Denver, Colo., Oct 10, 2017 / 02:17 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Maria had been struggling with some depressive and anxious thoughts for a while, although at the time, she didn’t recognize them as such. Probably because she was 14 years old.   When she shared her struggles with someone in her Catholic community, the woman told Maria that she was worried that “the devil was working his ways” in her, and used that to pressure her into going on a week-long retreat out of state. “Sure, retreats are great,” Maria told CNA. “But pretty sure I just needed a therapist at that point in my life. And pretty sure I had already given valid reasons for why I wasn't interested in buying a plane ticket for a retreat.” When Catholics experience spiritual problems, the solutions seem obvious -  talk to a priest, go to confession, pray, seek guidance from a spiritual director. But the line between the spiritual and the psychological can be very blurry, so much so that some Catholics and psychologists wonder if people are too often told to “pray away” their problems that may also require psychological treatment.When body and soul are seen as unrelated Dr. Gregory Bottaro is a Catholic clinical psychologist with the CatholicPsych Institute. He said that he has found the over-spiritualization of psychological issues to be a persistent problem, particularly among devout Catholics. “Over-spiritualization in our time is usually a direct consequence of Cartesian Dualism,” Bottaro told CNA in an e-mail interview. “Decartes is the philosopher who said: ‘I think therefore I am.’ He separated his thinking self from his bodily self, and planted the seed that eventually grew into our current thinking that the body and spirit are separate things. Acting as if the body doesn’t matter when considering our human experience is just as distorted as acting like the spirit doesn’t matter,” he said. Because of this prevalent misconception about the separation of our body and soul, people both in and out of the Catholic Church often feel a stigma in seeking mental help that isn’t there when they need to seek physical help, he said. “We shouldn’t think any less of getting help for mental health than we do for physical health. There are fields of expertise for a reason, and just as we can’t fix every one of our own physical wounds, we can’t always fix every one of our own mental wounds. It is virtuous to recognize our need for help,” Dr. Bottaro said. Virtuous, but not always easy.Just pray Michele is a young Catholic 20-something who was used to being social and involved in various ministries within the Church. But a move to a new city left her usually-bubbly self feeling lonely and isolated. “I felt like a failure spiritually because shouldn't my relationship with God be enough? But, I would come home from work and cry and just lay in my bed. It was hard for me to motivate myself to do anything,” she told CNA. When a friend, also involved in ministry, called to catch up, Michele saw it as a chance to reach out and share some of the feelings that had been concerning her. “I don't remember exactly what I said, but she told me what I was feeling was sinful. I shut down and said I was exaggerating and made up some story about how everything was fine,” she said. Michele waited several more months before seeking help through Catholic Charities, where she was connected to a therapist. She found out that she had attachment disorder, which, left untreated for longer, could have turned into major, long term depression. Derek is also a young 20-something Catholic who was also told to pray away his problems. He was suffering from depressive episodes, where he wouldn’t eat and would sleep for 15 hours a day. His friends’ advice was to pray. It wasn’t until he attempted suicide that he got serious about seeking psychotherapy. Sarah, also a young Catholic and a former FOCUS missionary, had a similar experience. For months, she confessed suicidal thoughts to her pastor and spiritual director, who gave her advice based on the discernment of spirits from St. Ignatius of Loyola. But eventually the thoughts became so intense and prevalent that Sarah called every mandatory reporter she knew, and was admitted to the hospital on suicide watch. “I think part of it is - if someone is trained in something, that’s how they want to fix it,” Sarah told CNA. “If you’re trained in spirituality then you want to use spirituality to fix it. And you absolutely should include spirituality. However, you can’t just pray it away. These are real problems and real medical things. There are events in people’s lives that have happened, and they need to work through that both spiritually and psychologically, and a priest or youth minister can’t do both. They need to get you to someone who’s able to help,” she said. The negative stigma attached to seeking mental help is magnified in the Church because of the “pray it away” mentality, Sarah added. Once prayer doesn’t work, people can feel like spiritual failures, and many people in the Church will distance themselves from someone who is mentally ill. “I can’t be a fully functional young woman who’s working through something and needs help with it,” she said. “It’s either - I’m ok or I’m not.”  