Local minister, grad student developing resource for priests accompanying those with mental health needs

Grace Huegel, a pastoral minister in the Diocese of Trenton, is developing a resource to help priests recognize and respond to mental health concerns during pastoral ministry. A graduate student in professional counseling, Huegel is working on the project to assist clergy in accompanying those with mental health needs.

Huegel received the 2026-27 Msgr. Edward Ciuba Fellowship from the Center for Catholic Studies at Seton Hall University. She will use the fellowship and its $5,000 stipend to create the practical guide by consulting with priests from the Diocese of Trenton and Catholic mental health professionals.

The project comes as Pope Leo XIV dedicated his October prayer intention to mental health ministry, asking the Church to integrate mental health care into the life of its communities. Huegel serves as a youth minister at St. Leo the Great Parish in Lincroft and is a parishioner of St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral in Freehold.