Clinical & Educational Services Highlight SLI’s Responsiveness to Growing Mental Health Needs in the Church

The following is a letter from Saint Luke Institute (SLI) President & CEO, Rev. Patrick J. McDevitt, CM, PhD, to ministry leaders, adapted from the opening pages of SLI’s new services guide.

Dear Colleagues in Ministry,

Interest in mental health and wellbeing is high. Many are aware in their own lives, or the lives of loved ones, the increased toll of personal and social crises. Experiences of significant stress, trauma, burnout, and depression are all to common – and always in need of a caring and expert response. In the life of a minister in today’s Church, these realities are just as frequent, as clergy, religious and lay ministers respond to pastoral needs and challenges.

However, integrated mental health care for ministers that attends to the whole person – body, mind, and spirit – often seems elusive, like a jigsaw puzzle where the pieces just don’t seem to fit together.

For 50 years, Saint Luke Institute (SLI) has helped clergy, religious and others who serve the Church put together the puzzle of mental wellbeing in their lives so that they can be vibrant ministers of healing in today’s wounded Church and world.

As SLI has grown, we have always responded to new mental health needs in the life of ministers, and in the Church as a whole. We have developed our clinical and educational programming based on best practices to respond to these needs, while remaining true to a care model rooted in a Catholic context. Our new services guide is a product of 50 years of wisdom from our dedicated staff of professional and licensed clinicians and expert spiritual team members. I hope you will take a moment to review it and refresh yourselves – or learn for the first time – the resource you have at SLI.

Perhaps you readily see some way SLI can support the mental and spiritual wellbeing of you or a colleague. Maybe you need confidential consultation or advice on how to best respond. I hope you will reach out to me to learn more. As someone who has been a provincial and organizational leader, I am happy to be a support to other leaders in today’s Church. Maybe you don’t see something in our services guide that addresses a mental health, leadership education or similar growth need you are facing. I want to hear from you about it.

Or perhaps you want to support our work with today’s ministers – which more than ever relies on donations and philanthropy – so that we can care for all those who come to us, regardless of ability to pay.

 Please let me know how I can be a support to you – personally and directly. Contact me anytime by email or call me at my direct office number 301-422-5419 to discuss any of these points, or any questions you may have.

For 50 years, we at SLI have had the privilege of serving thousands of priests, sisters, deacons, brothers, and more – putting in place the pieces of their mental health healing journey.

We know what the ministry mental health puzzle looks like, and we are here to help.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Rev. Patrick J. McDevitt, C.M., Ph.D.
President and CEO