Surviving the spiritual challenges of unemployment

When Marilyn Jansen thought about re-entering the job market, she was filled with dread. Years ago Jansen, 50, had left her travel-heavy career of selling computer software to hospitals to concentrate on raising her family. Since then she had also started a small gourmet food business, but now she felt the need for a significant change.

"With my kids approaching college, I wanted to relieve some of the pressure my husband feels for financial responsibility," says Jansen. But beyond the obvious economic factors, Jansen was seeking something else when she started looking for a job.

"My self-esteem had slipped, and the idea of trying to tap back into the corporate world seemed overwhelming," she says. And then there was that other factor. " ‘Purpose,' I guess, is a good word for it. I wanted to feel that I was doing the right thing at this point in my life."

Jansen's local parish, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Glenview, Illinois, operates a free support group called Business Network Ministry to deal with exactly those issues: the practical and the spiritual sides of unemployment. Although unemployment traditionally affects blue-collar workers, it is increasingly hitting a new breed of job-seekers: white-collar workers and women like Jansen who are rejoining the workforce. Open to anyone, the group was started in 2001 for "the unemployed, the underemployed, and those whose careers are in transition," says Ed Hauser, Business Network's chairman.

But although Jansen knew about the group, she originally felt intimidated about attending it. "I don't know why I was afraid to go," she says. "I had all kinds of preconceived ideas that turned out to be false, like I would be judged or that I didn't have much to offer." Then one day Jansen experienced a change of mind. "Maybe God was whispering in my ear, because I finally realized that this group would be a safe place for me," she says.

Jansen loved the once-a-month meetings immediately. "I could bounce ideas off other people," she says. "In a collaborative setting I could let the world know that I was looking for a job. And making that declaration is really important. I had support and a way to explore all kinds of feelings, including the direction I wanted my life to go. To me, it was a profound moment when I realized I wasn't hiding anymore."

Eventually Jansen's networking paid off when she was asked for her resume by a group member who worked for a corporation. It turned into the perfect job for her.

Now Jansen heads up project development and outsource services for a Christian management company. She found both a paycheck and a purpose. Her path to a new career took about one year, but Jansen believes that she never would have found her way without her parish's Business Network Ministry. "Maybe my timetable and God's timetable had to get in sync," she says.

Spiritual severance pay

Everyone knows the financial costs of unemployment: Unpaid bills mount up, children's education plans are revised, retirement is pushed back a few years. No matter the size of your previous income, the downsizing of it is visibly reflected in your lifestyle: from forgoing the dry-cleaners and karate lessons to possibly selling your home. But the spiritual costs of unemployment, often internalized, can be devastating.

"We are talking about much more than financial burdens," says Bill Droel, editor of Initiatives , a newsletter about the connections between faith, work, and social justice.

"There is the psychological blow of losing a sense of identity, which can lead to depression and frustration. And there is a significant spiritual blow, too. It can shake your faith. From a Catholic perspective, the primary place where Christians express their faith isn't in the church building, but rather the workplace. Faith is action-based, not a mental exercise. When the sun comes up in the morning, there is ministry to be done just in the way you go about your day. But without a job, you are cut off from much of that."

The concept of "spirituality of work" is a growing one. And while the phrase sounds modern, the basis for it is centuries old. Jesus himself says, "My Father is working still, and I am working" (John 5:17). And he told parables that were constructed around details of work that are still applicable today, such as laborers, finances, interest, and landlords. Spirituality of work gives meaning to an everyday occurrence: Work is no longer seen as only a means to an end-financial reward-but as an extension of one's own purpose. The questions raised-Why am I here on Earth? What am I meant to do during the course of my day?-are profound, and searching for personal answers can be difficult even when one is employed. But when a person is unemployed, the questions of a spiritual journey can be daunting.

"Unemployment throws everything at you at once," says Rose Ann Pastor, executive director of the Career Transitions Center, a nonprofit started by five different faith groups in Chicago. "You have the obvious issues: food, shelter, kids, and bills. At first the question from a newly unemployed person may be, ‘How am I going to stay afloat?' But quickly it can become, ‘Who am I? What do I want to do with the rest of my life?' Over time I have seen some pretty big egos broken. And from there, it isn't a big leap to ask, ‘Where is God in all this?' "

Enter a growing national network of job support groups that deal with both the economic and spiritual costs of unemployment. Some of them are parish-based groups that meet once a month, starting with a prayer and moving on to networking tips. Others, like the Career Transitions Center, are independent operations that for a nominal fee offer private cubicles, computer usage, and job coaches.

"We're not a one-stop-come-find-a-job place," says Pastor, whose organization deals with a working base of 150 to 200 clients. "We try to help people find a spiritual center."

To that end, Career Transitions Center holds an annual two-day retreat to reflect upon issues of purpose, faith, work, and one's future. "I have seen some angry people," says Pastor, "people who wonder, ‘How could God do this to me?' or ‘Why would God let this happen?' I've also met people who say, ‘I couldn't get through this without God as a comforter.' Usually people start at one end of that spectrum and work their way to the other. But it is not an easy process."

"You have heard of the stages of grief?" says Bill Broderick. "The unemployed tend to go through the same stages: denial, anger, bargaining, and so on until acceptance." Broderick-along with partners Sue Cibelli and Ralph Tileston-created Work Ministry in 2004. An interfaith Web-based organization that sponsors job support groups around the country, Work Ministry resources are offered free over the Internet. Broderick's goal was to present a turnkey operation to anyone who wants to start a job support group but might lack the time or skills to pull all the resources together.

The process of finding a spiritual path through unemployment is obviously a personal one. Some people go back to basic touchstones of their faith, like attending services or setting aside special times for prayer. Others end up doing more spiritual homework, addressing questions of vocation such as, Why am I here on Earth? and How do I live a good life?

To find help answering those questions, some read the psalms or St. Paul's epistles or recite the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi ("Lord, make me an instrument of your peace..."). Some turn to meditation or find solace in reading Thomas Aquinas or Thomas Merton; others prefer a more action-based route like volunteering at soup kitchens, youth groups, and parish support groups.