It is Mental Illness Awareness Week. The focus is on community knowledge and connecting research to real-world recovery. Those of us living with mental illness know how important both are to our recovery. Today, I read something that is connected to the role of community and mental illness. It came from a place that surprised me. The Catholic Church. Poe Leo XIV has dedicated his October prayer ministry to mental heath ministry. He called on the Catholic Church to “listen without judging and accompany those who suffer without excluding them.” In his message the Pope prays that “…the Church may be an ‘open house’ where people facing challenges to their mental health find welcome, dignity, and hope.” (Vatican News: Merio, Francesca, Pope’s October prayer intention: ‘For mental health ministry)
As someone who grew up Catholic in a time when the Catholic Church was not very accepting or understanding of mental illness, I am glad to see this. I experienced a lot of pain because of the Catholic Church’s teaching on mental illness when I was young. I remember the pain of being told suicide was a sin when I was struggling with suicidal thoughts. It made me feel like a bad person. It stole hope away from at a time when I really needed it. I remember being in Catholic high school and really struggling only to have a counselor who was from a Catholic charity organization tell me I had to stop thinking about suicide because it was wrong. She made me feel like I was at fault for my feelings. It drew me back to the teachings that suicide was a sin I had learned in religion classes. Throughout high school I felt like I was at fault for my depression and suicidal thoughts.
For years I had an up and down relationship with the Catholic Church. I hold a lot of anger inside of me for the way I was made to feel. It was wrong for me to have been blamed for what I was going through. I had an illness, but in those years, I was not allowed to know that. Instead, I was taught that it was a matter of good versus bad. So, to see the Catholic Church recognizing mental illness is welcomed, even if it is a bit late.
I like that Pope Leo XIV wants the Church to be an “open house” for those of us with mental illness. We should be welcome into the Church. I remember seeing signs and hearing homilies about all being welcome in the Church, but I always felt I was not completely welcomed because my mental illness was seen as a bad thing. Now, under the pope’s leadership people with mental illness can walk through the doors of Church and feel safe with being open about what mental illness does to them. Pope Leo speaks about dignity and hope. That is exactly what we need. We need others to know that what we struggle with is an illness, not a fault. Perhaps, if that counselor years ago had treated me with dignity and provided me with hope, my life might have been different.
People with mental illness should be welcomed in all aspects of society. We have a lot to offer. Even though our mental illness makes life difficult for us, it does not limit the possibilities we hold. When we are treated with dignity and hope we can find healing. Churches should be welcoming to all. I still live with the hurt I experienced from the Catholic Church, but I can forgive. Pope Leo’s prayer intention and his efforts to give those of us living with mental illness hope is sign that the Church can grow.
Luckily for me, I found other ways to find hope and dignity alongside my mental illness. The Church hurt me and many others, but being human means being able to forgive. I hope that the Church, and by that, I mean more than the institution. I mean the people of the Church from the priests and other religious to the people that worship in the Church. There needs to be real change. That change requires more than prayer. It requires action. All that I have seen from Pope Leo XIV gives me hope that he can lead the Church into action that is healing for people with mental illness and welcomes us into the Church.
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