Responding to Suicide

Many pastoral leaders feel ill-equipped to respond to the turmoil of those who face the death by suicide of a loved one. Responding to Suicide is the first book written for Catholic leaders that takes a holistic approach to understanding suicide and ministering effectively in its aftermath.

More than a dozen leading mental health practitioners, Catholic theologians, and pastoral care experts share how best to respond to suicide as leaders in parishes, schools, healthcare systems, and other Church settings. The book offers a cross-disciplinary approach that provides basic information about the central role of mental health in suicide and clarifies Church teaching about suicide, funerals and burials for those who have died by suicide, and their afterlife.

The National Center for Health Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that suicide was the tenth most common cause of death among Americans of all ages in 2017 and the second leading cause of death among fifteen to twenty-four year-olds.

Death by suicide is usually sudden, often violent, and frequently comes at the end of a long and difficult struggle with a mental illness. Heaped on top of that is a social stigma that leaves loved ones in shock and often burdened with shame. Responding to Suicide addresses common concerns of the bereaved following a suicide: skepticism that Catholic leaders will understand; fear that the Church teaches that their loved one is in hell; and belief that they will find little if any support in the Church.

More than a dozen contributors from across the spectrum of Catholic life provide rich guidance rooted in firsthand experience of suicide loss. Contributors include Deacon Ed Shoener, Bishop John P. Dolan, Msgr. Charles Pope, Leticia Adams, Archbishop Wilton Gregory, Msgr. Stephen Rossetti, and clinical experts in the field of mental health and suicide. They share personal stories of loss, grief, hope, and healing, and clear up misconceptions about Church teaching.

They offer practical takeaways for pastoral leaders:

· dos and don’ts when talking about suicide

· guidance for preaching and planning funerals

· information on the role of mental illnesses in suicide

· resource lists for those who grieve as well as for your own professional development

· suggested protocols for ministering to a school or parish community following a suicide

· ideas about forming parish outreach ministries to the bereaved that address the needs of suicide loss

The Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers is a lay association whose members walk with people living with a mental illness and their families to help them find the support and services that they need. ACMHM members work to eliminate the stigma and discrimination that people living with a mental illness encounter in the Church and in the world. Members strive to strengthen mental health ministry in the Catholic Church by networking and sharing resources.

www.catholicmhm.org

Ed Shoener was ordained a permanent deacon in 2004 and serves at St. Peter’s Cathedral in the Diocese of Scranton. He is a founding member of the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers, the Catholic Institute of Mental Health Ministry at the University of San Diego, and the Scranton Mental Health Ministry. He serves on the boards of the Council on Mental Illness, National Catholic Partnership on Disability, and Pathways to Promise. He earned a graduate certificate in spiritual direction from the Aquinas Institute of Theology.

Shoener is president of Shoener Environmental Consulting. He has a bachelor of science degree in environmental research management from Penn State University, where he also earned a master’s degree in environmental protection control.

Shoener's family and friends founded The Katie Foundation after his daughter, Kathleen, died by suicide in 2016. The obituary he wrote for her went viral. The Shoeners live in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

catholicmhm.org
thekatiefoundation.org
Facebook: The Katie Foundation


Most Rev. John P. Dolan is auxiliary bishop of San Diego. He also serves the diocese as vicar general, moderator of the curia, and vicar for clergy. Ordained to the priesthood in 1989, Dolan became auxiliary bishop in 2017.

He is the chaplain of the Lost Boys of Sudan, a member of the Catholic Institute for Mental Health Ministry, and a board member of Father Joe’s Villages, a ministry to the homeless. Dolan earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of San Diego and master’s degrees in divinity and theology from St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California. He is the author of Rose of Lima: A Nine-Day Study of Her Life and Who is Like God? A Nine-Day Journey with St. Michael.