The Bethany Program

The Bethany program offers a comprehensive mental health evaluation program for priests, religious and seminarians.  Also, an intensive 3 month outpatient treatment program is available for serious psychological conflicts.

Evaluation of Conflicts in Self-Giving

Anger Checklist

This checklist is meant to give priests a qualitative sense of the degree of their anger.  It is meant to assist in understanding the degree of active and passive-aggressive angry behavior in your life.

Please rate yourself choosing the appropriate number on the scale below.

1 - Very Little        2 - Moderately Often       3 - Very  Often

 

Active Marital Anger

Mild

  • Irritable
  • Excessive arguing
  • Impatient
  • Frequently frustrated
  • Easily annoyed

Moderate

  • Overly aggressive & antagonistic
  • Sarcastic
  • Excessively competitive
  • Bullying of others
  • Jealous
  • Callous
  • Hostile
  • Excessive swearing
  • Overly critical
  • Rude
  • Negative

Severe

  • Critical of the Church's teaching on sexual morality
  • Verbally abusive
  • False accusations against others
  • Regularly critical of the Pope
  • Tries to ruin someone's reputation
  • Lies
  • Steals
  • Substance abuse
  • Excessive recklessness
  • Disregard for other’s safety

 

Active Anger Total:

 

Passive-Aggressive Anger

Please rate yourself choosing the appropriate number on the scale below.

1 - Very Little        2 - Moderately Often       3 - Very  Often

Mild

  • Always late/leaves early
  • Deliberately sloppy
  • Procrastinates - deliberately puts things off
  • Twists the truth
  • Refuses to do what is reasonably expected
  • Deliberately slow
  • Pretends not to hear or see
  • Refuses to listen
  • Manipulative

Moderate

  • Acts sick or helpless
  • Overly stubborn
  • Withholds support
  • Works markedly below one's ability
  • Impulsive - failure to plan ahead
  • Deliberately avoids or ignores someone
  • Distances others
  • Always negative
  • Refuses to praise or compliment
  • Silent treatment
  • Won’t communicate
  • Refuses to be responsible
  • Enjoys seeing people become upset
  • Divisive

Severe

  • Enables parish staff to try to control a priest
  • Refuses to communicate the Church's teaching on sexual morality
  • Refuses to attend to serious problems
  • Seeks to undermine the Church’s teaching on sexual morality
  • Acts as a permissive spiritual father
  • Withholds love from others
  • Fails to attend to the needs of spiritual children
  • Neglect of the one’s ministry

 

Passive Anger Total:

Visit MaritalHealing.com

Our mission is to strengthen Catholic marriages and families by educating spouses, marital therapists and clergy about common causes of conflicts in marital self-giving and effective approaches to alleviating such conflicts. 

Visit ChildHealing.com

Our mission is to strengthen families by educating parents about common causes of emotional and behavioral conflicts in children and by providing effective approaches to alleviating such conflicts. 

Featured Publication

Dr. Fitzgibbons has coauthored a textbook on the treatment on excessive anger in adult and child psychiatric disorders in the field of positive psychology for American Psychological Association Books, Helping Clients Forgive: An Empirical Guide for Resolving Anger and Restoring Hope.