneous conversation, and 10 through the Holy Eucharist.

The participants maintained proximity to God through prayer. One participant narrated about how he maintains proximity to God right at the start of the day. He said, “start the day with a kneeling prayer, I always believe we must begin the day [with the prayer, and] not to miss the Morning Prayer. It is a conscious choice I make to get connected to God” (Participant 3). Another participant narrated, “I draw a lot of strength from my personal prayer, where I commune with God personally, where I could openly talk with God and share” (Participant 21).

Participants also maintained proximity to God through reading and meditating on the scriptures. They used scriptures to interpret God’s mind for them. In moments of crisis, phrases from the scriptures enabled them to cope with challenges. One participant narrated how he connected with God through the scriptures,

When I prayed, God spoke through the word of God . . . I prayed and the Bible simply opened, and it was Acts of the Apostles. And I just started reading it from left to right and one verse said. Actually, it was said to Paul, do not be afraid I have many people in this city, who are my people, do not be afraid. So that verse at that time [was] speaking to me. (Participant 5)

One participant narrated how his spontaneous conversation helped him to emotionally connect with God and to maintain proximity to Him. He narrated, “I used to pray and talk to God . . . I used to pour out all the feelings . . . when you are emotionally involved the tears come . . . asking for help as a child, I feel like a child” (Participant 5).

Another participant maintained proximity to God through meditation, here the participant attempted to understand the mind of God and connect with Him:

My moment of emotional contact is my silent moments especially between the activities, work, and all. I used to move after my work and all that, though instead of sitting so much in the church I used to move around. That time lot of talk, this kind of thought goes into my mind. I think of God, how it would be what He could be, what is directing me towards, is it His plan, that today’s work. Am I in the right place? (Participant 6)

Participants also maintained proximity to God through the Holy Eucharist. In the Roman Catholic tradition, the Holy Eucharist is believed to be the body and blood of Christ. One participant narrated, “When I have the Eucharist, I feel also God himself is coming to me personally” (Participant 3). Another participant narrated, “celebration of Mass is always very good connect know, whenever I celebrate Mass, I make sure that you know I have an experience of God” (Participant 18).

God as a haven of safety

The participants, in moments of frightening or alarming events, illness, psychological injury, and fatigue turned to God as a haven of safety. Twenty-two participants narrated that they turned to God during the frightening or alarming events; 18 participants turned to God during the moments of illness, injury, and fatigue; and 6 participants turned to God during the moments of the threat of separation or loss of the relationship with the loved ones.

The participants narrated various instances of anxiety and threat related to their ministry, and in those moments, they turned to God for support and consolation. One participant narrated how a group of ruffians came to attack a newly built church. He was intensely affected by fear and anxiety as he found the situation to be completely out of his control. In those moments he ran to the chapel to seek God’s protection and consolation, he narrated

I went to the chapel, a small chapel . . . opened the Blessed Sacrament, I closed the door, and I lied down and cried, and argued [with God] why is this? Now I cannot protect [the newly built church, the devotees, and myself]. If they bang me and break [the newly built church], I cannot [protect], only You can do. I cried and cried. (Participant 17)

Another participant who was facing a lot of issues in the day-to-day running of an institution narrated how in moments of struggle and anxiety related to his mission, he would turn to God for support and consolation. “After coming here [I have been facing] very tight situations, very, very alarming situations. When I go to the chapel and pray, I feel that God is always there by my side [in those alarming situations]” (Participant 18).

A small group of participants also turned to God in moments of illness. One participant narrated, “Whatever serious sickness I pray to God and God will take care of me, and everything is healed . . . So many pains and problems are healed through my prayer. I have a strong belief in God” (Participant 11).

The participants turned to God for consolation during times of psychological injury. The instances of participants turning to God during the physical injury were not found in the study. One participant who felt humiliated because of the misunderstandings with the person in authority narrated, “I was really upset and sad about it, then I was really angry, really upset . . . I just felt like leaving [the mission] . . . with all this anger I went to the chapel to pray” (Participant 9).

The participants narrated that during the moments of fatigue they turned to God for support. Often the fatigue was related either to their ministry or personal life. One participant who was facing a lot of family issues and concerns, got all his efforts exhausted and could not find a solution to the problem narrated, how in those moments he turned to God asking for graces to hold on to God:

I continue my relationship [with my family members] without losing my faith [in God’s ability to solve the family problem]. I think He [God] will act in His time, and until He [God] let us, I am asking [for] more graces to hold on [to the belief in God’s ability to solve the family problem]. The grace to hold on without anybody [the family members] losing the faith. (Participant 1)

The theme of response to separation and loss was found only in a few participants’ narratives. One participant lost both of his parents and at that time he turned to God for consolation. Another participant who lost his mother turned to the Virgin Mary for consolation. Here the person in authority played a significant role in helping the participant to turn to the Virgin Mary for consolation. He narrated,

