Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers

Catholic Church Documents

To Live Life to the Full: Mental Health in Australia Today. The Catholic Bishops of Australia encourage faith communities, governments and each one of us, to make mental health a priority (2020)

Hope and Healing: A Pastoral Letter from the Bishops of California on Caring for those who suffer from Mental Illness Addressed to All Catholics and People of Goodwill (2018)

'For I Am Lonely and Afflicted' A Statement of the Catholic Bishops of New York State (2014)

Ensure that all mentally ill people are given access to necessary forms of care and treatment - Message of His Holiness Benedict XVI for the 14th World Day of the Sick (2006)

Depression is always a spiritual trial - Pastoral Care on the Theme of Depression - Saint Pope John Paul II (2003)

Catechism of the Catholic Church - Teaching on Suicide (1997)

Mentally Ill are also Made in God's Image - Pope Saint John Paul II (1996)

Mental Health Literacy and Mental Health First Aid

The Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers can help a parish community increase its mental health literacy by presenting a “Mental Health First Aid” training course at the parish at no charge to the parish.

Why is Mental Health Literacy Important?

What people in a parish know and believe about mental illness will have a direct impact on a parish’s ability to minister to people with a mental illness and their families. If people mistakenly believes that mental illness is due to a moral failing or character fault then that will only serve to increase the stigma, shame and discrimination that individuals who live with mental illness all too often have to deal with. On the other hand, if there is a broad understanding the parish community that mental illness is, in fact, an illness that is not the fault of the person with the mental illness, then more compassion, empathy and companionship can be found in the parish community.