Faith and Mental Health by Koenig Harold G

Author:Koenig, Harold G [Koenig, Harold G]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Templeton Press
Published: 2009-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

PART III

FAITH-BASED MENTAL

HEALTH CARE

CHAPTER 7

CARING FOR THE EMOTIONALLY

AND MENTALLY ILL

In this second half of the book, I move away from research on the relationship between religion and mental health, and begin to focus on the role that clergy and religious organizations play in caring for those with emotional problems or severe mental illness. Before discussing the current situation, however, I will provide some historical and theological background information that will provide important insights into the patterns of care provided by faith communities to be discussed later. Then I will examine what words such as faith-based and mental health services mean, and break down these terms into categories.

Faith-Based Social Services

Prior to 1850 in the United States, the family and the church provided all social services. 1 As reviewed in chapter 2, the concept of caring for the needy had biblical and early Christian roots: the care of widows and orphans in the Hebrew Testament, the care of the needy in the Book of Matthew and the Book of Acts, the care of ill pilgrims by monastic orders during the Crusades, the care of the poor and lepers by the Franciscans, the care of the mentally ill by religious orders such as the Hospitallers of St. John of God, the care of the poor and sick by female religious orders, and so forth. Beginning in the early 1700s, Catholic Charities was the first example in the American colonies of a faith-based organization caring for the poor, the sick, and other discarded members of society. 2

Protestant religious organizations in Europe, such as the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) and the Salvation Army, sprang up in the second half of the nineteenth century in response to the growing poor population. YMCA founder George Williams came to London in 1841 as a sales assistant in a draper’s shop. He and a group of fellow drapers organized the first YMCA in 1844 to address the unhealthy social conditions in big cities at the end of the Industrial Revolution. 3 They offered an alternative to the poor and to young workers: Bible study and prayer instead of life on the streets. By 1851 there were 24 YMCAs in Great Britain with a combined membership of 2,700. The first YMCA was started in the United States in 1851 in Boston. After the end of the Civil War, there were more than 700 YMCAs in full operation in the United States.

About the same time in 1852, William Booth began walking the streets of London preaching the Christian gospel to the poor, homeless, hungry, and destitute. 4 Thieves, prostitutes, gamblers, and drunkards became his first converts, and his ministry organized into what later became known as the Salvation Army. To congregations who were desperately poor, he preached hope and salvation and recruited volunteers to help them. In 1867, Booth had only 10 full-time workers, but within seven years, the number had grown to 1,000 volunteers and 42 ministers. In 1879, the first meeting of the Salvation Army in America was held in Philadelphia and rapidly grew from there.

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