The Word on Fire Institute, founded by Bishop Robert Barron, launched a program earlier this month designed to support young men amid a national mental health crisis.
Amid a crisis of loneliness and mental health, especially for young men, the ministry “Redemption” is a resource for young men struggling with depression, suicidal ideation, or other mental health issues. Redemption also seeks to address “the existential crisis of meaning that is gripping young men,” Barron told Fox News Digital.
When asked about the timeliness of the ministry, Word on Fire CEO Father Steve Grunow told CNA: “Alarming studies indicate that large numbers of men in our culture are in crisis and that help and support that is specific to their needs and concerns is not in proportion to the problems they face.”
He added: “I do think this outreach is of particular importance now, not just because there is a real crisis that is having a devastating impact on men, but also because this kind of work is essential to the mission of the Church, particularly the mission of evangelization, which is, for me, a search-and-rescue mission.”
Mental health and meaning crisis among men
Men often are often underdiagnosed for mental health issues. Nearly 1 in 10 men experience some form of depression and anxiety, but fewer than half seek treatment, according to the Anxiety and Depression Society of America (ADAA).
Men also die by suicide at a rate four times higher than women but are diagnosed with depression and mood disorders at far lower rates, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). When they do seek help, men are more likely to go underdiagnosed for depression.
“Some indicators of this crisis are the numbers of boys and young men who are failing to thrive in schools and universities, suffering elevated rates of addiction, lacking in mentors or friends, and drifting without meaning and purpose for their lives,” Grunow continued. “Perhaps most troubling [is] that men between the ages of 25 and 50 represent the largest group prone to take their own lives.”
“This is all compounded by the perception that men are expendable, are pilloried by the culture as being either toxic or buffoons, and if they find themselves in crisis or in trouble that have few resources or opportunities available to help them to set their lives right,” Grunow added.
The Redemption program seeks to help men struggling with mental health issues while also addressing the cultural crisis of meaning. The program will hold weekly meetings led by the Word on Fire Institute and the Capuchin Franciscan Friars.
The program will feature spiritual counseling as well as virtual meetings and other digital resources for men around the world.
Shia LaBeouf’s role
Redemption was launched because of a request from actor Shia LaBeouf, who joined the Catholic Church after his on-screen portrayal of Padre Pio in a 2022 film led him to a love of the Catholic faith.
“Shia Labeouf asked Bishop Barron if Word on Fire could provide help to men who, like himself, are alone and in crisis,” Grunow said.
LaBeouf had stayed with a monastic community of Capuchin friars to prepare for the role of Padre Pio, but he “found in the Capuchin friars mentors and friends who were willing to let him into their community despite the fact that he was, in his own words, ‘on fire, radioactive,’” Grunow explained.
“[Labeouf] asked if Bishop Barron, through the auspices of Word on Fire, could facilitate, with the help of Capuchin friars, an outreach to men who were at a limit and had run out of options,” Grunow explained. “The Word on Fire Institute Redemption community emerged from Shia’s request and the Capuchin friars’ willingness to help.”
Loneliness and cancel culture
Grunow noted that cancel culture has a “devastating” effect on young men.
“It seems to me there is the shattering impact of a culture that insists that everything is permitted while at the same time nothing is forgiven,” Grunow noted. “The impact of this on men has been particularly devastating as it means there is no opportunity for another chance. The result is that far too many men have become pariahs or outcasts — throwaway people who are the product of a throwaway culture.”
Having a faith community and support can be “very important” to an individual recovering from mental health issues, according to the American Psychiatric Association (APA).
“From a public-health perspective, faith community leaders are gatekeepers or ‘first responders’ when individuals and families face mental health or substance use problems,” read an APA Mental Health Guide for Faith Leaders. “In that role they can help dispel misunderstandings, reduce stigma associated with mental illness and treatment, and facilitate access to treatment for those in need.”
“It is spiritually decadent for Catholics to virtue-signal regarding Christ’s offer of undeserved mercy and grace rather than to practice it through offering to others the mercy and grace that we ourselves have received from the Lord,” Grunow noted.
“The loneliness epidemic” has hit men hard. A 2023 study by Equimundo found that two-thirds of men surveyed said “no one really knows me.” Additionally, men’s social circles are shrinking, according to a study by the American Survey Center. The number of men who report having no close friends has quintupled since the 1990s, and while more than half of men in the 1990s reported having at least six close friends, that number has been cut in half as of 2021.
“Bishop Barron has often said that grace and mercy grows in proportion for us in our willingness to give grace and mercy to others. We imitate Christ when the grace and mercy we give away is given to those who the world deems as unworthy of the gesture,” Grunow said.
“In the midst of a culture that has facilitated the destruction of so many lives in its brutal insistence that ‘everything is permitted, but nothing is forgiven,’ the Church needs to offer those in need the grace and mercy of forgiveness and another chance — redemption is possible, and it is not just a prize for the perfect but a gift for all,” Grunow said.
