Responding to Suicide: A Pastoral Handbook for Catholic Leaders

by Ed Shoener

Publisher:

Ave Maria Press

, 2020

Overview

Winner of the Resource of the Year award and a first-place in resources for ministry from the Association of Catholic Publishers and a third-place award in pastoral ministry books from the Catholic Media Association.

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, Cardinal 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

Key Features

• Addresses common concerns of the bereaved following a suicide
• Provides rich guidance rooted in firsthand experience of suicide loss
• Suggests protocols for ministering to a school or parish community following a suicide

Contents

Part I. Grieving Suicide: Personal Reflections from Catholic Leaders

• Share Your Story and Be Yourself: A Message for Sibling Survivors of Suicide Loss - Bishop John Dolan, Diocese of San Diego
• A Grief Revealed and Redeemed: The Death of My Sister, Mary Anne Pope - Msgr. Charles Pope, Archdiocese of Washington, DC
• The Suicide Death of My Daughter - Katie Deacon Ed Shoener, Diocese of Scranton
• Praying after a Suicide Loss - Leticia Adams, Catholic Writer and Speaker, Austin, Texas
• Priests, Suicide, and Redemption - Msgr. Stephen J. Rossetti, Diocese of Syracuse

Part II. Church Teaching on Suicide: What It Says and What It Doesn't

• Extending the Church's Compassion to Survivors of Suicide - Archbishop Wilton Gregory, Archdiocese of Washington, DC
• History and Pastoral Practice of Catholic Teaching on Suicide - Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, Archdiocese of San Franciscoe
• Moral Theology and Church Teaching on Suicide - Fr. Carter Griffin, Rector of Saint John Paul II Seminary
• Discussing the Hard Questions and Accompanying the Grieving - Bishop John Dolan and Deacon Ed Shoener

Part III. Medical Science: What Psychology Teaches Us

• Suicide Assessment, Treatment, and Prevention - David A. Jobes, PhD, ABPP, with Deacon Ed Shoener
• Suicide Grief, Support, and Healing - Dianna Gonzalez, PsyD, LMFT
• Posttraumatic Growth after Suicide - Melinda Moore, PhD, Department of Psychology, Eastern Kentucky University

Part IV. Church Ministries: Offering Hope and Healing after Suicide

• A Responsive Catholic Community Includes Mental Health Ministry - Wendell J. Callahan, PhD, Liberty Hebron, MA, LPCC Alissa Willmerdinger, MA, LPCA, Catholic Institute for Mental Health Ministry, University of San Diego
• Loving Outreach to Survivors of Suicide - Fr. Charles T. Rubey, Archdiocese of Chicago
• Youth Ministry and Suicide: What I Learned in Crisis - Chris Miller, EdD, Chair of the Council on Mental Illness, National Catholic Partnership on Disability
• Journey from Suicide Loss to Assimilation - Tom and Fran Smith, Karla Smith Behavioral Health, Belleville, Illinoi

Conclusion: The Priority of Pastoral Care Bishop John Dolan, Diocese of San Diego

Praise for Responding to Suicide

A beautiful blending of the personal and the pastoral, Responding to Suicide is a revelation—and something the Church has needed for a long time. Deacon Ed Shoener has taken his own grief and transformed it into a moving and consoling gift that will benefit Catholics everywhere who have lost a loved one to suicide. The contributors of this powerful book teach pastoral leaders how to offer insight, compassion, consolation, and hope.

Deacon Greg Kandra, Journalist and blogger at The Deacon’s Bench

Responding to Suicide is, to say the least, urgently needed. As deaths by suicide increase, we Catholic leaders must equip ourselves with compassionate truth instead of pastorally inadequate and too-often inaccurate words and gestures. So much misunderstanding surrounds Catholics and suicide, which is precisely why this book is not just very good but also is essential for those of us charged with the pastoral care of God’s people.

Fr. Joshua J. Whitfield, Pastoral Administrator, St. Rita Catholic Community and School, Dallas, Texas

Responding to Suicide is a fantastic book and great gift to the Catholic Church. This is a valuable and practical resource for anyone serving in ministry. Led by personal testimony from Catholic leaders, this book dispels the stigma of suicide on a pastoral level and advances this necessary discussion with clarity, humility, and courage.

Scott Weeman, Founder and executive director of Catholic in Recovery

Product Details

• Title: Responding to Suicide: A Pastoral Handbook for Catholic Leaders
• Author: Ed Shoener
• Publisher: Ave Maria Press
• Print Publication Date: 2020
• Pages: 1344
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• ISBNs: 9781646800117, 1646800117
• Resource ID: LLS:RSPNDNGSCDCLDRS
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T20:48:04Z