An open door to 'a place of hope"

NATIONAL CATHOLIC

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Vol. 47, No. 8 | $2.95 June 6-19, 2014

FEBRUARY 4, 2011

An open door to ‘a place of hope’ Cathedral’s Mental Health Ministry offers outreach and support

Volunteers offer companionship through a “ministry of presence” to parishioners and others at St. James Cathedral’s Gallagher Center on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Creations from a biweekly art group decorate the back wall (Photo: Nancy Granger)

By JULIE GUNTER

SEATTLE — For Hannah Osborne, a lifelong Catholic and prolific creative writer whose keen gaze is most often partially hidden by long white hair, the courtyard at St. James Cathedral in Seattle is her favorite place.

On the south side of the cathedral, near the parish bookstore and a bustling kitchen and reception area where churchgoers and others congregate on Sundays for post-Mass coffee and muffins, the courtyard contains a statue of Sedes Sapientiae — Mary, Seat of Wisdom, holding Jesus, the Word made flesh, in her arms — stands on a pedestal surrounded by water.

The statue and fountain is more familiar and accessible to Osborne than the cathedral’s soaring interior, accessed through a propped-open door just steps away. A self-described

chronic paranoid schizophrenic and Vietnam War veteran who has been homeless for four years, Osborne feels drawn, instead, to circle the cathedral grounds each afternoon from the vicinity of the tree-lined sidewalk.

Asked why she tends to refrain from entering the sanctuary, she admits that she once looked “less haggard” but now makes do with “holes in my pants and holes in my shoes” — not exactly church attire. There’s also the question of where one stores “bags of stuff,” representing sole possessions too precious to part with, in a grand cathedral.

Nancy Granger, a registered nurse and director of St. James’ Mental Health Ministry, spends her waking hours listening to and responding to the yearnings, concerns and questions of Osborne and others struggling with mental illness and, in some cases, homelessness in this cultur-

ally and economically diverse urban neighborhood. Hired as a full-time staff member in 2013 (the ministry was founded in 2011), Granger is committed to “normalizing” the topic of mental health through compassionate outreach and educational opportunities offered to cathedral members and others living in the Seattle area.

From her cozy office and adjacent “living room” housed in the Gallagher Center, found down a flight of steps in the rectory basement, Granger directs a team of nearly 50 volunteers.

They have ties to the parish or other neighboring organizations, including universities, hospitals and the local chapter of the Order of Malta. The Order of Malta, a 900-year-old lay religious order whose mission is to defend the faith and assist the suffering, is also a major financial supporter of the ministry, along with the Ferry

NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER

and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, now Family Foundation. stipulates that mental and behavioral Relying on knowledge of mental health treatment represent one of 10 health issues gained through almost essential benefits required in new in30 years in outpatient and inpatient surance policies sold on the federal clinical settings, Granger has become health exchange and through Medica valuable resource to hundreds of aid. However, coverage is subject to people struggling with mental illness state-by-state disparities and can vary and their extended families, as well widely, depending on a patient’s locaas parish staff who minister to them.

Through phone calls, Sunday dropin hours and scheduled meetings, clients are offered guidance and support with counseling and direction toward resources.

Outreach focuses on providing sustained companionship and a “ministry of presence.” Programs and activities include: • Peer-to-peer support groups; • A grief and loss support group; • A creative art gathering; • A writing workshop; • A foot care ministry; Hannah Osborne, left, and Nancy Granger (Photo: Julie Gunter) • “Coffee Hour” companionship; • A holiday-themed gathering in tion and other factors. coordination with a local nonprofit, Dianne, who asked that her last Circle of Friends; name remain private, calls St. James’ • Frequent speaking events and Mental Health Ministry “a godsend” programs, including the weekslong and “a place of hope.” Involved with Peer-to-Peer and Family-to Family the program since its humble beginprograms affiliated with the National nings when two volunteers would Alliance on Mental Illness. open the space once a month to the few From publicizing events in the people who might trickle in, she has weekly parish bulletin to providing suggested improvements, such as sethome or hospital visits, the ministry ting out jigsaw puzzles, instituting a “has awakened the entire parish to book-borrowing library, and opening the reality of mental illness, and has the space every Sunday for five hours. made it okay for people to talk about a Such improvements, according heretofore taboo topic,” said the pastor to Granger, have helped expand the of the cathedral, Fr. Michael G. Ryan. mission’s reach and effectiveness.

According to the National Alliance Dianne’s response to Granger’s gration Mental Illness, 60 million Ameritude is mutual: “You accept me for cans experience a mental health conwho I am and make me feel comfortdition each year — one in four adults able even when I feel bad. On the and one in 10 children — and an estistreet, people walk by or just look at mated 46 percent of U.S. adults will you. You’ll wait a long time if you’re experience some mental disorder, going to wait for a person [who stops such as depression, bipolar disorder and tells you they care].” or schizophrenia, over the course of Another frequent guest agrees that their lives. this is a “safe forum to relax, drink cofThe Affordable Care Act, as an exfee, and sleep if necessary.” He admits tension of the Mental Health Parity

June 6-19, 2014

that he interacts more during these four hours on Sundays than anywhere else during his week on the streets.

David Harrell, a volunteer currently discerning a vocation to the priesthood, joined the ministry after relocating to Seattle earlier this year “to gain pastoral experience in a field that I have personal experience with.”

He tries to spend time with guests at the center each Sunday, and recognizes “the great need for [mental health] patients to have positive social interactions that are lifeaffirming and encouraging toward healing and recovery.”

As for Osborne, she attributes healing to “being in a place where you feel safe” and says she “feels safe here at St. James with my friends and other Catholics.”

Granger and Ryan have also discussed the idea of bringing Mass to guests at the Gallagher Center within the next few months — an idea enthusiastically received by many of Granger’s Catholic clients and particularly those who are homeless. When Granger expressed concern that they could feel segregated, several people assured her that they would welcome the chance to participate in the liturgy in a place where they feel comfortable and safe.

Pope Francis has said that “instead of being just a church that welcomes and receives by keeping the doors open, let us try also to be a church that finds new roads, that is able to step outside itself and go to those who do not attend Mass, to those who have quit or are indifferent. The ones who quit sometimes do it for reasons that, if properly understood and assessed, can lead to a return. But that takes audacity and courage.” It’s a message that the cathedral’s bells seem to echo with their sudden, melodious pealing at the noonday hour, much to Osborne’s delight.

[Julie Gunter is a freelance writer based in Seattle.]

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