Although clergymen are more likely than psychotherapists to be contacted by people in troubled marriages, little is known about the attitudes of the clergy toward intervention in divorce. In-depth interviews were conducted with 21 clergymen highly involved in assisting the divorcing. Respondents viewed divorce as a traumatic experience involving four discrete psychological stages. The decision to divorce was typically regarded as not mutual. The initiator's experience of divorce was viewed as more lengthy and more difficult. The respondents' role is characterized as being informal, practical, emotionally supportive, and concerned with reconciliation, the viability of the family unit, and the welfare of the children. Clergymen shift between several distinct roles while working with the divorcing. The clergyman provides psychological counseling, religious guidance, and also functions in a religiolegal role. The stance that a particular clergyman takes appears to be a function of the institutional context in which he comes in contact with divorcing individuals. At the congregational level, respondents were more psychologically oriented, whereas in the religious courts they were more legalistic and circumscribed in their goals.