The Deacon

The headlines are disturbing: “Deaths by suicide reach ‘highest number ever recorded’; ideation likely higher, expert says.” And this: “Pope Francis laments the spiritual poverty in a culture that leads to teen suicides.”

Yet there are hopeful headlines: “Dioceses wake up to youth mental health crisis, helping parents, teachers and pastors take action.” And, “As bishops tackle mental health crisis, parishes can bring comfort through community.”

To help face the mental health challenges of our time, deacons can be leaders and a hopeful presence in the lives of people with mental illness and their families. But to be the mental health ministry leaders our parishioners need and deserve, we deacons must understand and take care of our own mental health and be willing to talk about health challenges and illnesses.

A Deacon’s Role

As deacons, we walk alongside people during some of the most challenging times of their lives. Diaconal ministry often requires us to shine a light in the darkness when people are struggling and looking for a reason to hope and find joy. Yet, because of the nature of this mission, deacons can experience burnout and mental and spiritual fatigue because of the challenges faced in ministry. Taking care of our own mental health is essential to joyfully carry out the mission to serve others and the Church.

All too often, deacons, as well as other Catholic leaders, worry that people will think less of us if they know that we have mental health challenges or mental illness; sometimes to the point that we will not go and get the care we need. This, of course, can harm us and our families, and it does not help those we serve if we are struggling with untreated mental health issues such as depression, anxiety or trauma.

Our parishioners need to see that we understand there is no shame in receiving mental health care. They need to know we reject the harmful and misinformed notion that a person is somehow a bad Catholic or weak because they have mental health challenges, such as depression or anxiety. Mental health care, like all medical care, is a gift from God. Mental health care and faith go together; one can be used to support the other.

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PRAYER TO ST. DYMPHNA, PATRON SAINT OF MENTAL HEALTH

Good St. Dymphna, great wonder-worker in every affliction of mind and body, I humbly implore your powerful intercession with Jesus through Mary, the Health of the Sick, in my present need. (Mention it.)

St. Dymphna, martyr of purity, patroness of those who suffer with nervous and mental afflictions, beloved child of Jesus and Mary, pray to them for me and obtain my request.

(Pray one Our Father, one Hail Mary and one Glory Be.)

St. Dymphna, virgin and martyr, pray for us.

— The National Shrine of St. Dymphna is located at 206 Cherry Rd NE, Massillon, Ohio, in St. Mary Catholic Church. Visit natlshrinestdymphna.org for additional information.

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Pope Francis understands the importance of good mental health care. His prayer intention in November 2021 was for those who suffer from depression. He invited everyone to pray for and be near those who suffer from exhaustion, burnout and depression. Pope Francis stressed the relationship between faith and good mental health: “Let us not forget that, along with the indispensable psychological counseling, which is useful and effective, Jesus’ words also help.” He directs us to “pray that people who suffer from depression or burnout will find support and a light that opens them up to life.”

Pope Francis provides a good example of how taking care of our own mental health is a critical part of our ministry. He has been quite open about his own challenges in this area and the importance of mental health care. When he was director of the Jesuit community during the Argentinian dictatorship in the 1970s he was under considerable stress, and he sought the help of a psychiatrist.

He said the psychiatrist helped him during those difficult days and her lessons have helped him throughout his life: “My treatment with the psychiatrist also helped me to orient myself and learn to manage my anxiety. … Her teachings are still of great use to me today.”

He recognizes that mental health conditions must be accepted and understood so that we can practice good mental health care. His advice for managing our mental health conditions and illnesses is that “you have to caress them, too. They’re a person’s companions throughout their entire life.”

Pope Francis’ willingness to share his struggles with anxiety is a way of accompanying those who live with mental health challenges by showing all of us that he is with us and one of us as we struggle with these challenges.

Breaking the Stigma

As deacons, we can emulate Pope Francis by being willing to talk about our own mental health challenges, thereby helping to break down the stigma and even the discrimination that people who live with mental illness all too often experience — even at times, in parish communities.

We can help those we serve by openly talking about our own mental health challenges so that people can see that good Catholics, even leaders such as deacons, struggle with these types of challenges ourselves. People need to know they can rely on their faith to face these challenges and support them in difficult times. They also need to know that Church leaders and the parish community will not abandon them or turn away from them when they or family members are struggling with mental illness or grieving a death by suicide.

Every preacher knows that people pay attention to stories. By telling our own mental health stories, we can normalize conversations about this issue in our parishes and demonstrate that the Church will support those among us with mental health challenges and illnesses.

A Family Experience

Let me tell you my family’s mental health story. My daughter Katie lived with a serious mental illness called bipolar disorder. She lived with this illness for over 11 years, but finally lost the battle to suicide in 2016 at the age of 29. In her obituary I wrote this:

“So often people who have a mental illness are known as their illness. People say that ‘she is bipolar’ or ‘he is schizophrenic.’ Over the coming days as you talk to people about this, please do not use that phrase. People who have cancer are not cancer, those with diabetes are not diabetes. Katie was not bipolar — she had an illness called bipolar disorder — Katie herself was a beautiful child of God.