A Catholic psychologist’s perspective   Dr. Jim Langley, a Catholic licensed clinical psychologist with St. Raphael’s counseling in Denver, said he tends to see opposite ends of the spectrum in his patients in about equal numbers - those who over-spiritualize their problems, and those who under-spiritualize them. “Part of the problem is that in our culture, we have such a medically-oriented, science-oriented culture that we’ve sort of gotten away from spirituality, which causes a lot of problems,” he said. As human beings, our minds and our souls are what set us apart from other created things, Langley added, making those aspects of our being most vulnerable to evil attacks. “I know a priest who would explain it like this: Evil is like a germ, and it wants to get in just like bacteria does in our body. And where does bacteria get in? It gets in through our wounds. So if we have a cut on our hand, that’s where bacteria wants to get in and infect us. On the spiritual side, it’s the same thing. Where we have the most sensitive wounds tend to be in our sense of self and our psychology, and so that’s where evil wants to get in at us.”   People who tend to ignore the spiritual aspect of their psychological problems cut themselves off from the most holistic approach of healing, Langley added.   “The main reason is because it really is God who heals, and almost any psychological issue you’re dealing with is going to have some sort of a spiritual component connected to it, because it has to do with our dignity as a human person.” And while it can be challenging to make people see the spiritual component of their problems, it can also be a challenge to help other people recognize that their spiritual issues might also have a psychological component, he said. Some devout Catholics see it as preferable to say they are suffering from something like the dark night of the soul, rather than to admit that they have depression and may need medication and counseling, he said. “In some ways in our Catholic community, it’s cooler to have a spiritual problem than it is to have a psychological problem,” he said. “The problem with over-spiritualizing is that you cut yourself from so many tools that psychology and even your faith could have to help you to be happy.” Many of the things psychologists do to help their patients includes teaching them “recipes” for happiness, Langley said - re-training their thought patterns, providing practical tools to use when anxiety or depression kick in. But a person who doesn’t recognize an issue as also having a psychological component may be resistant to these methods entirely, including spiritual methods, he said. Catholics who are concerned about seeking psychological help should seek a Catholic psychologist or psychiatrist who can talk about both the spiritual and psychological aspects of healing, Langley said. “People who don’t practice from a Catholic or spiritual perspective can do a pretty good job, but it’s like they’re doing therapy with their hand tied behind their back, because they’re missing out on a whole array of things you can do to help a person.” Therapists who aren’t practicing from a Catholic perspective could also do some unintended harm in their practice, Langley noted. For example, men who are addicted to pornography may be told by a secular therapist that pornography is a healthy release, or couples struggling in their marriage may sometimes be encouraged by secular practitioners to divorce. It’s really a false dichotomy, Langley added, to categorize problems as strictly spiritual or psychological, because oftentimes they are both, and require both psychological and spiritual treatment. “So much of good therapy is helping a person get back in touch with their sense of dignity that God created them with...and as they get more in touch with it, they are actually just more open to God’s love and they’re more open to making changes in their life that might be helpful.”What needs to change? The Catholic experience of mental illness varies. Some found their experience of a mental illness diagnosis in the Church very isolating, while others said it was a great source of healing and support. Langley said that for the most part, he has a great relationship with the clergy in his area. “Most of our referrals come from priests,” he said. “I hardly ever see a priest that is overly convinced that something is spiritual. I think priests really do a pretty good job of saying when something is more psychological.” Some of Langley’s favorite clients are those who are seeking spiritual direction at the same time as therapy, he said, because between therapy and spiritual direction, the person seeking help is usually able to find the right balance of psychological and spiritual strategies that work. Others said they felt the relationship between psychologists and Catholic clergy or other leaders could be stronger. A licensed marriage and