In Jacqueline R. v. Household of Faith Family Church, Inc. (2002) 97 Cal.App.4th 198, the paramour was the wife's pastor. The pastor engaged in consensual sexual conduct with the wife during marriage counseling. (Jacqueline R., at p. 201.) The court explored the foundational issue of duty. "Duty is the crux of this case. Without it, all that remains is a lawsuit for alienation of affections -- a 'long-dead cause of action. ' 'The gist of the tort is not sexual intimacy but an interference with the marital relation that changes one spouse's mental attitude toward the other.' The Legislature abolished this and other related causes of action in 1939 when it enacted Civil Code section 43.5." (Jacqueline R., at p. 203.) The husband and wife in Jacqueline R., argued that section 43.5 did not bar their claim because the sexual misconduct breached an independent duty of care. The court rejected the notion that an independent duty of care to refrain from engaging in sexual conduct that is harmful to the person being counseled exists in the context of pastoral counseling. It distinguished those cases that involved licensed therapists, who by virtue of the relevant statutory licensing schemes did in fact have an independent duty of care. Even when that narrow exception to section 43.5 applies, the court recognized, a plaintiff must "show there was a professional relationship and a connection between the purpose of the professional relationship and the wrongful conduct." (Jacqueline R., supra, 97 Cal.App.4th at p. 204.)