Speaking Pragmatically: Religious Discourse and Counseling Discourse in the Lives and Work of Counselors

Grounded theory analysis of data obtained in 10 interviews with Roman Catholic Christian professional counselors identified six themes. Three themes were common to all interviews: the value and beauty of faith; autonomy and obedience; and healing, renewal, and the call. Three other themes, appearing in topics of both religion and counseling within individual interviews, were the integrated whole, relational concerns, and the meshing of theories. Results established that participants’ faith and religious practices influenced their counseling careers and clinical choices, and vice versa. Pragmatic philosophy, foundational to grounded theory, parallels existential/humanistic thought in insisting on the importance of the human agent, such as the counselor, in meaning and decision making. It thus provides a critical framework for considering the significance of the findings for the counseling profession.