The Nativity of Our Lady College Seminary in Borongan, Eastern Samar, has appealed for prayers and understanding following a serious mental health incident involving one of its seminarians in the early hours of August 27, 2025.
According to a statement from the seminary formators, the seminarian suffered a mental health crisis at around 3:00 AM, during which he attempted to set parts of the seminary building on fire and injured some of his fellow seminarians. The injured were brought to Eastern Samar Provincial Hospital and are now recovering.
The seminary administration said it immediately coordinated with local police to ensure the safety of everyone on campus. The seminarian concerned has since been admitted to psychiatric care, while his peers were given psycho-social debriefing to help them process the incident.
“Concerned about his welfare and that of his fellow seminarians, we have decided to have him undergo psychiatric intervention, and psycho-social debriefing was also given to our seminarians,” the administration said in its statement. “This was promptly done yesterday. The concerned seminarian is now at a psychiatric facility, and our seminarians had initial psycho-social debriefing yesterday at noon.”
Seminary leaders also appealed for prayers, compassion, and understanding for both the injured seminarians and the one undergoing psychiatric treatment.
They assured the faithful that the seminary’s primary mission remains the safety, healing, and humane formation of seminarians, while calling for collective prayers for the strength and recovery of the entire community.
The Church continues to stress that mental health is an essential dimension of human life requiring both professional treatment and spiritual support. Pope Francis has repeatedly emphasized the need for compassion and accompaniment for those experiencing psychological struggles.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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