A Catholic Perspective on Suicide (IN: Clergy Response to Suicidal Persons and Their Family Members, edited by D C Clark)

Catholic pastoral care in the pre-Vatican church was both sacramental & moralistic. Vatican II unleashed forces within Roman Catholicism that would cultivate a reconsideration of ministry & pastoral care. This chapter tracks some of the more significant aspects of this evolution & discusses their implications for Catholic pastoral care, noting that care extended to a suicidal person & his/her family might well differ from that offered by the traditional model.