When his 29-year-old daughter Katie died in 2016, Deacon Edward Shoener shared a heartrending truth in the obituary: she had taken her life amid a long-running struggle with depression.

“(She) fought bipolar disorder since 2005, but she finally lost the battle,” wrote Deacon Shoener, who serves at the Cathedral of St. Peter in the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Nov. 18 marks International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day, dedicated to those who wrestle with the complex and often silent grief of having lost loved ones to suicide. Ahead of the observance, Deacon Shoener told OSV News the Catholic Church needs to be on the frontlines of addressing suicide and mental illness, and understanding their impact on individuals and loved ones.

After his daughter’s obituary received national attention, Deacon Shoener said he “heard from literally thousands, if not tens of thousands of people … predominantly Catholics, saying, ‘The church needs to step up and be more involved in mental health ministry, and support the people that have lost someone to suicide.'”

Part of that mission is spreading awareness of the profound comfort those who have lost a loved one to suicide can find in church teaching on the issue — something Father Chris Alar, a priest of the Marians of the Immaculate Conception and superior of the order’s U.S. and Argentina provinces, has been doing for several years.

Father Alar, whose grandmother took her life several years ago, co-authored the book “After Suicide: There’s Hope for Them and for You” with fellow Marian Father Jason Lewis.

While the Catechism of the Catholic Church stresses that suicide is “gravely contrary to the just love of self”, Father Alar told OSV News that “if somebody does make that wrong choice, it should not cause us to despair.”

He pointed to the Catechism’s observation, in paragraph 2282, that “grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.”

As a result, the three conditions for a sin to be mortal explained by the catechism, a grave matter committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent are usually not met in cases of suicide, Father Alar said.

“Most people who take their life probably don’t have free will,” said Father Alar. “They have some kind of mental illness or some kind of depression or anxiety.”

Deacon Shoener and Bishop John P. Dolan of Phoenix — who himself has lost three siblings and a brother-in-law to suicide — are also working to bring the light of the Catholic faith to bear on the issue of mental illness, and now lead the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers as president and chaplain respectively.