Further discussions for mental health in the Catholic Church take place after the priest's death

Cedar Rapids, Iowa (KCRG) – There are sometimes shame and stigma that are connected to mental illnesses, and many religions are working to reduce these old ways of thinking. This work gained intensively for the Archdiocese of Dubuque when a priest died in November through suicide.

The Rev. Dennis Conway led two municipalities in Cedar Rapids-St. Wenceslaus and flawless conception. He was 33.

Archbishop Thomas Zinkula wrote in a message to the public “Based on the correspondence near his death, Father Dennis clearly suffered from an acute mental health crisis.”

The Archbishop and a priest who worked together next to Conway are now talking about how the church has changed its views of mental health and how her belief led it through grief.

The Rev. Aaron Junge and Conway completed a year, apart from the Xavier Catholic High School in Cedar Rapids. Their connection lasted with boy as an associated pastor at Immaculate Conception and St. Wenceslaus Churches, where Conway was the pastor.

“He poured out for these two communities,” said Junge.

After Conway's death from suicide, Junge turned into the role of the pastor, mourned and celebrated his friend's life.

“I think the first thing people would have met with him was only his really big intellect,” said Junge. “He was a very, very intelligent man, spoke six languages, three modernity and three old people.”

Archbishop Zinkula fell the mediation of death in November and the community as a whole.

He said it was important to be sensitive, but also to the forth.

“The more we just be honest and rather transparent [than] Try to hide such things, it doesn't help that it doesn't help in the long run, ”said Zinkula.

It is an openness for fighting fighting fights that society and the church have not always accepted.

“Fortunately, there has been a deepening of the understanding of psychology in recent decades and the underlying causes of mental illness,” said the archbishop. “There [was] In the past, the fault of the kind of language we would use was previously concentrated on sin. “

The Archdiocese of Dubuque even starts a new support strategy for community members who suffer.

“Our diocese as a whole recently commissioned a task force for mental health to raise awareness [and] Offer education through medical health [and] Resources available for mental health, ”said Zinkula.

Future priests go through psychological tests before entering the seminar. And the processing of her intellectual well -being as a practicing priest, especially personal loss, is something that boy has prioritized.

“I have worked with a psychiatric specialist, myself and a spiritual director with whom you regularly meet as a priest to talk about your own prayer life. So I do it every month and only speak to friends,” said Junge.

According to Junge, Conway's death has opened further talks on mental well -being, especially for those in a religious appointment.

“The fact that prayer and conversation about the general mental health of priests and religious catalyzed is, I believe that God brings good things out of a very tragic situation.”

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