Retreat to focus on supporting those with mental health challenges

April 1, 2025 at 3:49 p.m.

Persons who minister to individuals and families in pastoral settings will have an opportunity to develop their awareness of mental health issues during the 2025 Pastoral Care Retreat set for May 7 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in San Alfonso Retreat House, Long Branch.

With the theme “Holding Onto Hope: Supporting Mental Health with Pastoral Care,” the retreat will assist clergy and pastoral ministers in recognizing the signs of persons with mental health challenges and learning how to support them and their families. The event is especially designed for parish priests; deacons; chaplains; campus ministers; those who make visits to the sick or homebound, and those involved in bereavement and consolation ministry, youth and young adult ministry and faith formation.

Retreat leader Deacon Ed Shoener, president of the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers, will cover a range of topics, including helping participants to become aware of their own mental health and learn how common anxiety and depression are being experienced by the individuals they serve. He will also help participants cultivate a deeper understanding and caring attitude toward those who suffer and learn simple action steps within their parish communities to break the stigma around mental illness.

In announcing the retreat, Terry Ginther, executive director of the diocesan Office of Pastoral Life and Mission, noted that the retreat topic of mental health coincides with May’s designation as Mental Health Awareness Month and also aligns with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Mental Health campaign launched in October 2023. She said that the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers has produced numerous resources for general use in parishes.

Ginther pointed to research conducted during the last five years indicating that as many as one in five adults in the United States experience mental illness, with anxiety and depression being the most common struggles. That statistic, she noted, includes all adults, but the most at-risk population is young adults between the ages of 18 and 30.

“People are suffering,” Ginther said. “This includes many in our parishes and schools. There is a lot of stigma and fear that prevents people from seeking help, and the impact on the lives of those who suffer, their families and our Church community is real.”

During the May 7 retreat, Deacon Shoener will lead two sessions. The morning session will be on Mental Health Basics and will address the questions “Can you recognize the symptoms in yourself and others? And the impacts?” “How can our relationship with God be a source of healing, a source of wholeness?” and “How does participation in community build resilience and provide support to complement medical, psychological or psychiatric treatment?”

The afternoon session will consider practical ways to promote awareness about mental well-being; to overcome misguided attitudes about mental illness; to encourage those who suffer to seek help, and to understand how to accompany and show support for those who suffer with mental illness and their families.

Sponsored by the Office of Pastoral Life and Mission, the retreat will also include continental breakfast, Mass, lunch and personal prayer time. The fee is $60 and registration information may be found at www.dioceseoftrenton.org/pastoral-care. Deadline to register is April 25. For questions, call Ginther at 609-403-7143.

San Alfonso Retreat House is located at 755 Ocean Ave., Long Branch.