That day Fr. Provincial [head of my religious congregation] . . . embraced me, and he gave me a nice picture of Our Lady [the Virgin Mary], on that only one sentence he had, the picture is still with me, almost thirty-five years. And he wrote know, behold your mother. I think that picture and the incident of the death of my mother gave a different total relationship with my mother. So, I consider her [the Virgin Mary] as my mother, I cry, sometimes in front of her, I can tell her what I want . . . so that motherly touch I get, a lot more than [I got from] my birth mother I get from her [the Virgin Mary]. (Participant 1)

God as a secure base

The participants’ narratives indicated that they used God as a secure base to expand their mission. The participants turned to God’s support to bring growth and development to their institutions. Twenty-five participants narrated experiencing God’s support, and 12 participants experiencing Gods’ love. Fourteen participants narrated experiencing God’s goodness and 12 participants narrated feelings of gratitude to God.

One participant who was very passionate about his mission narrated how he found God’s support in his efforts to improve the quality of the school under his care. “God is supporting me. It is God’s work . . . . God has called me. [He is] strengthening me and supporting me” (Participant 19).

The participants felt secure as they believed that God loved them. Through their narratives, they expressed a sense of comfort, security, and confidence in God’s love for them. One participant narrated, “I think God has a special love for us” (Participant 1). Another participant narrated. “Even now He loves me, though I have made mistakes, He loves me. God is loving me, forgiving me, helping me” (Participant 16).

The sense of security also came from the participant’s belief in God’s goodness. One participant reviewing his whole life felt that God had been extremely gracious to him:

I have realized that you know God has been good to me. I am blessed with so many positive kinds of events that itself is something that I thank God for . . . God was very partial, He has given me a lot of good things, filled me [with many good things], nice family, even after that [supportive] superiors, somehow good, I don’t know why. (Participant 6)

Perceiving God as stronger and wiser

The participants viewed God as someone stronger and wiser, constantly guiding them through life’s uncertainties, and protecting them from possible harms. Their belief in God’s ability to protect them and guide them had enabled them to trust God and surrender their problems to Him. Sixteen participants narrated experiencing God’s guidance, and 15 experiencing God’s protection. Eight participants narrated that they placed their trust in God, and seven surrendered their problems to God whom they perceived to be stronger and wiser. One participant who was facing a lot of challenges in running an institution narrated how he sees the guiding hand of God:

If I can smile here, if I can go around with you know [laughs] with a smiling face, I don’t know, I feel God is always guiding and being by my side. There are moments I feel like just escaping from here. But then there is meaning in what I am doing. There is a purpose for which God has brought me here. So, that kind of feeling and that kind of assurance is there. When I go and pray. (Participant 18)

The participants felt secure to trust God and entrust their problems and at times, even their whole lives to Him. One participant narrated about his trust in God’s protection that God will be leading him in all life’s challenges. He narrated, “He is the one who is leading . . . we don’t need to worry too much about tomorrow, where I will be tomorrow, I will get into that. So that is where I have that trust, trust in God” (Participant 6).

Discussion

The study results are based on the participants’ conscious awareness of their relationship with God and how they perceived their attachment to God, and not based on any valid and reliable scales. The Majority of the participants in the current study had developed representations of a secure attachment to God. The participants’ attachment to God narratives had all the features of Bowlby’s description of an attachment figure. Twenty-six out of 28 participants’ narratives had representations of a secure attachment to God. The present study findings are in line with another study, which found that Roman Catholic priests viewed God as someone loving and caring (Cassibba et al., 2008). In the current study, the percentage of Roman Catholic priests with representations of a secure attachment to God was very large. One participant’s narratives had representatives of an insecure attachment to God. He also expressed his fear of facing God after his death; he felt that he did not live up to God’s expectations and because of that God might punish him or send him to hell. This finding is similar to another study that found that some of the devotees in their study feared facing God after their death (Mohammadzadeh & Oraki, 2018).

A few participants also reported a shift in their relationship with God, for some the shift was from a negative to a positive relationship with God; and for a small group of participants, from a simple to a more sophisticated understanding of God. These findings were in agreement with another study (Proctor et al., 2009), which found a shift in devotees’ relationship with God. For some participants, the training in spiritual practices and the study of theology contributed toward this shift. The shift in the participants’ relationship with God indicates that devotees’ attachment to God is not static; it is dynamic and open to change. Two participants who developed representations of secure attachment to God, in the moments of crisis expressed doubts about the presence of God in their life. This experience of doubt lasted only for a while. Similar results were found in another study (Proctor et al., 2009).

The study found that some participants besides forming representations of a secure attachment to God also formed representations of a secure attachment to the Virgin Mary. These results are in line with the existing literature, which shows that besides God many other spiritual persons can also serve as an attachment figure (Cassibba et al., 2008; Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016). All the participants who had formed representations of a secure attachment to the Virgin Mary also had formed representations of a secure attachment to God. There seems to be a plausible reason for the participants to develop representations of a secure attachment to the Virgin Mary. In the Roman Catholic tradition, the Virgin Mary is presented as a maternal attachment figure (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016), so this would have enabled the participants to form representations of a secure attachment to the Virgin Mary.

