I am a bishop, but before anything else, I am a human being who understands the severe toll of mental illness, especially when it is left untreated.
Health and Wellness
Posted inFaith, Jesuit School Spotlight
How Catholic high schools can address the teen mental health crisis
Life-threatening mental health concerns affecting U.S. teens have reached a crisis point, complicated by a laundry list of social issues.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Jordan Neely’s killing on the New York subway reminds us: Dehumanizing language can be fatal
Two recent tragedies, a death on a New York city subway train and a mass shooting in Texas, show that too many of us follow the temptation to describe others as less than human.
Posted inEditorials, Politics & Society
There’s a mental crisis among teens. The Catholic Church needs to respond.
The crisis for teens is both psychological and spiritual, and it demands a response from both mental health and faith communities. How do we make our church again a place of belonging for young people who are hurting?
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: God doesn’t make us sick or well. So what is faith’s role in the face of illness?
To face potential mortal illness with wry humor and a taste for the ironic takes a delicate touch, but that is what the United Church of Christ pastor and writer Molly Baskette does in her new book.
Posted inPodcasts, Politics & Society
A Catholic psychiatrist on mental illness and the road to human flourishing
This week on The Gloria Purvis Podcast, Gloria speaks with Dr. Meg Chisolm, a Catholic psychiatrist, about mental illness and how should people of faith treat it.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
The grace of growing old
It is easy to think of older people as always having existed in their current condition. Does it make us feel younger to think that way? More superior? Perhaps we hope it holds our own mortality at bay.
Posted inArts & Culture, Television
Baking, gardening and puppies: A guide to the comfort watching you need this holiday season
My go-to for holiday comfort is generally British TV shows. Any TV trip to the U.K. feels instantly like a vacation.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
‘Longest Night’ services bring comfort to Catholics dealing with loss this Christmas season
Coinciding with the winter solstice, the Longest Night is a prayer service aimed at offering comfort to people who struggle with the in-your-face, over-the-top joy sometimes demanded during the Christmas season.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Mercy was essential for my mental health journey. Now I want to pass it on to others.
Trying to be a perfect Christian can be taken too far.