This October, Pope Leo XIV is asking the entire Church to pray for something very close to my heart: mental health ministry.
His prayer intention for the month is:
“Let us pray that the mental health ministry be established throughout the Church, helping to overcome the stigma and discrimination of persons with mental illnesses.”
There is something powerful about knowing that Catholics around the world are praying for this ministry. But I also think the Holy Father’s intention invites us to do more than pray. It asks us to consider what it looks like for our parishes to truly walk alongside people experiencing mental health challenges and the family members and friends who love them.
So what exactly is mental health ministry and how do we truly walk alongside those experiencing challenges?
It is important to note that mental health ministry is not therapy, and those serving in the ministry are not there to diagnose or treat mental illness. Instead, it is a ministry of spiritual accompaniment.
Sometimes what a person needs is someone willing to sit beside them, listen without judgment, pray with them, and remind them that they still have a place in their faith community.
Mental illness can be incredibly isolating. Stigma can make that isolation even worse. Someone may be sitting beside us at Mass while carrying anxiety, depression, grief, loneliness, or another mental health challenge that no one else can see. Families and caregivers can carry those struggles quietly as well.
Here in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Mental Wellness Ministry is helping our parishes become places where these conversations can happen with compassion, faith, and hope.
Our parish Mental Wellness Ministry teams provide Christ-centered accompaniment for individuals experiencing mental health challenges as well as their families and caregivers. Through spiritual support groups, prayer, education, special Masses and events, compassionate listening, and connections to appropriate resources, these teams help create communities where people can feel supported rather than ashamed or isolated.
Mental health ministry does not require us to have all the answers. In fact, often we won’t.
It requires us to be willing to listen, accompany, pray, and to remind one another that our struggles do not lessen our dignity or our place in the Body of Christ.
My hope is that Mental Wellness Ministry continues to grow so that more people know they have somewhere to turn within their own parish community. Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention reminds us that this is not simply the work of mental health professionals or a small group of volunteers. Creating a Church where people experiencing mental illness are welcomed, supported, and free from stigma is something all of us can be part of.
This October, as we join Pope Leo XIV in praying for mental health ministry throughout the Church, may we also ask God to show us how we can become part of the answer to that prayer.
Interested in learning more about how to start Mental Wellness Ministry in your parish?
Contact Mary Henthorn at [email protected].