The quilt “Postcards to Heaven” stood on a display stand next to the pulpit, carried in from the narthex where it had stood before the service. Post-card sized pictures of loved-ones who had died by suicidei alternated with the flip side, messages from friends and relatives. It was a quilt sponsored by the Henderson County, NC Partnership for Health from entries solicited in a newspaper article. The faces in the pictures had a wide age-range. One, a youth, had been a beloved member of our congregation. One of the messages was a stark, “WHY?”
It was Mental Illness Awareness Sunday. In adult Sunday School class, we discussed facts about mental illness and suicide as they related to our faith. The pastor told us that suicide became a “sin” in
the Catholic Church as a reaction to rampant suicide during the persecution of the early Christiansii. He reflected that Luther buried a parishioner who had died by suicide in the churchyard with no judgment or condemnation. He affirmed that our congregation would mourn someone who died by suicide just as if they had died from any other cause. In fact, he said, suicide can be viewed as an outcome of mental illness, just as death may be an outcome of cancer. Several participants noted that Luther himself had a severe mood disorder, possibly bipolar.
the Catholic Church as a reaction to rampant suicide during the persecution of the early Christiansii. He reflected that Luther buried a parishioner who had died by suicide in the churchyard with no judgment or condemnation. He affirmed that our congregation would mourn someone who died by suicide just as if they had died from any other cause. In fact, he said, suicide can be viewed as an outcome of mental illness, just as death may be an outcome of cancer. Several participants noted that Luther himself had a severe mood disorder, possibly bipolar.
As a teen I had heard all the dark rumors about religion and suicide: that suicide was an “unforgivable sin” and that the person must be buried outside a churchyard. I imagined the terrible realization as one woke up in hell: the attempt to escape unbearable pain in this life had resulted in an eternity of pain. How could a loving God treat us this way?
One lady in the class disclosed that she had bipolar disorder. That gave me hope; my young daughter had just been diagnosed with “mood disorder,” treatable with mood stabilizers. This lady was obviously doing just fine; no one would have guessed that she struggled with a severe and persistent mental illness.
I felt lifted up, unburdened from the dark and scary rumors I'd heard all my life. I wondered, however, why we had never discussed this before. Had it not been Mental Illness Awareness Sunday, had the “Postcards to Heaven” quilt not visited the church, I would never have discovered that my pastor and fellow parishioners had such enlightened views on suicide.
Don't all congregations of all faiths need to have this conversation? I highly recommend it.
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Notes:
iEver since hearing a grieving mother speak at a NAMI convention, I have followed her suggestion to use “died by suicide” rather than “committed suicide.” “Committed suicide” implies it was a decision, whereas “died by suicide” fits more with the belief that it was a fatal outcome of an illness.
iiSee The History of Suicide created by the Baton Rouge Crisis Intervention Center, copyright © 2011 Jacob Crouch Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
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