Member of AHS advisory council receives rare papal honour

Dr. Austin Mardon, a member of the AHS Provincial Advisory Council on Addiction and Mental Health, presents Pope Francis with a children’s book he wrote with his wife Catherine, centre. The couple had an audience with the Holy Father as part of their investiture in the Order of St. Sylvester, an honour that recognizes their work on behalf of people with mental illness and disabilities.

Couple advocates for people with mental illness, disabilities

Story by Greg Harris | Photo courtesy of Servizio Fotografico Vaticano

EDMONTON — One of the privileges that comes with investiture into the Pontifical Order of Pope St. Sylvester is being allowed to wear a sword in the presence of His Holiness.

Dr. Austin Mardon, an advocate for people with mental illness and disabilities — and a longtime member of an Alberta Health Services provincial advisory council — likes to joke that he left his sword back in Edmonton when he and his wife Catherine had an audience with Pope Francis on Nov. 6.

“I’m also allowed to ride a horse in St. Peter’s Square, but I didn’t have an opportunity to try that one, either,” he says.

Joking aside, Dr. Mardon and his wife, who has also been recognized by the Vatican for her work with disabled people, met with the Holy Father in an outdoor receiving line in St. Peter’s Square as part of their induction to the Order.

“It was a pretty wonderful experience,” Dr. Mardon says. “We asked him to pray for our disabled children and to pray for us to be allowed to help other disabled and mentally ill children and youth.”

He adds that he also presented the Pope with some children’s books that he and his wife have written that tackle issues like homelessness and disabilities, including one called Gandy and the Man in White, wherein the dog Gandy has adventures in the Vatican and also meets Pope Francis.

The couple received the rare investiture to the Order in late 2017 but at that time were unable to travel. In Edmonton, in December of that year, Archbishop Richard Smith presented them with Latin-inscribed parchment diplomas of membership to the Order.

It is one of five Orders of Knighthood awarded directly by the Pope, intended to honour lay people involved in the church. It may also be given to non-Catholics. One famous inductee is the German industrialist Oskar Schindler, who saved hundreds of Jews during the Second World War.

Dr. Mardon was a promising young scientist when he was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1992. Since then, he has worked to dispel the myths and misconceptions around the mental illness, delivering 600 speeches across Canada and abroad.

He has served as a member of the AHS Addiction and Mental Health Provincial Advisory Council since 2012, as a special advisor to the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital, and as an adjunct professor of psychiatry at the University of Alberta.

“Whenever I give a speech or an interview on schizophrenia, or youth mental health, I never want to end without saying that there is hope,” he says.

“Back 100 years ago when my great grandmother got schizophrenia, there was no hope. But today, if you comply with treatments and work with the supports AHS provides, you can have a really decent life.”

Dr. Mardon adds that much work needs to be done around raising awareness and reducing the stigma associated with addiction and mental health. “This is a long-term effort. Trying to influence attitudinal change is like chipping away at a mountain.”

Catherine is a retired lawyer who became an advocate for the disabled after suffering an injury that left her with disabilities. She, too, is a volunteer advisor with the Glenrose and a public member of the council of the College of Dental Technologists of Alberta.

Through their charity, the Antarctic Institute of Canada, the Mardons mentor dozens of students a year. They also help teens and young adults with developmental disabilities to navigate social services and adulthood.

As rare as it may be to have an audience with the Pope, Mardon also met with Pope John Paul II in 1996, when he presented the Pontiff with a papal flag he took with him to the Antarctic on a NASA expedition to recover meteorites.

Dr. Mardon was named to the Order of Canada in 2007. His term on the AHS provincial advisory council ends in 2020.