Staff Reporter
Parishioners have a “duty” to look out for priests who may be depressed as a result of being over-worked, a leading psychiatrist has warned.
Prof. Patricia Casey told The Irish Catholic that priests, particularly since the abuse scandals, are “sometimes seen as not being human and that they are supposed to be like sponges and absorb all the criticism, opprobrium and castigation that society throws at them”.
“Priests are sometimes regarded by some as not having feelings and are therefore deserving of all the castigation that comes their way,” the Mater Hospital psychiatrist said.
Burnt out
Prof. Casey’s comments come after a priest, requesting to remain anonymous, wrote to RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke programme describing how he felt “burnt out”.
“The institution has no interest in my health, physical, emotional, mental or spiritual. I do my best to help people but there is never anyone there to help me cope with the darkness,” the anonymous priest explained.
“Now I have become cynical, weary and see it all as pointless. Priests are human but I have discovered that we are almost never seen as such. Sorry for the rant but that’s how this burnt out priest feels,” he said.
Fear
Describing the priest’s remarks as “very sad”, Prof. Casey said it was “important that priests, like everybody else should have people they can turn to and confide in without fear of them being reproached in any way”, adding that “parishioners do have a duty” to look out for priests who may become depressed as a result of being over-worked.