The participants maintained proximity to God through prayer and meditation. A similar means of proximity to God was found in another study (Kimball et al., 2013). Eighteen participants, which means more than half of the participants used prayer as the primary means of proximity to God. And for 13 participants meditation was one of the means of connecting with God. Along with prayer and meditation, regular spontaneous talk with God enabled the participants to maintain proximity to God. Spontaneous talk with God which occurred in the chapel, offices, living rooms, and several other locations helped them to express their deeper emotions related to God and to deepen their attachment to God. The participants’ spontaneous talk with God had a resemblance to children’s expression of their needs and concerns in a loving and at times demanding manner to their parents. Sixteen participants, when asked to give the closest description of God narrated that God comes very close resemblance to a father figure. Only one participant narrated that God is like a mother. It is not surprising that more than half of the participants viewed God as a father because the Roman Catholic Church strongly perceives God to be a father figure (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2016).

Seventeen participants also maintained proximity to God through the Holy Scriptures and celebration of the Holy Eucharist. After prayers, the scriptures offered the strongest means of proximity to God. The Catholic tradition believes that the scriptures are the Word of God. Often in moments of uncertainty and anxiety, the participants used the scriptures to understand and to interpret God’s message and felt consoled. The Roman Catholic tradition believes the Holy Eucharist to be the body and blood of Christ, and for 10 participants, the Holy Eucharist offered a means of proximity to God.

The participants often turned to God as a haven of safety in the moments of alarming events. Other studies also found that devotees turned to God as a haven of safety (Kimball et al., 2013; Proctor et al., 2009). The moments of alarming moments reported in this study were mostly related to the participants’ mission work in various settings. Many of them reported struggles in running the institutions and at times facing sudden unexpected challenges in the missions. In these moments the participants turned to God for support and consolation. The participants in this study were healthy individuals, so, the narratives of turning to God during illness were scarce. They reported turning to God for consolation during the psychological fatigue mostly related to their work, or psychological injury occurred due to conflicts with fellow priests, and at times with the Church authority. Since all the participants in the study were unmarried and didn’t form families, the alarming and anxious moments mostly arose from their mission work or issues affecting the family of origin. Some participants who were severely affected by the challenges in the families of origin also turned to God for support and consolation.

The participants used God as a secure base to explore their life avenues. Kimball et al. (2013) also found that people use God as a secure base. For these participants, God offered support to explore and expand the horizons of their mission. Many of them with the belief in God’s secure support invested time and effort in the growth and expansion of the institutions. The participants also perceived God as stronger and wiser, which is similar to another study (Kimball et al., 2013). The participants’ perception of God as stronger and wiser than human beings enabled them to believe in God’s guidance and protection and to develop strong trust in God’s goodness and ability to support them in difficulties and to surrender their challenges to God.

Limitations and Future Directions

The study has a few limitations. Though the narratives drew the deeper and richer meanings from the participants’ attachment to God, the study was limited to only the South Indian Religious Catholic priests. Since it is a qualitative study, the study could focus only on small sample size and did not go for a random sampling method. Thus the findings of this study could not be generalized as applying to the diocesan Catholic priests, and all Catholic priests across the globe. Also, the participants were all middle-aged Catholic priests. Probably, priests who are either in young adulthood or in old age would present different kinds of narratives. Another limitation is a lack of quantitative assessment of the participants’ attachment to God styles and the corroboration of the participants’ attachment to God narratives with the quantitative measures. Future research could focus on collecting both the qualitative and quantitative data on attachment to God and corroborate the qualitative findings with the quantitative measures.

Footnotes

Compliance with Ethical Standards

The study received approval from the Christ University’s Institutional Review Board. Informed consent was taken from all the participants. The data collection was carried out only after debriefing the participants about the purpose and procedure of the study. Participants were given the freedom to discontinue at any stage of the study.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

D Rajagopalreddy

Author Biographies

D Rajagopalreddy is a PhD scholar in Christ (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru, Karnataka India. He holds an MPhil Degree in Psychology, and a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology. His areas of interests are psychology, spirituality, and spiritual development and youth development. He is an ordained Catholic priest. Currently, he is pursuing his PhD in psychology under the supervision of the second author.

Kelamparampil Varghese holds a Master’s and a PhD degree in Psychology from University of Mysore, Mysore, Karnataka, India. He contributed in various capacities to Christ (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India. He held the post of chief finance officer at the Christ (Deemed to be University) for a period of 10 years. As a Psychology professor at the same university, he guided M Phil and PhD candidates. His areas of interests are positive psychology, counseling, spirituality, indigenous healing method and, multicultural issues. He is an ordained Catholic priest. Currently, he is rendering his services as the provincial superior of CMI St. Paul’s province, Mysore.

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