Spiritual Dryness in Catholic Priests: Internal Resources as Possible Buffers

摘要

Spiritual dryness is a form of spiritual crisis that can be experienced by religious persons. In a cross-sectional survey among 3,824 Catholic priests, we aimed to analyze the prevalence of spiritual dryness, and its respective predictors. Feelings of spiritual dryness were experienced occasionally by 46%, often or regularly by 12%. Best predictors of spiritual dryness were the (lack of) perception of the transcendent, (low) sense of coherence, depressive symptoms and emotional exhaustion. These variables explain 46% of variance. Loneliness, anxiety, and the personal accomplishment component of burnout added only 1.3% additional variance explanation. Priests' living situation, social support, lack of social network, self-efficacy expectation, the depersonalization component of burnout, stress perception, and neuroticism were not among the significant predictors in this model. Particularly, the lacking perception of the transcendent and low sense of coherence are of relevance because they are internal resources for which suitable support might be offered.