I asked you to send me your spiritual quandaries, and got some fine ones. CM reader Kathy wrote of the subtle but vicious power struggles within the leadership of her metaphysical church. You don’t need the particulars. But something tells me her sentiments aren’t all that uncommon, since religious institutions–like families and companies–are organizational systems.

“I put out love, and it didn’t reach its target. The whole situation…ruined the church for me. I didn’t want to infect other parishioners with my negativity,” Kathy writes.

I’m happy to report, Kathy, that just a week before you wrote, I learned of the work of the late Rabbi Edwin H. Friedman whose Alban Institute
still helps clergy apply the theories of family systems therapy to leadership struggles within churches and synagogues. Peter L. Steinke, one of Friedman’s protégés, wrote a fascinating book in 1993 that you might enjoy called “How Your Church Family Works: Understanding Congregations as Emotional Systems.”

This book has great chapter headings, such as “What Shall it Profit a Parish if it Gets over the Hump but Falls Into the Abyss?” and “Do Not Go Gently Into That Glob of Glue.” It is healing to know that experts are out there addressing these questions and that you will, in time, use your experience to find a suitable spiritual home that will uplift and inspire you.