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SJA Begins Mental Illness Ministry

Whither Goest Thou? (A Parishioner's Query)

 

Ronnie Angelus says: "There are three things that make my life work: Talking to my daughter who opens vistas to me and makes me laugh; being in the circle of the Divas, my writing group, who shout "go girl" and give me standing ovations with their smiles and tears; sitting next to Mary and Claude Paradis during Sunday Mass at St. Joan of Arc, which is as close to pure goodness as I will know in this lifetime."

Where do we go when we think the worst thing that can happen, happens to us?  What is the first call we make when someone we love is in crisis?  Who do we turn to when we hear the words bipolar, schizophrenia, paranoia, depression, attempted suicide or any of the words that cause our heart to stop?  What do we do when someone tells us that our husband, our son, our daughter, wife, niece, nephew, our best friend's child is mentally ill?  

Who do we call?  Is there someone at St. Joan of Arc who is listed as giving pastoral care or a designated pastoral counselor?  Is there someone who can tell us where the first call should be made?  I have heard of people who have lived and suffered for years with a family member who is diagnosed bipolar before they even heard of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill - before they knew help was available.  I know people who have wept and wrung their hands and made phone call after phone call trying to find out where the resources could be found.  

What if we know there is a need for counseling but we can't afford a counselor?  At $90 to $100 an hour, counseling can stretch a budget, a budget that may have already been strained by an episode where good judgment has been suspended -- an episode when someone who is too ill to know they are ill goes on a spree or acts outside of the law.  

Is there a help line at St. Joan of Arc where an understanding voice can sympathize, empathize and most important, tell the caller -- then and there -where help can be found?  If there someone trained to answer the anguished call from someone who is weeping and trembling, facing the catastrophic knowledge that nothing will ever be the same?  

Where can we go?  What so we do?  Are you there, St. Joan of Arc?  Is anybody there?  

Ronnie B. Angelus
May 2005

  Whither Goest Thou?  A response from St. Joan of Arc, Roseanne Rogers:  Parish Ministry

 

Roseann Rogers is the Pastoral Ministry coordinator at St. Joan of Arc.

Yes, there is someplace to go.  We have heard your plea and have put together a program, a schedule of events -- and most important, there are individuals who will be designated and trained to listen and provide resources that can help, here and now.

  You can call me.  I can help and am glad to be there for you.

  A website is being developed where organizations and individuals especially knowledgeable and trained to work with you will be listed.  There is individual help available.  There are groups for 'consumers' (those designated mentally ill) and groups for friends and family.

  Most of all -- you need to know you are not alone.  There are men, women and children in the family of Saint Joan of Arc who know your concerns and share your experience.  We are hoping to have groups meeting right here, where you can be heard and supported -- where we can share strength, experience and hope.   

We hear you.  We're here.  

Roseanne Rogers, Pastoral Minister
612-823-8205

Editor's Note: Staff member Roseanne Rogers along with co-chairs Ronnie Angelus and Mary Paradis are indeed starting a new, and much needed, ministry at St. Joan of Arc: the Mental Illness Awareness Ministry. Look for more details next week and beyond.