ACMHM News

Responding to Suicide: A Pastoral Handbook for Catholic Leaders authored by Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers and edited by Deacon Ed Shoener and Most Rev. John P. Dolan from Ave Maria Press is the Association of Catholic Publishers’ 2021 “Resource of the Year.”

Faith communities are connecting with families dealing with mental health issues on multiple fronts.

by Clare Ansberry, Wall Street Journal, July 22, 2021

Priests, pastors, rabbis, imams and deacons have witnessed waves of anxiety, depression, fear and grief. People who never sought help before reached out needing more than spiritual support and pastoral care. In response, some churches created mental-health ministries, hired clinical social workers and held town halls staffed by professionals.

Pope Francis has said that it is necessary to destigmatize mental illness. In a message to participants at a conference on mental health organized by the Italian health ministry, Francis said it was necessary to take action to "fully overcome the stigma that mental illness is often tainted with".

The COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on participation in religious services just as it did on workplaces, but a new survey indicates strong emotional resilience from those who consider their faith vital to their existence.

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 help get people who are suffering the help they need.

Priests and deacons of the diocese were invited April 23 to participate in a continuing education course on mental health and suicide awareness.

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.

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 Ávila's autobiography as penance.