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Writer's pictureProfiles in Catholicism
Jul 28, 202334 min read

Youth Challenges and Leadership

Updated: Jul 29, 2023



A Message from the Editor


The American College Health Association's (ACHA) Spring 2022 National College Health Assessment surveyed over 54,000 undergraduate students. It revealed that approximately 77% were experiencing moderate to serious psychological distress. There are similar challenges in many other countries. An increasing number of teens and young adults are committing suicide. Australia is even considering passing teen suicide assistance…We have a moral obligation to end this epidemic of suicide among young people


A close friend of mine committed suicide so I have some insight into the greif of parents and friends of those who commit suicide, We ask ourselves over and over and over again if there is anything that I could have done to prevent the suicide. Sadly, many parents do not know how to effectively communicate with their teen children. They need to regularly discuss mental health challenges, their social media usage, their friends who may be having difficulties, mental hearth resources available to their friends, and a discussion of our responsibilities to others who are New Catholic Hospice Tries to Ease Pain, Help Patients Get to Heaven having mental health challenges. Junior high and high schools need to schedule mental wellbeing evaluations of students twice a year. Also severe fines need to be levied on doing cyberbullying.


Social media is the greatest contributor to mental health problems in young people. Some social media algorithms are programmed to promote addiction. In the United States, teens spend an average of 3 and 1/2 hour per day on social media.


July was a great month for Alzheimer news, especially the FDA approval of Lecanemab. This FDA approval is based on positive results of phase 2 b proof-of-concept clinical trial in early Alzheimer's disease, and lecanemab completely removed Aβ plaques, alleviated cognitive decline, and had a low incidence amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA) in early AD (Swanson et al., 2021).

It is sad to see the beginning of the downfall of democracy in Israel with Netanyahu’s leadership. Sadly not enough people in Israel read The people are rising up to oppose fascism in Israel before it is too late! by Rabbi Ron Kronich.



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A Quote to Remember


“No matter what happens. Or how bad it seems today, life goes on, and it will be better tomorrow.” by Maya Angelou


Youth Challenges/Leadership Interviews

General Interviews

General Statistics Around Suicide an Depression


Almost 800,000 people die due to suicide every year, nearly twice the number who die by homicide.


For every death by suicide, there are approximately 20 suicide attempts made.

Each death by suicide leaves behind a community of bereaved family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances. For every death by suicide, at least 7 to 10 people are directly affected by the loss.(3) who die by suicide have major depression.


Prayers


A Prayer to Protect Young People from Mental Health and Suicide Challenges


“Deliver us O Lord”


Dear Lord, I swore myself to silence as humiliation, swallowed

My tears, suffocated and blocked the expression of sufferings,

The willingness to admit the hurt and shame of the heart’s welts,

Taking silence to an extreme of losing consciousness of the past.


Dear Lord, I did not know why I did what I did but I did do this:

Dear Lord, I ran away and, afraid on strange streets, I went home.

Dear Lord, I tried to commit suicide and you frightened me and I

Drank water, lots of water, until I fell asleep and woke up again.


Dear Lord, I went in search of the hidden past, the past pushed

Down until it did not come up and, staying down, stopped the

Passage of the past into the present until the impoverished present

Showed itself in the unknowing of my own life and what to do.


Dear Lord, digging up the past was like breaking down a dam,

Bursting upon me the streaming memories lost and multiplied,

Amazingly, still existing in an unreachable place that probing the

Heart exposed to daylight, like a cave roof collapsing to the sky!


Why? The inescapable why? Lord, I now know to be the hidden

Hand of pride, hiding what needed to be open and simply said.

And so, Lord, it has taken thirty to forty years to understand the

Silence of the first few years, starting with what was a secret sin:


Of stealing my brother’s toys and trading them for flicking cards,

Of stealing money from the kitchen pot of bus fares undetected,

Of stealing magazines from shops, faking the buy or buying a bit,

Of stealing from others, from a father of a friend, old coins and …


Dear Mary, Mother of the Lord and the one who pondered on the

Word of God, listening and pondering, wondering what it meant:

The mysterious conception of your Holy Son, the mystery of His

Birth, being lost, growing up in wisdom and knowing His Father.