family therapist in California, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said that priests and mental health professionals should be working together to support those struggling with mental illness, to make them feel more welcome, and to let them know what resources are available. “The faith community hasn't done a great job reaching out for support for those within the community with mental illness, and the mental health community hasn't done a good enough job making itself available to the faith community,” he said. Several Catholics who have had mental illness also said they wished that it were something that was discussed more openly in the Church. “I have thirsted for greater support in the Church,” said Erin, who has depression and anxiety. “That is my biggest struggle as a Catholic with mental illness: not necessarily focusing too much on the spiritual aspects, but people not knowing how to address any other aspect.” She had some suggestions for Catholics who find out their friend has a mental illness. “As Christ would do, and as Job's friends failed to do, please, please just walk with me. And if I bring up something spiritual, feel free to talk about it. If you think I'm shutting you out, ask. If I randomly start crying, hold my hand,” she said. “Finding support in my one friend (who also has a mental illness) has done worlds of good for me. Imagine what could happen if Christians became more vulnerable about their mental illness. What a support system that would be!” Michele said in sharing her story about seeking therapy, she has been surprised at how many Catholics have gone through similar experiences. “I try to be very open about it now because a stigma should not exist.”Catholic psychologists in your area can be found by searching at http://www.catholictherapists.com/ or at https://wellcatholic.com/. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached at 1-800-273-8255.Some names in this article have been changed for the protection of privacy.  This article was originally published on CNA July 1, 2016. Read more

Washington D.C., Jun 30, 2016 / 05:36 pm (CNA).- The U.S. government released its annual human trafficking report Thursday, drawing praise but also some criticism for allegedly giving some offending countries a political pass. “When we talk about ‘human trafficking,’ we’re talking about slavery – modern-day slavery that still today claims more than 20 million victims on any given time,” Secretary of State John Kerry stated at the report’s ceremony on June 30. “And all 20 million are people just like everybody here. They have names. They have or had families in many cases,” he continued. “And they are forced to endure a hell – a living hell in modern times that no human being should ever have to experience.” The Trafficking-in-Persons report is an annual update on human trafficking in 188 countries and territories worldwide, published by the U.S. State Department and created with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. A global refugee crisis and violent conflicts have created whole populations who are vulnerable to be trafficked as sex slaves, wage slaves, or child soldiers, the report said. There are over 20 million trafficking victims worldwide, Secretary Kerry noted. Yet much work is being done to fight this injustice, as Secretary Kerry noted in his remarks the “growing network of NGOs and advocacy groups who work hard every single day to bring modern-day slavery to a permanent end.” One official at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was glad the report highlighted the work of these non-governmental organizations. Hilary Chester, associate director of the Anti-Trafficking Program at the conference’s Migration and Refugee Services committee, told CNA their project fights maritime trafficking in collaboration with other Church entities across the globe. With Thailand, for instance, Church groups were helping the government improve the maritime trafficking problem. Chester said she was “happy to see that work and those partnerships being highlighted in the report.” Pope Francis also received praise Thursday from the State Department’s Susan Coppedge, the Ambassador-at-Large in the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. Coppedge praised the Vatican’s human trafficking summit held earlier in June, which “explored the need for victim-supported services instead of punishments for crimes committed under duress.” “While Pope Francis has a unique ability to gather and rally diverse groups, leaders across communities – businesses, governments, and NGOs – can likewise demonstrate the power of collaboration in fighting the scourge of modern slavery,” she said. Another focus of the report was the tier rankings of countries. The U.S. government, in cooperation with embassies around the globe, foreign governments, and non-governmental organizations, researches the practice of trafficking worldwide and ranks countries in a tier system based on the seriousness of their trafficking problems and the governments’ responses to curb trafficking. Tier 1 