As per the recent reports given at the meeting of the Association of the Catholic Priests (ACP), the graph of suicides among the priests in Ireland is increasing due to mental health crisis in the country’s clergy, states Crux now, a Catholic news reporting site. Besides a shortage of vocation, a drop in the number of priests has impelled the ACP to call in for a helpline for priests in the country that could help the priests to overcome their mental concerns.
The shortage of Priests in the country leads to a phenomenon called clustering, where several parishes are combined together into one but this ultimately ends up giving double workloads to the priests in service and also to the common faithful in the country. And thus a helpline for the priest would make them feel more comfortable in such pressures. As reported by Crux Now, Fr.Brendan Hoban, one of the founders of ACP said, “These men lived through a time when there was a plenty of vocations and their churches were full at Mass, so now there is a loss of esteem. Now, most are own their own and feeling a lot more isolated and lonely, as well as feeling more nervous and vulnerable.”
The senior members in ACP also reminded that the priests need to be better about asking for help and asked them to unmask and say “I need help!” when needed.
Source: Cruxnow.com
