Alcala 1958

Confessional Box and Analyst's Couch By FR. ME THOD IUS CI KR IT, M .D . Ph ilo so ph yD ep ar tm en t Co lle ge fo r Men I S I , . i sophy artment l ge

U T pHERE is less co nf lict betwe en the con fes sio na lbo x and ana­ lys t's cou ch than is pop ula rly ass umed. " Th is sta rtli ng state ­ me nt wa s ma de by the ed ito r of Coron et ma gaz ine as an int rod uct ion to an art icle head ed"What Do Cat hol ics Be lie veAbout Ps yc hi at ry ?" by Willi amG. Ho use ma n 1 in the iss ue of Ma rch ,19 58 . 2 On Fe b. 28 , Fr . Me tho diu sCik rit, B. S. , M.A., S.T .L .,M.D .,pro fess orof psy cholo gy at the Co lleg e for Me n, Unive rsi tyof San Dieg o, dis cus sed the Co ro ne t ar tic le in an int erv iew on Ra di oKGB's Margie 3 sho w. Th e fol low ingare exc erp tsfrom the trans- scr ipt of that in te rv iew : 4 MAR GI E: It is a dis tin ct plea sure to pre sen t Dr . Cik rit, Fr . Cik rit — spe lled C-i-k-r- i-t andpro nou nced Sec re t. Fat her , is 1 Houseman, in answer to a letter from the edit or of Alc ala con cern ing his religio us and psych i­ atri c qua lific atio ns,replied on Marc h 25 : "Fo r a numb er of years , I have writ ten arti cles in the broad fie ld of huma n beha vior. As Art icles Edit or at Look and as a staff write r at Life I more or les s special ized in huma n rela tion s featu res. In short , my qua lific atio nstem larg ely from the edu cati ona l proc ess whi ch has been nece ssar y in order to write on reli giou s and psychiat rictopi cs." 2 pp. 108-1 12 'M is sMar jorie Rog ers 4 Pub lish edhere by kin d perm issio nof the man­ agement of KGB. "THERE is less conflict bet een f sional b - , rly ed." i tling - r et ine uction - icl e olics li ve Ps iatry?" i an 1 sue of March, 1958. . , . t dius i , ., . ., . ., M. ., f or ology l e , rsity o o, sed et ti le intervie dio 's gie . l ing erpts the sc t rview : 4 GIE: ct t . it, . i - ll i nced Secret. , is I , l ing us i- lifi ations, r : , t cl i . icl ize ti s res. , y lifi ations l tional y i s ric . 2 . 3 Mis j i 4 li ed is i n -

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it cor rec t to ca ll you Fat her or Do cto r or eit he ron e? FR . C IK R IT : Eith er one , as you ple ase . I am a Ca tho lic pri est an d I also ha ve the deg ree of Do cto rof Me dicine. MAR GI E: Oh! We ll, ins tea d of sa yin g bot h, I'll say eit he ron e. Bu t, Fat her , isn 't it a littl e unusu al that a Cat hol ic pri est is als o an M. D. an d a psy chi atr istan d a pro­ fes sor of ps yc ho log y? FR . C IK R IT : It is unu sua l, but the re are sev era lin thi s countr y. . MAR GI E: Be for e we get int o thi s art icle , Fat her , I want to ask you r op ini on on the quest ionof di scus sin g rel igi onon radio and tel evi sio n. We 've oft en bee n told ne ver to do it. But I have don e it. I star ted ou t by ha vi nga Ca tho licpr ies t;he was so pop ular that I had him on th is pro gram tw ice . At on e time I int erv iew eda rab bi and I have als o int erv iew ed Pro tes tant min iste rs. Of cou rse , we go t ma ny commen ts, wh ich was what we we re af ter — no t to explo it any rel igi on but jus t to expla in the wa ys the memb ers of di ffe rent fai ths thin k. An d I thin k it's all rig ht to do th is. What do you thin k abou t it, Fat her Cik rit ? FR . CIK R IT : I'm con vin cedthat your stand on suc h re lig ious discus sio ns is per fec tly rea son abl e. If fa ith, rel igi on , is the mo st . RIT: , s . t lic r i i . GIE: ! l , g , r . , , al lic . trist - hology? . RIT: s l, l ntry. . C/E: e icl , , io io s ing i io ision. ' often be n o t ing a lic i t; i i . ie ed i ie ed t t t i t rs. s , ts, i - it i ion i s ers nt t s . i . t it? . IKRIT: i ced stan li io s sions f tly s able. , i ion,

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