Treat Suicide With Compassion
Suicide is a difficult subject to talk about, especially for those who knew the victim. It is even more complicated in the absence of a suicide note. For Catholics it is even more daunting...
Category: Depression &Suicide
Keeping My Faith With Anxiety
By Felicity Harrison I have spent most of my adult life trying to keep my depression “under control”. In the last year I have increasingly added anxiety to the mix as well. I’m on...
Why We Must Always Stick with God
By Fr Oskar Wermter SJ – One of the most exciting stories in the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, is the Book of Job. Job is a just man; he has faith and complete...
We Need to Talk About Mental Health
As a society we are getting better at talking about all kinds of subjects that were once taboo: gender-based violence, diverse sexual orientations, life-threatening illnesses, bullying at work or at school, and addictions. But...
Scruples in Temptations: Did I Sin?
I admit to being a scrupulous soul and am often plagued by doubts about whether I have given in to temptations or not. A good priest has been very patient and understanding, and has...
Annual Dominican Day: How to Cope Today Without Going Crazy
By Judy Stockill – Peace was the theme at Koinonia in Johannesburg when about 70 people, not all of them Dominicans, attended the annual Dominican Day, sharing and reflecting on the subject of coping with...
Parish Offers Care Programmes for the Divorced and Grieving
A parish in Johannesburg will host another round of Divorce Care and Grief Share programmes, each running for 13 weeks, as of February. These programmes, offered by St John’s parish in North Riding, are...
Palliative Care, Pain Management & Treating Whole Person
A woman religious suffering from metastatic breast cancer in the final stages received medication to ease severe pain and thanked the doctors and nurses. “Now that the pain is tolerable, I can start praying...
Advice for the Young in Anguish
Let’s remember all young people who are about to give up in life. Their pain becomes my pain, just as their hopes become my hope.
Elements of Counselling: An Essential Tool for Pastoral Ministry
I attended the launch last month of the 3rd edition of Elements Of Counselling, co-authored by Dr Joan Schön, Fr Vic Kotze and Lauren Gower, I find that this edition, like each of its predecessors, is a valuable tool for all who find themselves called to offer care and counsel to young and old in South Africa.
Mental illness: Little from the Clergy
Father Ron Rolheiser’s article Suicide: Reclaiming memories was indeed a timeous read for my family and me, having some weeks before experienced the horror of all horrors. Our much-loved son, an architect and gifted...
Let’s Address the Tragedy of Mental Illness
The recent death by suicide of the actor Robin Williams, who reportedly suffered from bipolar depression, brought the question of mental illness into the public spotlight. Whenever a celebrity commits suicide, the degree to...
