New Colorado program trains deacons, priests to walk together ‘in darkness’

When people are in crisis, they reach out to their priests and deacons. But who shepherds the shepherds? The answer, for Deacon Ernie Martinez, starts with brother priests and deacons.

Chaplains are often the first responders in a crisis — when people are struggling with grief or trauma they often reach out to their priests and deacons. The nature of the work means clergy often face emotional stress. So who shepherds the shepherds?

The solution, for Deacon Ernie Martinez, starts with brother priests and deacons.

Martinez, director of deacons for the Archdiocese of Denver, has spent 40 years working with the Denver Police Department. Taking inspiration from its long-standing police support program, he helped launch the Clergy Outreach and Resilience (COR), which teaches clergy how to recognize signs of stress and burnout in one another.

“I have seen in both policing and ministry that without support, even the strongest men can find themselves battling darkness, including thoughts of hopelessness, or worse,” Martinez told EWTN News.

“Priests and deacons walk daily with people through death, trauma, addiction, broken families, and profound suffering,” Martinez said. “They absorb that pain. They carry it, often without peer support training or awareness, and too often, they carry it alone.”

The program launched in January with a four-day certification program led by clinical psychologist John Nicoletti. About 40 clergy members attended, mostly deacons.

“We are forming clergy who are trained to recognize distress, to step in early, to walk with a brother in crisis, and, when necessary, to help him get the care he needs: spiritually, emotionally, and clinically,” Martinez said. “It is about creating a culture where asking for help is not seen as weakness but as wisdom.”

The weight of service

“This program was born at the intersection of two worlds I have lived deeply — law enforcement and ordained ministry,” Martinez said.

“After 40 years with the Denver Police Department, I witnessed firsthand the weight men and women carry in silence,” Martinez said. “I saw what happens when that weight has nowhere to go.”

“In law enforcement, we learned that peer support, one trusted brother or sister walking with you in the darkness, can mean the difference between life and death,” Martinez continued.

“When I stepped more fully into my role serving the Church, I recognized that our clergy carry a similar, and in many ways even heavier, burden,” Martinez said.

Clergy “absorb that pain” that the people they walk with carry, according to Martinez.

“Scripture reminds us clearly: ‘Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ’ (Gal 6:2),” Martinez said. “The challenge is that many of our clergy have been doing the bearing, but without someone helping to carry their burden.”

“And the reality is this: When that weight builds over time, it can lead to deep isolation, burnout, and even moments of despair,” Martinez said.

“My hope for the Archdiocese of Denver and the Diocese of Colorado Springs is simple but urgent: that no priest or deacon ever feels alone in his suffering again,” he said.

‘True fraternity’

The Clergy Outreach and Resilience program “is about building what the Church has always called us to be: true fraternity,” Martinez said.

“As the Holy Father has emphasized, authentic bonds are essential to our humanity; without them, we risk isolation and interior collapse,” Martinez said.

Martinez co-founded the program with Father Brad Noonan as well as with the support of both Archbishop Emeritus Samuel Aquila and Archbishop-designate James Golka of Denver and others.

Noonan spent more than 26 years as a fire department chaplain and 14 years as a police chaplain. Currently the pastor at Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church in Colorado Springs, Noonan said he likes how the program “provides a one-on-one support program for priests and deacons.”

“I have seen one-on-one trained peer support help firefighters and law enforcement, including the International Association of Fire Fighters,” Noonan told EWTN News.

“When I first started in the fire service there were some elements to help firefighters deal with the emotional demands of the job,” he recalled.

Support didn’t always begin with formal meetings with a counselor. It often involved “dining-table talk after a bad call” or talking on the way back in the fire engine, Noonan explained.

“There are a lot of mental and emotional stressors that priests and deacons encounter everyday,” Noonan explained. “It is our hope that this program develops well and expands throughout the United States and across the world.”

“What makes this program unique is that it integrates proven peer-support practices from high-stress professions with a deeply Catholic vision of brotherhood rooted in Christ,” Martinez said.

“This is not just about mental health; it is about spiritual fatherhood and fraternity,” Martinez said. “It is about living the command of Christ: ‘Love one another as I have loved you’ (Jn 15:12).”

“When a shepherd is supported, he can stand firm,” Martinez said.

“As St. Paul writes: ‘We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not driven to despair’ (2 Cor 4:8),” Martinez quoted. “That is the resilience we are building.”

“This is about carrying the weight, together,” Martinez said. “And ultimately, it is about hope.”

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