ABSTRACT
At the European conference on pastoral care and counselling held in Ripon in 1997 two themes emerged, as if from hiding. 1 First was the theme of marginalisation. The conference opened with two women rabbis leading us in Shabatt, the keeping of the Sabbath, and ended with the accusation that people of a minority sexual orientation might not be welcome. The image was of the hundredth lost sheep which had to be searched for, not only for its own sake but for the sake of the flock as a whole. Majorities can patronise minorities with their concern, but our glimpse took us further than that to the minority as the signpost to salvation for all. Anton Boisen (1968), the founder of the North American pastoral care and counselling movement, believed that understanding the mentally ill would lead to building ‘the city of brotherhood and co-operation on the place where the jungle now stands and greed and ruthless competition rule’ (1968:48). The lost sheep will help the whole flock discover and cherish its lostness.