Dear Mary, you listened and listened to the word of the history of

Salvation, not a history of the past but of the fulfilling present, ever

Opening upon the mysteries of the day-to-day discoveries of living

With the Word in person, watching and working as life unfolded.


Dear Mary, help us to listen and listen to the word of the history of

Salvation, not as a word from the past but as a word uncovering the

Present and promising, implicitly, the opening of the present into the

Unknown but promised blooming of the blemished life – budding!!


Oh Joseph, virginal husband of Mary, foster-father of Jesus Christ,

Accompany us with your wordless actions, so full of meaning and

Patient believing in the events of a life lived in service of the Word,

His mother: Accompany us into the trusting action that God is here.


Oh Joseph, working companion and, presence in the Holy Family,

Let what is invisible not be what is harmful but let what burrows in

The heart be exposed and healed, taken to the Word who forgives,

Who erupts with new life that life lived in the dying dark, unliving.


Oh Joseph, still, calm, guardian of the Redeemer and servant of the

Family, come close to us and let us come close to you, whether with

Or without a father, with or without a mother or family, let us draw

Close to you and Mary, the Lord Himself and His healing Church.


Oh Holy Family, heal the hidden wounds which wound afresh and

Transmit harm from generation to generation, so what begins afresh

Is the fresh start, fallen though we are, ever called to rise again and

Beg forgiveness and forgive, spreading a miracle of love from death.


I beg you to go out into life and open your heart to the Word of God!


Francis Etheredge: Now married for 26 years, father of 11 children, 3 of whom are in heaven, author of 16 books, 3 of which are forthcoming.


For my own account of attempted suicide, around 14 or 15, 50 years ago, go to: The Prayerful Kiss:


Prayer for Mongolia


Good and gracious God,

This morning the driver that took me to therapy was from Mongolia. He was dismayed by what was going on there

In Mongolia, more than 20,000 inhabitants of the capital, Ulaanbaatar, have been displaced by extensive flooding and moved to safe places where they are receiving warm clothes and food. For ten days, heavy rains have been beating down in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, causing the waters of the Selbe and Tuul rivers to rise and overflow. Lord, help the waters to subside. Help the people to know that others care about them and are praying for the needs that they have. The entire population has been affected with tens of thousands reporting damage to their homes and over 20,000 moved to safe ground where they are receiving humanitarian aid. Lord, help them receive what is necessary for their life and well being. I ask you this in the name of the Holy Spirit, world without end. Amen. by Eileen Quinn-Knight Profiles in Catholicism


A Prayer to Prevent Antisemitism


Lord God, through the covenant you established with the Jewish People, we Christians have been grafted into this covenantal tradition according to St. Paul. But very often throughout history, we have shown ourselves ungrateful for this gift given us through Jesus who imbued in his teachings this Jewish covenantal tradition through acts of antisemitism. We join with Popes St. John Paul II and Francis in confessing our sins of antisemitism past and present. Through this prayer, we commit ourselves to the elimination of any remaining anti-Semitic teachings in the Catholic community and pledge to add our public voice in denouncing any manifestations of antisemitism in contemporary society. We ask your blessing so that we may have the strength to fulfill this pledge we make in your presence.

by John T. Pawlikowski, OSM, Profiles in Catholicism


Prayer for the Children of Nigeria


Oh Lord, the children in Nigeria are starving to death.

We join together with all Catholics, with all Christians,

with all people of faith.

Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists.

All who pray to you. The One God,

Lord of all humanity.

We pray that these innocent children

will have the sustenance, food, medicine, care

so that they may grow and flourish and help their communities

and all whom they may see who also will need the help that they need now.

We pray that the religious peoples of the world may come together to provide food

for these children,

and that the nations of the world may unite to send them what they need

to survive

and thrive.

And together we pray Amen. Let it be so!

by Dr. Eugene Fisher Profiles in Catholicism


Medical Journal Articles

General Articles/Commentaries

July 2023 The Month in Review


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Pope Francis shares message for U.S. Catholic Youth: “Do not lose your joy”


The identity crisis of wild Australian youth


Muhammad Shaikh Interactive Session with Canadian Youth / Teenagers


Sonic Youth Live at Buenos Aires, Argentina Oct 21, 2000 (FULL CONCERT)