11/06/02
Priests in crisis talks following suicide
STEPHEN FRASER
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=628092002
CATHOLIC priests are to hold a crisis meeting with their archbishop following the suicide of a colleague who felt burned out by the pressures of the job.
Priests will demand urgent help from Archbishop Keith O'Brien and the appointment of "pastoral supervisors" to help those who are stressed-out and fear they cannot cope.
The move comes in the wake of the suicide of Father Gerry Prior, from Livingston, who hanged himself nine days ago. His suicide note said he felt burned out by the pressures of the job, that he had not been involved in any scandal, but had been depressed.
O'Brien, the most senior priest in the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, will meet priests at the meeting to be held on June 20.
Father Ken Owens, the general secretary of the Council of Priests, which represents the archdiocese's 182 priests, said there had to be a "structural" change in support arrangements for priests to prevent the possibility of further tragedies.
Owens, from St John Vianney, in Edinburgh's Gilmerton, said current arrangements were "ad hoc". He said: "If you want help, and you admit you need help, you will be given it and there are numerous cases where people have been given help in those circumstances.
"But people sometimes find it very hard to admit they need help. A system of pastoral supervisors would make it more easy for people with problems to be detected and helped."
He said the Catholic Church should try to emulate the support networks used in many hospitals and hospices. "If you look at the field of healthcare, doctors and nurses who work in the field of cancer care, where they deal with terminally ill patients, often have systems where someone looks out for their welfare. We should have that kind of system," he said.
Peter Kearney, a spokesman for the Catholic Church, said: "We will listen to what people say at this meeting and see what we can do."
Announcing the meeting with members of the steering group of the Council of Priests, Archbishop O'Brien said: "I will listen carefully to the views expressed at this event, mindful of the fact that, as with most other dioceses in the world, we have never before been faced with a situation like this."
The archbishop was one of a group of friends who discovered Prior's body.
He added: "It is difficult to see what action could have been taken to prevent the death of Father Gerry and harder still to see how it could have been predicted."
Father Gerry, 37, killed himself in his home next to St Peter's Church in Livingston.
He had been an active participant in retreats and residential events involving priests from across the arch-diocese and had a number of close priest colleagues but did not tell them of his anxieties.
O'Brien added: "I am never more than a phone call away should any priest wish to speak to me or visit."
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Priests in crisis talks following suicide
STEPHEN FRASER
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=628092002
CATHOLIC priests are to hold a crisis meeting with their archbishop following the suicide of a colleague who felt burned out by the pressures of the job.
Priests will demand urgent help from Archbishop Keith O'Brien and the appointment of "pastoral supervisors" to help those who are stressed-out and fear they cannot cope.
The move comes in the wake of the suicide of Father Gerry Prior, from Livingston, who hanged himself nine days ago. His suicide note said he felt burned out by the pressures of the job, that he had not been involved in any scandal, but had been depressed.
O'Brien, the most senior priest in the Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, will meet priests at the meeting to be held on June 20.
Father Ken Owens, the general secretary of the Council of Priests, which represents the archdiocese's 182 priests, said there had to be a "structural" change in support arrangements for priests to prevent the possibility of further tragedies.
Owens, from St John Vianney, in Edinburgh's Gilmerton, said current arrangements were "ad hoc". He said: "If you want help, and you admit you need help, you will be given it and there are numerous cases where people have been given help in those circumstances.
"But people sometimes find it very hard to admit they need help. A system of pastoral supervisors would make it more easy for people with problems to be detected and helped."
He said the Catholic Church should try to emulate the support networks used in many hospitals and hospices. "If you look at the field of healthcare, doctors and nurses who work in the field of cancer care, where they deal with terminally ill patients, often have systems where someone looks out for their welfare. We should have that kind of system," he said.
Peter Kearney, a spokesman for the Catholic Church, said: "We will listen to what people say at this meeting and see what we can do."
Announcing the meeting with members of the steering group of the Council of Priests, Archbishop O'Brien said: "I will listen carefully to the views expressed at this event, mindful of the fact that, as with most other dioceses in the world, we have never before been faced with a situation like this."
The archbishop was one of a group of friends who discovered Prior's body.
He added: "It is difficult to see what action could have been taken to prevent the death of Father Gerry and harder still to see how it could have been predicted."
Father Gerry, 37, killed himself in his home next to St Peter's Church in Livingston.
He had been an active participant in retreats and residential events involving priests from across the arch-diocese and had a number of close priest colleagues but did not tell them of his anxieties.
O'Brien added: "I am never more than a phone call away should any priest wish to speak to me or visit."