OSV News photo/Bob Roller

ATLANTA—With the increasing awareness of mental health issues in society, church leaders have an opportunity to support struggling families, dispel harmful myths and create a supportive environment in ministries. 

It was the death of Deacon Ed Shoener’s only daughter that spurred him to start the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers. 

Katie Shoener was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which manifested in her late teens. Her first attempt at suicide shocked her family as she was a high-achieving student, salutatorian in her class, president of the honor society and captain of her soccer team. With her diagnosis, Katie persevered, graduating from Penn State with a business degree and obtaining an MBA. She managed her condition for 11 years, attended therapy, and diligently took her medication. Katie took her life in 2016 at the age of 29.  

The obituary he wrote hours after her death went viral: 

“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.”   

Catholicism long viewed suicide as a sin. However, the church now understands mental health better and that people who kill themselves may suffer from psychological issues beyond their control. 

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.” 

The association’s focus is “bringing the love of God into the lives of people who live with these challenges because so often they feel abandoned by God,” said the deacon. “That’s what the illness will tell them.” 

At the association’s fifth anniversary, there are more than 2,000 members worldwide, extending beyond the United States to active participation from Africa and India. It has gained a foothold in the United States, with an estimated 50 dioceses establishing mental health ministries. 

Deacon Shoener envisions mental health care as part of parish life.  

“I mean this ministry is not complicated,” he said. “It’s not terribly time-consuming. It’s simple things like Masses and maybe the prayer intentions occasionally praying for people who live with schizophrenia or mood disorders or live with suicidality.”  

Americans’ mental health has been on the decline. In 2022, an estimated 15.4 million adults in the United States are classified with a severe mental illness, representing 6% of all U.S. adults. 

Among young people, those in the “Gen Z” generation (born between 1997 and 2012), 57% report trauma, with as many as one out of three high school students saying, “they are not flourishing in their mental health,” reported the Springtide Research Institute. The deacon maintains a bright boundary between ministry work and people seeking professional help. Mental health care involves treating mental illnesses by qualified professionals. For Deacon Shoener, the mental health ministry, on the other hand, focuses support to individuals with mental illness and their families. 

He said as someone in ministry wouldn’t advise a cancer patient on specific chemotherapy treatments, they should not interfere with the guidance of mental health professionals. The ministry focuses on fostering belonging, acceptance, and spiritual support.  

“It’s a place to socialize; that’s an important part of this, but it’s also a place where you can wrestle with God, so to speak. ‘Why is this happening? And where do I go? Does God love me?’ And they can openly talk about being hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital or suicide attempt, and that nobody is going to cringe.” said the deacon, who lives with depression. It is about empowering people and families to use their treatment and be supported in a tightly-knit community, he said. 

In response to the growing need, American bishops are speaking out against the stigma of embarrassment, shame, or guilt that can prevent people from seeking help. 

“Such a stigma contradicts the compassion of Jesus and is contrary to the foundation of Catholic social teaching,” wrote Archbishop Borys Gudziak, who leads the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, and Bishop Robert Barron, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth. “As pastors, we want to emphasize this point to anyone who is suffering from mental illness or facing mental health challenges: nobody and nothing can alter or diminish your God-given dignity. You are a beloved child of God, a God of healing and hope.”  

The bishops’ joint statement had a simple plea: “everyone who needs help should get help.” 

God doesn’t want continuous suffering 

The COVID-19 pandemic seemed to be a turning point in changing attitudes toward mental health care, as people experienced isolation and stress, according to Peter Attridge, the clinical director of Holy Family Counseling Center.

The center, one of the largest Catholic counseling centers in Atlanta, saw almost a 22% increase in the number of the center’s clients in 2021, he said. 

With offices in Suwannee and Marietta, in addition to working out of many parishes in the Archdiocese of Atlanta, the center strives to meet the needs of a faith-based approach to mental health care.  

“God doesn’t want us to be in a continuous state of suffering and potentially doing damage to other people in our lives,” he said. 

Attridge, a licensed marriage and family therapist for 10 years, said he’s seen a significant shift in the view of counseling within the Catholic community. There’s been a destigmatizing of mental health care and increased recognition of professional counseling’s value, he said.  

From his view, therapy does not contradict the power of faith but rather complements it. As prayer prepares believers to make positive changes in their lives, therapy is a structured, supportive environment for self-reflection, growth and healing. 

Attridge acknowledged God’s power to heal emphasizing the importance of “works” alongside faith. Therapy is not a denial of God’s ability but participating in the healing process, he said. If suffering affects the ability to function daily, just maintaining a job or as a husband or wife or as a parent, with that suffering spilling over to damage others, it’s worth looking at, he said. 

Along with the awareness of the care, Attridge said priests increasingly appreciate the boundaries of their expertise. Priests readily acknowledge the limits of their training that may not equip them to address people’s struggles with anxiety, depression or addiction. Atlanta priests seem to view therapy as a valuable resource and encourage those needing care from mental health professionals, he said. 

Shifting from illness to individual dignity 

Michael Semonsky, 53, attends Prince of Peace Church in Flowery Branch. He has been in treatment for severe mental illness, which emerged when he was in college.  

Since becoming a member of the church in 2015, he’s found integrating Catholic practices and community with traditional medical care has supported his recovery with his mental illness.  

The consistent spiritual rituals and habits offer him accountability, encouragement, and a deeper understanding of his relationship with God, he said. Semonsky regularly attends Mass two or three times a week and approaches the sacrament of reconciliation regularly. Journaling gives him a chance to reflect on practices and identify patterns for an examination of conscience. 

Catholic parish groups have “left doors open” for him to engage in community, he said. These gatherings prioritize relationships over judgment, Semonsky said. From the men’s group to the Divine Mercy parish ministry, he connects with others. 

Even as Semonsky admits to relationship difficulties because of his illness, he has typically found understanding, acceptance and connection within parish groups. He also attends secular peer groups hosted by National Assocation of Mental Illness.  

A Catholic mental health peer group would be a great place to start for the Atlanta Archdiocese, to shift focus from illness to individual dignity, he said. It could combat the shame and foster connections, he said.

“It would be such a blessing to connect with people with lived experience and who share the doctrine of our faith,” said Semonsky.