The current pandemic has brought the issue of mental health to the realm of public conversation, but what role can faith play in struggles with mental health? Fr Billy Swan, a regular contributor to Word on Fire and a parish priest in Ireland, explores this issue in today's podcast, examining saints who suffered from mental health problems, the impact of Christian faith on mental health, and the hope that faith has to offer.

Fr Billy Swan is the author of the CTS publication Finding God: Faith and Mental Health and a priest of the Diocese of Ferns in Ireland. He holds a degree in chemistry and worked for a number of years for a pharmaceutical company before entering seminary. He was awarded a Licentiate and Doctorate in Systematic Theology from the Gregorian University in Rome and served for four years as the Director of Seminary Formation at the Pontifical Irish College. He is currently based at St Aidan’s Cathedral, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford. Fr Swan is a regular contributor to the Word on Fire blog and has a deep interest in the relationship between faith and science, the New Evangelization, early Irish Christianity and priestly formation.