Spiritual Dryness as a Measure of a Specific Spiritual Crisis in Catholic Priests: Associations with Symptoms of Burnout and Distress

Table 2

Response rates (%).

Item phrasings	Not at all	Rarely	Occasionally	Fairly often	Regularly	No reply
Item 1: I have the feeling that God is distant from me, regardless of my efforts to draw close to him.	35	38	20	6	1	<1
Item 2: I have the feeling that God has abandoned me completely.	53	29	14	4	<1	<1
Item 3: I experience times of “spiritual dryness.”	5	35	46	10	3	<1
Item 4: I have the feeling that I am “spiritually empty.”	17	40	30	9	3	<1
Item 5: I have the feeling that my prayers go unanswered.	17	38	34	9	1	1
Item 6: I know the feeling of not being able to give any more.	9	37	38	13	3	<1
Marker items when these feelings were experienced
Item 7: These feelings inspire me all the more to help others.	8	14	21	14	2	41
Item 8: I have found ways to deal with these feelings.	3	6	16	25	8	41
Item 9: After these phases of “spiritual dryness” or “abandonment by God,” I experience a greater spiritual serenity and depth.	5	10	26	16	4	39