Youth mental health a challenge for Church

Mental health and related issues such as suicide and depression were the biggest issue raised by secondary school students in Limerick in the first opinion poll of its kind ever carried out in this country.

More than 5,000 people across the city and county from varied backgrounds gave views on a wide range of issues in advance of a three-day synod organised by the Catholic diocese of Limerick, which opened at Mary Immaculate College yesterday.

It’s the first synod organised by the Church in 50 years, and 400 delegates — mostly lay people from 60 parishes in the diocese — voted on how the Church should respond to issues including homelessness, clerical abuse, attitudes to the LGBT community, equality of women in the Church, and married priests.