Church and nation react to soaring suicide rates and spiritual bankruptcy

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

3058 Edition
October 4~10, 2010 
Headline News
 
Church and nation react to soaring suicide rates and spiritual 
bankruptcy
 
Reported by Wu Hsin-ju,Chiou Kuo-rong, Lin Yi-ying
Written by Lydia Ma
 

During a press conference called by Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center, 
President Ma Ying-jeou reminded the audience not to forget 2006 - the 
year with the highest reported cases of suicide in Taiwan. Records 
showed that there were 4,406 suicides that year.
Ma added that his administration had been on high alert in the months 
following Typhoon Morakot because they had been warned about the 
probability of increased suicides rates as people were overcome by 
grief and despair. He added that reported cases of suicide had 
decreased by 250 people from January through June of this year in 
contrast to figures reported for the same period in 2009.
He also underscored that suicide rates were highly correlated with 
economic downturns. Since he predicted an 8.24% increase in GDP for 
this year, he also expected a decrease in the number of suicides. 
Taiwan Lifeline International reiterated President Ma’s assertion and 
confirmed that suicide rates had indeed increased in recent years due 
to the global financial crisis. However, it also said that people 
most prone to suicide were those with psychological illnesses and 
those on the verge of an emotional breakdown.
Mackay Memorial Hospital’s (MMH) Suicide Prevention Center reported 
that its Taipei and Tamsui branches had counseled 1,559 people in 
2006 either over the phone or in person. This figure rose to 6,716 
and 15,960 respectively in 2007 and 2008. It decreased slightly in 
2009 to 13,848. For the first half of 2010, there were 7,115 reported 
cases of over-the-phone and in-person counseling sessions related to 
suicide prevention.
The center’s coordinator, Rev. Wang Jung-yi, reiterated Taiwan 
Lifeline International’s assertion that, though the number of 
reported suicide cases have gone down, the number of patients 
visiting hospitals due to psychological disorders such as clinical 
depression, schizophrenia, and emotional breakdown have actually 
skyrocketed.
Despite President Ma’s optimism, experts predicted that the actual 
number of suicides per year were likely much higher than government 
reports – perhaps as much as seven times higher. Some pastors also 
felt that President Ma should’ve used the year with the lowest number 
of recorded suicides as his point of comparison instead of using 2006 
as a reference point.
In an effort to reach out to overworked and stressed-out pastors, as 
well as the general population of non-Christians who need to hear the 
gospel, PCT General Assembly invited Anselm Grun to Taiwan. His tour 
of this country is scheduled to kick off October 18, 2010 and will 
include as many as 17 forums on spiritual formation and renewal for 
pastors.
Anselm Grun is a Benedictine padre and the author of more than 300 
books that focus on spirituality. PCT hopes that its members and 
pastors will be inspired and have their spiritual lives renewed by 
attending Grun's conferences.
It also hopes that Grun's messages coupled with Calvin's teachings on 
glorifying God and Catholic churches' emphasis on spiritual formation 
and inner transformation will go a long way in bridging the gap 
between Catholics and Protestants, as well as offer Christians some 
guidance.
Grun's conferences will stress on issues such as: Overview of 
ecumenism between Protestants and Catholics by stressing on common 
evangelistic ministries, Grun's understanding of "Jesus' 7 
declarations on the cross", "The Beatitudes", and "The Lord's Prayer" 
as general tools for spiritual counseling, and how these are proofs 
that only Christ can change human hearts and mainstream world views. 
Grun will also speak about why the time is ripe for a "Heart and Soul 
Mission Movement".

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