Published by National Catholic Reporter, March 31, 2014
Lake Forest, Calif. — When Deacon Tom Lambert speaks about his experience parenting a child with mental illness in parishes around the country, people come up to him after Mass crying with stories of their own to share.
“It was the first time they felt comfortable enough to tell that story,” he said, addressing The Gathering on Mental Health and the Church on Friday at Saddleback Church.
Nearly a year after the suicide of Saddleback pastor Rick Warren’s son, the evangelical megachurch, the Catholic diocese of Orange, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) partnered to break Christians’ silence on mental health issues through the daylong conference. About 3,300 evangelical Christians and Catholics attended the gathering, and more than 6,000 watched live online, according to a news release about the event.
As pastor of one of the largest churches in the country, Warren grieved the loss of his son, Matthew, in public. “Kay and I have always known that someday we would be spokespeople for mental illness because God never wastes a hurt,” Warren said. …
Megan Sweas 
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