Sisters Hospitallers: Learning humanity from the mentally ill
By Patricia Ynestroza
World Mental Health Day is marked on October 10, 2024, with the theme: “Mental Health at Work”. In an interview with Vatican News, Sister Idília Carneiro, Superior General of the Sisters Hospitallers, a religious congregation primarily dedicated to caring for people with mental illnesses, intellectual disabilities, and other special needs, reflects on the congregation’s main challenge after their General Chapter this past May: to maintain their identity and presence in the health world, especially considering the challenges posed by mental health, illness, and psychic suffering, all while embracing the congregation’s charismatic approach to the world.
Welcoming the mentally ill and learning from them
The Superior General emphasized that it is essential to understand that those who are mentally ill are “people experiencing psychic suffering. Therefore, the first step is to welcome them in their reality and also their families when the situation is more comprehensive.” Illness, she noted, does not entirely define a person, it only affects certain dimensions, and each of these people possess great human richness and sensitivity.
The Sisters Hospitallers experience their sensitivity and teach them to be more empathetic and “more attentive to one another, which can be a very enriching message for the society in which we live and which is increasingly individualistic. They help us to become more human, to live life with a deep appreciation for the smallest moments each day brings,” she said.
October 10: World Mental Health Day
This year's theme is: "Mental Health at Work." Sister Carneiro explained that this theme reflects a concern: that work, with its stress and demands, can lead to personal disintegration, causing even more stress. This, in turn, can make a person’s life more fragile.
According to the nun, the greatest challenge is finding a balance in work, “which also carries the dimensions of personal fulfillment, meaning, and contributing to a greater good.” Balancing work with everything a human being can offer, from their knowledge to their very being, is key.
“This, I believe, is the greatest challenge and one that contributes to mental health. Life’s rhythm, beyond just work, should help us feel human, not the other way around. It’s not just about work and mental health, but about how everything we experience helps us cultivate integral well-being.”
What the congregation does
In hospitals, the nuns are helping people with depression, including offering outpatient treatment for more resistant cases, supporting young people with personality disorders, including dependencies to the internet and other media.
The congregation is also making progress in the area of brain injuries and damage, including tumor-related neurological issues, along with rehabilitation, which is another important area. They continue to grow in all mental health fields, including treatments for anxiety and cases of suicide attempts, working to help young people and older adults feel that their lives have meaning.
On the other hand, they are advancing in palliative care, helping and accompanying people and their families to find peace during the final stages of life, with a sense of hope. They continue to work in awareness, training, mental health prevention, rehabilitation, and reintegration, contributing to a culture and society more inclusive of these vulnerable individuals, who, despite their challenges, can bring great humanity to our society.
General Chapter and meeting with Pope Francis
In May, during the celebration of the congregation’s General Chapter, the Sisters were received in audience by Pope Francis. Sister Carneiro recalled that the Pope challenged them to "live the ‘madness’ of love, to continue living it, because the congregation has carried this spirit from its very beginning."
The Holy Father also encouraged them to "cultivate their service and love for the sick, always with joy and hope, never losing the joy in their hearts, and loving the most fragile persons."
Clothe yourselves with mercy
Sister Carneiro's programme as Superior General, in place since May, will focus until 2030 on the theme: "Clothe yourselves with mercy." This, she said, captures the essence of the congregation's charism and sense of identity in both the Church and the world: living hospitality through the merciful heart of Jesus.
Mercy: An embrace that heals and creates communion
The nun elaborated on the programme that is rooted in mercy, describing it as an "embrace that heals and creates communion." This invites the sisters of the congregation to deepen their own identity as consecrated Hospitallers, each having her own experience of mercy, and becoming instruments of mercy for those who suffer.
The program will emphasize mercy as a limitless love that reflects the universal nature of the congregation. With a presence in 25 countries, their mission and presence are both universal and diverse. This underscores the need to reconfigure their presence to bring life and hope to every context. The congregation will consider mercy as the expression of a mission that makes visible the Samaritan face of the Church.
Mercy: The Samaritan face of the Church
From this perspective, the congregation models itself on the Church's Samaritan face, dedicated to caring for and accompanying people with mental suffering in a comprehensive and holistic manner.
In a world that is so individualistic, it is important to highlight the presence of mercy, that "evangelizing force" within the mission of the Sisters Hospitallers. This mission is tied to "everything related to the identity and meaning of a shared hospital project between sisters, collaborators, and nearly 3,000 laypeople worldwide."
Their greatest challenge is to safeguard their identity, their presence in the health field, with all the challenges that mental health, illness, and psychic suffering bring, all while maintaining the congregation's charismatic spirit in the world.
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