By Victor Ferrao

Rachol, Dec 8, 2019: On December 4, the body of Sister Mary Sandra Vianney was found on a railway track in Hubli, Karnataka. Media reports said it was a case of suicide.

Sister Vianney was among at least a dozen priests and nuns who ended their lives in the past few years.

What has been our response?

Is there any church forum that has effectively addressed this issue? Is there any religious order which has found this to be a serious problem that needs to be addressed in the days ahead? Unfortunately, I haven’t heard any.

Why do religious and priests commit suicide? Why have they become rather common these days? How many religious talk about the issue of suicide openly in their communities?

Any conversation on this is usually brushed aside as it evokes fear in some and pain in others.

This may be a natural response of a religious whose life and choices have been one way. However, it is time we broke this stereotype. This issue needs to be talked about in occasional conversations so that members of the religious communities and priest fraternities realize the importance of fostering accompaniment of each other. The further this matter is brushed under the carpet; we would continue to hear of priests and nuns committing suicide now and then.

What do we do and where do we go from here?

Dialogue: Fostering dialogue between community members especially with the lonely and the young.

Superior: The role of superior is not to scold, control and dictate rather to identify the struggling members, follow closely those who seem to be straying away and enter into a communion with him/her and if not able, alert the provincial/superior not as complaint but in an effort to find a way of assisting the member.

Family: Help every member to have a healthy and adequate relationship with their respective families. This implies sufficient annual holidays every year and participation in family events.

Formation: This I believe is the most important of all. A female religious formation to its most part is on the history of the congregation and founder, Charism and apostolate, constitution of the congregation and maybe some psychology. The two years of novitiate is usually complete along with learning some rubrics of English Language and some musical notes.

While all of it is important if you can instill the art of reading in your students in formation, they will learn by themselves.

Educate them instead/or along with the existing curriculum, alternative sciences promoting life, stress management, handling relationships, responsible freedom and personal liberty in place of excessive obedience lectures, community orientation which is not triangular but circle model and finally trust-building in the community. This would apply largely to male religious formation as well.

A comforting friends circle: As no one is an island, let’s not form islands. The right balance in friendships within the community and outside is always bolstering to a religious/priest who otherwise could end in a lost world where mission and ministry suffers leading to dangerous consequences. Though it is a delicate terrain, a religious needs it more than anyone else.

Regular gatherings, outings, picnics and celebrations. Seminars, community meetings that address issues like suicide and suicidal tendencies.

Raising the level of table conversations: Consciously stop talking about other persons of the community and focus on subjects that enhance each other and doing better the ministries of the community. Discussing other persons in a derogatory manner isolates him/her and the person may take extreme steps.

Identifying vulnerable religious/priests and assign appropriate ministries: Assign a quiet and private type of a member to a lively and supportive community. A genuine provincial or major superior will have a periodical healthy oversight of these members.

Good food, decent allowance and appropriate personal space: When I started to type this WhatsApp message, I did not think it is going to be this long. These are some stray thoughts that dominated my mind as I kept hearing about these cases of suicides of religious and priests in the last few years.

You may differ with me on some of these thoughts and I gracefully welcome that, but my intention is the same as yours.

Some stories of suicides of religious/priests come to light while others do not. I know two priests who attempted suicide, one of whom died in the second attempt and the other survived whose stories never came to light. It is with this feeling of sadness that I put these thoughts at a time when the church needs to address this issue sooner than later.

Lastly, as a fellow religious, I appeal please respect your own life and if you cannot be a religious or priest any longer do not choose to end your life, rather the world is big that it has a space for you to live differently.

(Father Victor Ferrao is a professor at Patriarchal Seminary of Rachol, Goa.)