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Investing in our mental health resources as a nation is more important now than ever — not because doing so is the overriding solution to preventing gun violence, but because the trauma of gun violence is far-reaching.

Bishop Dolan will be the fifth to govern one of the fastest growing dioceses in the U.S., with an estimated Catholic population of 1.1 million spread throughout more than 43,000 square miles. He is set to assume his new responsibilities in early August. The biggest challenge facing the Church today, Bishop Dolan said, is “broadening our horizons of the human person.” Having worked in the area of mental health ministry, he said, has been an important means of realizing that, “in some fashion, we all have a little disorder, and if we accept that, then we’re able to communicate with a sense sympathy out of compassion, I would say, and start from that level.”

When we think of ministry, we often categorize it as liturgical, pro-life or social justice. However, a relatively recent ministry that encompasses all three focuses on accompanying our fellow Catholics who live with mental illness, and their families. Because the thought of mental illness often brings to mind professionals who are licensed to treat people, we feel inadequate to the task. Yet this is a ministry we all can do, because the critical task is listening and being present to accompany someone who is struggling.

Deacon Ed Shoener opens up about how suicidal thoughts are a serious illness that needs to be treated, just like symptoms of any other life threatening disease

Join Mission Revive's hosts Anne Costa and Bob Newberry for a important interview with Deacon Ed Shoener. Deacon Ed is the President of the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers and a founding member of the Catholic Institute for Mental Health Ministry at the University of San Diego. He is coauthor of the book, "Responding to Suicide: A Pastoral Handbook for Catholic Leaders". His daughter, Katie, died by suicide in 2016. Katie’s obituary went viral because it spoke to the needs and concerns of people who live with mental illness. You can find his organization here: https://catholicmhm.org/ You can find his book here: https://www.avemariapress.com/products/responding-to-suicide

Fr. Joan Gilabert Jofré saved a mentally ill man from bullies and went on to found the "Hospital of the Innocents."

To the casual observer, everything is just fine with Margaret. She’s intelligent, energetic and charming. Colleagues notice that she has an edge at times, but who doesn’t? Yet those people very close to Margaret experience far more than an edge. They experience sudden rage, hostility, accusations and demands that make it very difficult to stay nearby. Quite ironically, however, people remaining close to her is exactly what Margaret wants.

lts from Springtide Research Institute show how faith leaders can make a difference.

Elena Zuniga didn’t go searching for the patron saint of anxiety, depression and mental illness, but St. Dymphna found her anyway. First, a small St. Dymphna charm showed up in her jewelry box without explanation. Then a St. Dymphna prayer card fell out of a book she happened to pick up. And after showing up one morning in 2019 for a meeting about a new mental health ministry at St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church in Yorba Linda, Zuniga soon found herself serving as one of two co-leaders of St. Dymphna’s Disciples — a group that works to reduce stigma around mental illness in the church and supports those in mental distress.

In Italian: https://www.vaticannews.va/it/mondo/news/2022-04/ucraina-moldavia-sostegno-psicologico-guerra.html In Romanian: https://www.vaticannews.va/ro/biserica/news/2022-04/republica-moldova-preot-pertru-ciobanu-caritas-refugiati.html

May 5, 2022 - Deacon Ed Shoener was ordained a permanent deacon in 2004 and serves at St. Peter’s Cathedral in the Diocese of Scranton. Shoener is a founding member of the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers and the Catholic Institute of Mental Health Ministry at the University of San Diego.

Since 1949, the month of May has been observed as Mental Health Awareness Month in the U.S. The tradition was started by the National Association for Mental Health (since renamed the Mental Health Association) and is marked by outreach efforts, media campaigns, and greater attention to mental-health resources.

We are about to begin the month of May, a good month to reflect on mental health and our faith. May is mental health awareness month in the United States. The first week of May is mental health week in Canada. And May 15 is the feast day for Saint Dymphna, a patron for people living with mental health disorders or illnesses.

Tom Hoffarth - Angelus News

By Elise Ureneck

Emergency departments within the Bon Secours Mercy Health system have seen a surge of children and adolescents who have attempted or talked about suicide; who have injured themselves; or who are grappling with anxiety, depression or other mental illnesses during the pandemic.

The war in Ukraine caused an acute humanitarian crisis. According to the UN, more than 1 million Ukrainians have already left the country, leaving their homes and losing contact with loved ones. The Catholic Mental Health Ministry in Moldova has started a project to organize volunteer groups to provide psychological assistance for the refugees and their children. In this Lent we meet the suffering Christ in our neighbors as we never have done before.

Rutilio Grande, S.J., who will be beatified on Jan. 22, was a deeply committed priest with extraordinary pastoral gifts. This was apparent particularly in his efforts to empower the laity and bring the spirit of the Second Vatican Council—as well as the Latin American Bishops’ Conference in Medellín, Colombia—to life in impoverished El Salvador during the lead-up to that country’s civil war. Not content to impose solutions from above, Father Grande was committed to what Pope Francis would later call “the culture of encounter.” Because of his efforts to raise the consciousness of the poor and advocate for land reform, he and two parishioners were gunned down by a death squad in 1977 less than one month after Óscar Romero had been installed as archbishop of San Salvador. Father Grande’s assassination had a profound effect on Archbishop Romero, who spent the rest of his life speaking boldly and prophetically against oppression until, he, too, was killed by a death squad.