The Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers (CMHM) partners with the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network and Click to Pray to offer a Monthly Day of Prayer for Mental Health. Each 2nd Monday of the month, CMHM will offer prayers and a blog post, connected to the Pope's monthly prayer intention. You may pray with us via the Click to Pray app or the Click to Pray website.
Prayer for Mental Health Ministry in the Church: We pray that mental health ministry becomes an integral ministry in the Church that is available in every Catholic parish and community. We pray for the elimination of the stigma and discrimination that people living with a mental illness encounter.
The Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers supports Catholic parishes and dioceses in establishing mental health ministries. Mental health ministries provide vital spiritual accompaniment for people experiencing mental illness, as well as those who care for them.
We work to eliminate the stigma and discrimination that people livingwith a mental illness encounter in the Church and in human society.
The mission of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network is to pray and act upon the challenges of humanity and the mission of the Church identified by the Pope in his monthly prayer intentions.
Click To Pray is a digital community of prayer where you can share the intentions of the Holy Father and pray together with others. The community builds bridges between generations, where we all pray as one.
Become a member of the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers
We pray for those who have suffered harm from members of the Church; may they find within the Church herself a concrete response to their pain and suffering.
Monthly Day of Prayer for Mental Health
Mental Health Ministers Listen, Pray and Act
A parish based mental health ministry can help provide concrete responses to those who have suffered from abuses in our church. We know that abuse harms the whole person: mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. We also know how healing it is to be listened to when we are in pain. Such holy listening only occurs when someone sees the need and acts on it.
Pope Francis has said, “I urge you to work diligently and courageously to make known these wounds, to seek out those who suffer from them, and to recognize in these people the witness of our suffering Savior. … This is the road we all must travel: bishops, religious superiors, priests, deacons, consecrated persons, catechists and lay faithful. Each member of the Church, according to his or her status, is called to take responsibility for preventing cases of abuse and to work for justice and healing.”
Lay mental health ministers who participate in a parish mental health ministry can reach out and provide timefor prayerful listening and witnessing. Mental health ministers can be a pathway for those who have suffered to be heard. Then, mental health ministers can help the Church enact the concrete responses that the victims of abuse request. A parish based mental health ministry can help make our church into a true sanctuary, preventing cases of abuse and working for justice.
Margery Arnold, Catholic Mental Health Minister, Irvine, California
Board Member, Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers
Use the attached sample below to help spread the word about mental health ministry in your parish for this month's prayer intention.
Pope Francis Prays for Those with Mental Illness and Victims of Suicide
"I would like to remember our brothers and sisters who suffer from mental illness, and also victims – often young people – of suicide. Let us pray for them and their families, so that they are never left alone, or discriminated against, but instead are welcomed and supported."
Angelus on World Mental Health Day, October 10, 2021