October 19th Pastor's Message

Read this week's message from Father Don

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Dear friends,

Most of us know someone who struggles with mental or emotional health. Archbishop Smith is well aware of this challenge and wants parishes and parishioners to become more committed to providing support to those living with this burden. 

The Archbishop will celebrate Mass at All Saints next Friday October 24th at 7 pm in support of those dealing with mental health challenges.  This special liturgy is an opportunity for our community to come together, pray for those facing mental health challenges, and show our care and support. Please attend this mass if you are able.

Here is the text of Archbishop Smith’s letter issued for Mental Health Day. 

On this World Mental Health Day, I write to you with gratitude and urgency. Mental health challenges are present in every community. This ministry does not seek to serve a “particular group”. Each one of us has mental health needs, and many people in our parishes are carrying unseen burdens.

Mental health struggles can show in quiet ways: a parishioner withdrawing from community, a friend burdened with sadness, a child living with anxiety, a senior feeling lonely.

Emotional wounds are just as real and painful as physical ones, yet shame often prevents people from seeking help within their faith community. Depression, anxiety, trauma, and other mental burdens—diagnosed or not—are not signs of moral failure or punishments from God.

Mental health is a reality that affects us all, albeit in different ways. These challenges are a common part of the human experience and should be met with understanding, compassion, and hope.

Scripture reminds us that Christ himself was “a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). He embraced our full humanity, sharing in our suffering and offering a love that can heal the deepest wounds of the heart. Jesus listened, he wept, he healed, and he continues to call us to do the same.

(Priests) play a crucial role in shaping a culture of openness and care in their parishes. The Church must speak openly about mental health, reducing the stigma and isolation that so often surround them…

The parish can become a place of refuge where suffering is met with compassion, and vulnerability is met with tenderness. …  Together, let us renew our commitment to the ministry of compassion. May we listen deeply, serve generously, and bear witness to the healing love that God offers to every person, in every circumstance.

May Our Lady, Mother of Hope, be with us on this journey, and may the Holy Spirit guide us in all our efforts. 

I hope you will be able to join the Archbishop for Mass on October 24.

Love Fr Don

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