Ministry Tools & Resources
Raise Awareness
Increase awareness about mental health and help parishes be more welcoming to people living with a mental illness.
Financial Support
Apply for a grant to support startup activities and innovative mental health ministry programs.
Worship & Liturgy
Learn about rituals, services, homilies and other ways to pray and care for people who live with mental illness.
Training & Education
Read Church documents and find books and training opportunities to help your mental health ministry.
Chapter Links
See what Mental Health Ministers are doing around the country. Links to Chapters of the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers and information on how to start a Chapter in your area.
The Sanctuary Course for Catholics
Compelling films that that feature the stories of Catholics living with mental health challenges, along with the insights of archbishops, theologians, and psychologists.
Mental Health Ministry and the Diaconate: Christ Heals Our Wounds
The Role of the Church for the Mental Health Community, Bishop Kevin W. Vann, JCD, DD
What a Mental Health Ministry Team Can Do in a Parish, Father Anthony Saroki, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Diocese of San Diego
Upcoming Events
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Pastoral Support for People with Mental Health Issues
Add Thu, May 20 @ 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
The education ministry of Saint Luke Institute.
Learn clinical aspects of mental health diagnoses and strategies for providing critical support in parish, diocesan and religious community settings.
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NCPD Council on Mental Illness Webinar Series
Add Mon, Jun 14 @ 4:00 PM (every second Monday of the month)
2nd Monday of the month, 4:00pm
Latest News
A Catholic Response to the Mental Health Crisis
Behind the statistics, facts, and figures on our nation’s mental health crisis are human beings—all children of God. How the Church and we, as people of faith, respond can save lives and…
Clergy education focuses on mental health, suicide prevention
Priests and deacons of the diocese were invited April 23 to participate in a continuing education course on mental health and suicide awareness.
How churches can respond to the COVID-19 mental health crisis
With concerns that suicide rates are rising in communities of color during the pandemic, Catholic mental health workers say the Church can play a key role in response.
Were some saints mentally ill, or holy, or both?
While in the confessional with a struggling novice in a lay consecrated community, the late Puerto Rican-born physicist, priest and writer Lorenzo Albacete recommended reading St. Teresa of…
Grant funds help train parish mental health teams to guide others to care
Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Rockford has received a grant to develop mental health ministries in Catholic parishes — a ministry that will be a part of the Catholic Charities’…
Depression, Lent, and Easter
I am always relieved when the end of Lent arrives. Not because I found the giving things up part difficult. For the depressed person, giving things up is relatively easy. Neuroscientist Robert…
Bishop Conley discusses extended sabbatical for mental health
Following a nearly year-long sabbatical to attend to his mental health, Bishop James Conley of Lincoln explained his experience with depression, seeking help, and his return to his duties as a bishop.
Pope Francis says seeing a psychiatrist helped him with anxiety when he was younger
Pope Francis has said that seeing a psychiatrist in Argentina helped him with anxiety when he was a younger priest in an interview published in an Argentine newspaper Saturday.
The Deacon's Mic: When a Deacon's Daughter Dies by Suicide
For this new edition of The Deacon’s Mic, I’m honored to talk with Deacon Ed Shoener, from the Diocese of Scranton. Ed created a new and vital ministry five years ago, when he wrote…
Bishop Conley of Lincoln Nebraska opens up about Mental Health Recovery
In December 2019, Bishop James Conley of the Diocese of Lincoln announced he was going on a medical leave of absence.
Deacon calls on Catholics ‘to be Church’ to those with mental illnesses,
Ministers in the Church have a special role when called to reach out to people trapped in the “dark tunnel” of pain and despair caused by mental illness: help them heal spiritually. They…
Saints who Confronted Suicidal Thoughts
Mental illness does not mean a lack of holiness, as these saints’ lives richly attest.
Order Free Prayer Cards
We provide free prayer cards in both English and Spanish for use in your ministry!
