When Deacon Tom Lambert\u2019s wife was hospitalized for open heart surgery, friends brought unsolicited meals to the family\u2019s door. \u201cFor three or four weeks, every day at 6 o\u2019clock, the bell would ring and a different family would bring us dinner,\u201d he said. Those neighbors and fellow parishioners were responding to a need.<\/p>\n
But a different illness in his family some years later garnered no response. \u201cWhen our daughter was diagnosed with mental illness, no one came to the door,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That was 25 years ago, and Deacon Lambert, who co-chairs the National Catholic Partnership on Disability\u2019s Council on Mental Illness, said awareness is essential in overcoming the stigma associated with a disease of the mind.In the United States, severe or persistent mental illness affects 1 in 17 Americans. The mental illness disability rate has more than doubled since the 1980s and increased six-fold since the 1950s. Some clinicians and researchers believe the increase has been influenced by external factors, including environmental and social causes\u2026<\/p>\n
\u2026Deacon Lambert said that many people at Sunday Mass privately struggle with mental illness and the vast majority are managing their illness well.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody\u2019s going to come up and say, \u2018Well, I have schizophrenia, but I go to work every day, I hold a job, I have a marriage.\u2019 But I guarantee there\u2019s a lot of people who are in that situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As \u201cpeople of compassion and justice,\u201d Deacon Lambert said, Catholics can help by creating safe havens for people to talk about their mental illness and allow their faith to be part of their healing. Even a prayer intention at Mass may spark hope, he added.<\/p>\n
In reaction to his daughter\u2019s diagnosis, faith played a significant role, the deacon said. \u201c(Our faith) was crucial in getting us through that,\u201d he explained. \u201cThrough prayer and turning things over to the Lord, saying we\u2019re going to deal with this situation with the strength and hope that comes from God and our faith. That\u2019s really what got us through, quite honestly. It\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Read more.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A reminder of how we are called to serve all who hunger \u2014\u00a0and that hunger can take many forms:\u00a0 When Deacon Tom Lambert\u2019s wife was hospitalized for open heart surgery, friends brought unsolicited meals to the family\u2019s door. \u201cFor three or four weeks, every day at 6 o\u2019clock, the bell would ring and a different […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,48],"tags":[11171],"class_list":["post-19347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deacons","category-the-people-in-the-pews","tag-deacons"],"yoast_head":"\n
Beyond stigma: a deacon who ministers to the mentally ill<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A reminder of how we are called to serve all who hunger --\u00a0and that hunger can take many forms:\u00a0 When Deacon Tom Lambert's wife was hospitalized for open\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/12\/beyond-stigma-a-deacon-who-ministers-to-the-mentally-ill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beyond stigma: a deacon who ministers to the mentally ill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A reminder of how we are called to serve all who hunger --\u00a0and that hunger can take many forms:\u00a0 When Deacon Tom Lambert's wife was hospitalized for open\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/12\/beyond-stigma-a-deacon-who-ministers-to-the-mentally-ill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-27T15:02:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-30T21:01:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/files\/2012\/12\/Mental_Disorders.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/12\/beyond-stigma-a-deacon-who-ministers-to-the-mentally-ill\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/12\/beyond-stigma-a-deacon-who-ministers-to-the-mentally-ill\/\",\"name\":\"Beyond stigma: a deacon who ministers to the mentally ill\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-27T15:02:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-30T21:01:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\"},\"description\":\"A reminder of how we are called to serve all who hunger --\u00a0and that hunger can take many forms:\u00a0 When Deacon Tom Lambert's wife was hospitalized for open\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/12\/beyond-stigma-a-deacon-who-ministers-to-the-mentally-ill\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/12\/beyond-stigma-a-deacon-who-ministers-to-the-mentally-ill\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/12\/beyond-stigma-a-deacon-who-ministers-to-the-mentally-ill\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Beyond stigma: a deacon who ministers to the mentally ill\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\",\"name\":\"The Deacon's Bench\",\"description\":\"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\",\"name\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Beyond stigma: a deacon who ministers to the mentally ill","description":"A reminder of how we are called to serve all who hunger --\u00a0and that hunger can take many forms:\u00a0 When Deacon Tom Lambert's wife was hospitalized for open","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/12\/beyond-stigma-a-deacon-who-ministers-to-the-mentally-ill\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Beyond stigma: a deacon who ministers to the mentally ill","og_description":"A reminder of how we are called to serve all who hunger --\u00a0and that hunger can take many forms:\u00a0 When Deacon Tom Lambert's wife was hospitalized for open","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/12\/beyond-stigma-a-deacon-who-ministers-to-the-mentally-ill\/","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2012-12-27T15:02:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-30T21:01:12+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/files\/2012\/12\/Mental_Disorders.jpg"}],"author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Deacon Greg Kandra","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/12\/beyond-stigma-a-deacon-who-ministers-to-the-mentally-ill\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/12\/beyond-stigma-a-deacon-who-ministers-to-the-mentally-ill\/","name":"Beyond stigma: a deacon who ministers to the mentally ill","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-12-27T15:02:53+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-30T21:01:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970"},"description":"A reminder of how we are called to serve all who hunger --\u00a0and that hunger can take many forms:\u00a0 When Deacon Tom Lambert's wife was hospitalized for open","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/12\/beyond-stigma-a-deacon-who-ministers-to-the-mentally-ill\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/12\/beyond-stigma-a-deacon-who-ministers-to-the-mentally-ill\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/12\/beyond-stigma-a-deacon-who-ministers-to-the-mentally-ill\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Beyond stigma: a deacon who ministers to the mentally ill"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/56\/2012\/12\/Mental_Disorders.jpg\" "\\"AFP6E1\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n