The St. Maria Goretti Mental Health Initiative is made possible by a generous grant from the Center for Congregations (CfC), an Indiana non-profit funded by the Lilly Endowment. St. Maria Goretti was one of only 30 congregations in Indiana selected to receive the CfC Mental Health Initiative grant in 2024 and was the only Roman Catholic Church selected. We are so grateful to the CfC for their support and are excited to offer a number of presentations, workshops, small-group faith-sharing sessions, and other programming throughout 2025 to help parishioners and members of the wider community grow in connecting our faith and our mental well-being.
Here are our upcoming Mental Health Initiative programs:
Empowered Parenting – Strategies & Resources
Presenter: Dr. Jean Nanos, Clinical Psychologist RSVP requested
October 6, 6:30 – 8:00 pm
October 11, 9:00 -10:30 am
October 13, 6:30 – 8:30 pm
October 18, 9:00-10:30 am October 19, 12:30 – 2:00 pm
Parenting can be stressful. Anxiety and other challenges are on the rise for many children and teens. Join us as we learn from a family therapist, who will address a range of parenting topics from healthy communication to dealing with social media and bullying. Topics will be tailored to the age group of the children in the corresponding Children’s Formation Program (CFP) session time. Childcare will be provided.
Grief and the Holidays
Presenter: Sarah Ticich, Bereavement Facilitator, Hospice of the Calumet Area
Missing a loved one is an indescribable feeling, and the holidays can be a particularly difficult time. Following our 4:00 pm Mass of Remembrance, join our presenter to learn coping strategies and resources for support.
Hope and Healing Prayer Service
Presider: Father Leo
Carrying the burden of anxiety and other life challenges alone can feel overwhelming. Join us in a special prayer experience – an opportunity to turn our burdens over to the Lord and receive the power of spiritual healing and hope.
Parish Advent Celebration – Evangelism in an Age of Despair
Presenter: Andrew Root, PhD
November 30, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm
A separate RSVP form will be coming in the bulletin
Join us for our annual Parish Advent Celebration as we enjoy brunch and fellowship. Afterwards, as the culmination of our mental health initiative, we are excited to invite you to be fed spiritually by our guest presenter, an acclaimed author and speaker, often mentioned as one of the leading scholars in youth ministry and practical theology in the world.
Dr. Andrew Root will help us reflect on ways to find hope in times that exhaust us and ask us to do more with less…times that make busyness both the measure of a good life and a poison that disconnects us from really living. We’ll learn about a way of being in community that can give us hope and reconnect us with one another and God.
Please plan to join us for this celebration of the season
and of our mental health initiative this year!
More events coming in the fall! Check back soon for details.
These are some of our past Mental Health Initiative programs:
Parish Mission: Exploring the Intersenction Between Faith and Mental Health
April 8, 9, and 10 – 6:30-8:00 pm
Presenter: Dr. Terry Nelson-Johnson, Psychologist and Theologian
Through storytelling, reflection, music, and ritual, for three evenings, acclaimed speaker, Terry Nelson Johnson, will lead us in a dynamic and engaging exploration of how our faith and sacraments enrich our mental health.
Strengthening Your Mental and Spiritual Health and Fitness – Building a Practical Prayer Life
May 7 – 6:30-8:00 pm
Presenter: Rev. Bill Stenzel
Looking to reduce stress and develop resilience while developing a closer connection to God? Searching for some spiritual direction?
Father Bill Stenzel will share a variety of ways to boost your prayer life and bring more peace and joy into your daily life.
Contemplative Prayer Workshop
May 31 – 8:30 am to 3:30 pm
Presenter: Alan Krema, Contemplative Outreach of Greater Chicago
Alan Krema is a teacher and practitioner of Centering Prayer and contemplative practice and has served in Contemplative Outreach Chicago in a wide variety of roles. He has completed the Living School of the Center for Action and Contemplation and is a graduate of the Shalem Institute for group spiritual leadership.
Centering prayer is a remarkably simple method that opens one to Godʼs gift of contemplative prayer. Its practice expands oneʼs receptivity to the presence and activity of God in oneʼs life. It is a distillation of the practice of monastic spirituality into two relatively short periods of prayer each day.Centering prayer which we practice today was given to us in the 14th century. In recent times, Father Thomas Keating has shown us how this prayer works in us and for us within the context of our modern psychological and cultural makeup. It is prayer to guide us to become fully who we truly are as beloved sons and daughters of Christ. No previous experience is necessary. Bring only your curiosity and your longing to deepen your relationship with God.
Navigating the Disease of Addiction
Presenter: Father Bill Stenzel
Thursday, September 25, 6:30 – 8:00 pm, Dinner and presentation
Navigating conversations with a friend or loved one who is struggling with addiction can be incredibly challenging. Since we are all effected by this disease, and we all have attitudes about persons who suffer with this disease and don’t often talk about it, let’s share some time and information to be better able to be a friend, relative, neighbor or co-worker to each other.