countries meet the “minimum standards” of fighting trafficking, set forth in the 2000 law, which include prohibition of and sufficient punishment for trafficking. Tier 3 countries, the lowest tier, not only fail to meet the U.S. government’s trafficking standards but also are not fighting enough to prevent trafficking. For such countries the U.S. President has the authority to withhold official “non-humanitarian, nontrade-related foreign assistance,” among other possible actions. Countries currently on the Tier 3 list include Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Syria, and Zimbabwe. Countries like Burma and Uzbekistan were downgraded in 2016 to Tier 3 countries, as well as Djibouti, Haiti, Suriname, and Papua New Guinea. The 2016 report’s tier rankings received some praise but also measures of criticism from the author of the law that first mandated the report, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.). He said that despite some accurate ratings in the 2016 report the administration based some of its rankings on politics. For example, China and Cuba should have been placed on the worst offenders tier, an omission attributable to politics, he said. They instead remained on the next tier up, the Tier 2 Watch List reserved for countries who are “making significant efforts” to fight trafficking but need to be watched closely because of the seriousness of their trafficking problems. “China is the black hole of human trafficking,” Rep. Smith contested, adding that it is not making acceptable progress in fighting trafficking -- its convictions have fallen over 60 percent in six years. Yet China’s one-child forced family planning policy – now a two-child policy for many families – has brought about a demographic crisis of about 118 boys born per 100 girls born, more than the world normal 103-106 boys per 100 girls. This has created a market for sex trafficking, he said. Other human rights abuses in China include North Koreans working in “slave-like conditions” and organ harvesting and slave labor inflicted upon the prison population, he said, which completely merit a Tier 3 grade for the country. “Tier rankings must be earned, not meted out as gifts to economic and security partners,” he insisted. “The President continues to turn a blind eye to the suffering of the Cuban people for the sake of his fanciful friendship with the Castro brothers,” Rep. Smith said of Cuba remaining on the Tier 2 watch list instead of being downgraded. The government “benefits from the forced labor of its own medical personnel abroad, the sale abroad of Cuban blood and organs, and sex tourism,” he said. Yet Secretary of State John Kerry claimed on Thursday that the agency’s tier rankings were not politically-motivated. “The tier rankings that I have designated reflect our department’s best assessment of a government’s efforts to eliminate human trafficking. They don’t take into account political and other factors,” he said. Smith did praise the administration’s downgrading of Burma, calling it “justified and long overdue” because of the complicity of state and military officials in trafficking there. He added that “Uzbekistan's record is now accurately ranked” at Tier 3 because its government “openly, notoriously, and unapologetically traffics its own citizens every year in the cotton harvest.” Last year, Rep. Smith and other members of Congress criticized the administration for upgrading Malaysia’s status for it to participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The move was unwarranted and political, human rights advocates claimed. Malaysia retained its position on the Tier 2 watch list in the 2016 report. The upgrade was “egregious,” Rep. Smith said, as it came during the Malaysia’s “continued failure to convict sex and labor traffickers.” There are some particularly serious challenges to fighting trafficking today, the report noted, like religious persecution, violent conflicts, and a global refugee crisis. Members of religious minorities in a country with a state religion or majority religion might not have due process. This means that they could be trafficked and might not be able to take legal action or enjoy the protection of the state because of their religious affiliation. They are especially vulnerable to forced marriages, or they might not have access to a job and become trapped in sex trafficking or wage slavery. Refugees fleeing violence are vulnerable to be pushed into forced labor or sex trafficking by smugglers. The United Nations refugee arm UNHCR estimated that out of the 7.4 billion people in the world, one out of every 113 “is now either an asylum-seeker, internally displaced, or a refugee – putting them at a level of risk for which UNHCR knows no precedent,” in a quote cited in the report. Terror groups who are displacing mass numbers of people take advantage of their vulnerable condition, like ISIS taking women and girls as sex slaves. Other criminals might take advantage of them. For example, in one Syrian town recruiters promised job opportunities in Lebanon; women jumped at the