Excerpt:
Deacon Tom Lambert could very well be repeating this about the Aurora incidence...
He....."is not the face of mental illness in this country."
Those with mental illness are much more likely to be the victims of violence than its perpetrators, and the vast majority live and work quietly in their communities, trained by society not to share too much information about their struggles.
Deacon Lambert calls mental illness a "no-casserole disease." When his wife had open-heart surgery 25 years ago, "the doorbell never stopped ringing" and he discovered more ways to cook chicken than he ever knew existed. But when his daughter was hospitalized for mental illness 20 years ago, he said, "no one came to the door."
Those with mental illness are much more likely to be the victims of violence than its perpetrators, and the vast majority live and work quietly in their communities, trained by society not to share too much information about their struggles.
Deacon Lambert calls mental illness a "no-casserole disease." When his wife had open-heart surgery 25 years ago, "the doorbell never stopped ringing" and he discovered more ways to cook chicken than he ever knew existed. But when his daughter was hospitalized for mental illness 20 years ago, he said, "no one came to the door."
...He also found during those dark days two decades ago that "the church leadership knew very little about mental illness" and there was nothing in place to help those with mental illness or their families. So Deacon Lambert and his wife set about establishing a Commission on Mental Illness in the Archdiocese of Chicago, which eventually became part of the archdiocesan Office for Persons with Disabilities, albeit without any church funding.
"And that's the way it exists to this day," he told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview from his office at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish on Chicago's Near North Side. "I call it an unfunded Gospel mandate."
At the national level, Deacon Lambert co-chairs the National Catholic Partnership on Disability's Council on Mental Illness, which has developed resources to help parish leaders and individual Catholics welcome and assist those with mental illness in their congregations....
"And that's the way it exists to this day," he told Catholic News Service in a telephone interview from his office at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish on Chicago's Near North Side. "I call it an unfunded Gospel mandate."
At the national level, Deacon Lambert co-chairs the National Catholic Partnership on Disability's Council on Mental Illness, which has developed resources to help parish leaders and individual Catholics welcome and assist those with mental illness in their congregations....
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