“The way we talk about people and their illnesses affects the people themselves and how we treat the illness. In the case of mental illness, there is so much fear, ignorance, and hurtful attitudes that the people who suffer from mental illness needlessly suffer further. Our society does not provide the resources that are needed to adequately understand and treat mental illness. In Katie’s case, she had the best medical care available, she always took the cocktail of medicines that she was prescribed, and she did her best to be healthy and manage this illness — and yet — that was not enough.

“Someday a cure will be found, but until then, we need to support and be compassionate to those with mental illness, every bit as much as we support those who suffer from cancer, heart disease or any other illness. Please know that Katie was a sweet, wonderful person that loved life, the people around her — and Jesus Christ.”

I had hoped Katie’s obituary would encourage an open and honest conversation in our small town of Scranton, Pennsylvania, about mental illness and suicide. What happened was totally unexpected. Her obituary went viral on social media. It was covered in the media around the world. Katie’s obituary has been seen by millions of people.

I am convinced that God used Katie’s obituary to deliver his message of love. God overcame Katie’s tragic death by using her obituary to help people understand that he is with them in their struggle with mental illness, and he has mercy on those who die by suicide.

I now bring Katie’s joyfulness and exuberance into the world by transforming her suffering into service to those who suffer from mental illness. That was my inspiration for joining with other dedicated people to establish the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers (CMHM) in 2019.

Support and Care

CMHM supports parishes and dioceses in establishing mental health ministries that provide vital spiritual accompaniment for people experiencing mental illness, as well as those who care for them.It offers online training programs, films and many other practical resources to help parishes start mental health ministries.

In a pastoral letter by the bishops of California titled “Hope and Healing,” focused on caring for those who suffer from mental illness, the bishops wrote that ministering to those who suffer from mental illness is an essential part of the pastoral care of the Church. They are absolutely right. It’s not just a nice thing to do or something that we should do on the side, it is essential.

In mental health ministry, we accompany people and love people where they are. We try to love them with the passion of Jesus Christ and offer them a place of belonging. There is no need for a deacon to be a professional counselor or a therapist to support those among us who live with mental health challenges; rather, to serve in Catholic mental health ministry, you simply need to love Jesus Christ and have a desire to help bring that love into the lives of people who live with mental health challenges and illnesses.

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The Mission of CMHM

The mission of the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers is to “support Catholic parishes and dioceses in establishing mental health ministries. Mental health ministry provides vital spiritual accompaniment for people experiencing mental health challenges and mental illness, as well as those who care for them.” To learn more about this mission or to start a mental health ministry in your parish, visit the website at catholicmhm.org.

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Deacons and mental health care professionals should work together, but our tasks are different. It is essential that the boundaries between ministry and professional health care are clearly defined. Those of us in ministry never diagnose or suggest treatment — that’s for the professionals — but we do encourage people to get good professional care and to take the medicines they’re prescribed when necessary.

In addition, we are here to offer spiritual support. Our faith teaches us that we are mind, body and soul. Mental healthcare professionals do a good job with the mind and the body, but the spiritual life of people who live with a mental illness must be cared for. Hence, we offer accompaniment — to use a word that Pope Francis likes to use. Mental health ministry is faith-based and God-centered. We reassure people that God is with them as they suffer, and that God has not abandoned them. We reassure people with mental health challenges that God loves them and that their parish community supports them. Our goal is to infuse the presence of God into the lives of people with mental health challenges and offer hope.

Presence and Respect

As deacons we are uniquely qualified to be a healing presence in the lives of people with mental illness and those who support them. We can offer a ministry of service and presence; like the good Samaritan, rather than looking the other way or walking past those living with a mental illness, we can pour the oil and wine of the Gospel into their lives.

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ST. ALBERT THE GREAT’S DEMENTIA

In the Middle Ages, St. Albert the Great was one of the great scientists. He was well educated in physics, mineralogy, chemistry, astronomy and biology. In his mind, there was no division between science and theology. In his later years, he was afflicted by a form of Alzheimer’s. He died in 1280. The Church declared him a saint and Doctor of the Church.

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People who live with mental health challenges and illnesses have much to offer the Church and the community, because living with a mental illness gives them unique insights into suffering, humility, compassion, friendship and love. They carry a cross that is heavy and hard to fully understand. They are some of the most courageous and brave people I know. They do not want our pity — they simply want to be welcomed and loved. They deserve our respect.

In our diaconal ministry, we can follow the guidance of Pope Francis “to remember our brothers and sisters who suffer from mental illness, and also victims — often young people — of suicide. Let us pray for them and their families, so that they are never left alone, or discriminated against, but instead are welcomed and supported.”

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. He serves on the Council on Mental Illness of the National Catholic Partnership on Disability.