opportunity to leave their war-torn country. The recruiters successfully trapped over 70 girls in sex slavery and raped and tortured them if they didn’t comply with their demands, the report said. Conflict zones – which exist across the globe – are also prime areas for human trafficking, the report said, because legal and civic structures are either frayed or non-existent. Resources are diverted to filling immediate humanitarian and military needs, creating a black market for trafficking, especially in refugee camps with a lack of proper oversight. Another problematic area is maritime trafficking, Kerry noted, where criminals use the isolation of the ocean to hide their use of slaves on fishing boats. He gave one example of a Cambodian man who went to Thailand to find work to support his family, but who was caught in the fishing industry. “[Lang] Long was forced to work on a fishing vessel. He was beaten regularly with a metal pole, compelled to drink water from fish barrels, allowed little rest. And when he wasn’t working, he was chained by a rusty metal collar around his neck to an anchor post, so that he couldn’t escape,” Secretary Kerry said. And there are “many, many stories of this,” he added. “Enslaved crew members – most of whom are under 17 years of age – they’re forced to work 18-to-20-hour days. They’re denied medical care, they’re force-fed amphetamines to help them work through the pain.” Ultimately, the report, while very “technical,” is also a “really fascinating and a really inspiring document,” pointing out “great successes” and “effective and positive programs,” Chester said. One section deals with “TIP heroes,” those “who have devoted their lives to the fight against human trafficking.” Their stories are important too, Chester insisted, because while the lists of the trafficking abuses worldwide might be “tough to read,” she added that “it’s also important, and it’s really inspiring, to see the positive outcomes and the positive changes.”  Photo credit: Shutterstock. Read more

Los Angeles, Calif., Jun 30, 2016 / 09:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Los Angeles archdiocese is set to launch a new media platform called Angelus News, and it looks to California’s sainted missionary priest for inspiration. “Following on the footsteps of St. Junípero Serra, a man of heroic virtue and holiness who had only one burning ambition – to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to the peoples of the New World – we now need to send missionaries to proclaim the Gospel in this new digital era,” Archbishop José Gomez said June 29. He reflected that the Gospel’s message never changes, but Christians “need to always be looking for the ‘language’ that best communicates our Lord’s saving truths.” The new multimedia platform will include news about the archdiocese’s scores of parishes, schools, and ministries. Its international news coverage will be provided through a partnership with Catholic News Agency.Angelus News will launch July 1, Junipero Serra's first feast day since his canonization. The Franciscan founded many of the missions that later became the centers of major Californian cities. He was the first saint to be canonized on U.S. soil, during Pope Francis’ visit in September 2015. Users of the archdiocese’s media platform will find a weekly newsmagazine Angelus, a complete daily digital edition at AngelusNews.com, a daily digital newsletter, and social media channels on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. AngelusNews.com will include video, audio, photo galleries and slideshows updated throughout the day. The Angelus News name was taken from the name of the archdiocese’s patroness, Mary the Queen of the Angels, as well as from St. Gabriel the Archangel, for whom the first mission built in the archdiocese was named. The Vatican reporters John Allen and Inés San Martín of the news site Crux will be printed in Angelus magazine. The daily digital newsletter, to launch on July 18, is named “Always Forward,” St. Junípero Serra's motto. J.D. Long-Garcia, editor-in-chief of Angelus News, credited the media platform’s origins to “the hard work of dozens of committed Catholics in the Church in Los Angeles.” “The team came together to find a way to update our news and reporting platforms to better serve contemporary Catholics,” he said. Other Angelus News contributors include Ruben Navarrette, Kathryn Jean Lopez, Grazie Pozo Christie, and Mike Aquilina. Dr. Scott Hahn will write a weekly Scripture column. Angelus News will continue to host longtime columnists from The Tidings such as Archbishop Jose Gomez, Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron, Father Ronald Rolheiser, and Heather King. The Los Angeles archdiocese says its current digital media offerings reach 3-7 million people online each week. Read more

San Francisco, Calif., Jun 30, 2016 / 12:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Catholics and other groups that receive grants to care for immigrants are in the sights of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health a... Read more