US Catholic bishops open nine days of prayer for mental health

Each day looks at a different side of mental health and how it affects people. The novena ends on 18 October, the feast of St Luke, the gospel writer and a patron of healthcare. This year that date is a Sunday, so on the church calendar the feast gives way to the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The novena still runs to that date.

The prayers and reflections are free online in English and Spanish at usccb.org/mental-health-novena.

Where it came from

The novena isn't new. It started in 2023, when the bishops launched their National Catholic Mental Health Campaign. Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre of Louisville, Kentucky, and Bishop Edward J. Burns of Dallas lead that campaign now.

The bishops also pitched the novena as "an invitation for parishes to participate in Mental Health Sunday." That's an observance they set up as part of the same campaign, and this year it fell on Sunday 11 October.

They're pointing people toward practical help as well. Anyone who wants to start a mental health ministry in their parish can visit usccb.org/mentalhealth, the bishops said. They also pointed to the International Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers and Catholic Charities USA for more resources.

The Vatican's message

The bishops shared a World Mental Health Day message from Sister Alessandra Smerilli. She's a member of the Salesian Sisters of St John Bosco and prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

She tied caring for the mind to the whole of the Christian life. "Caring for mental health belongs to integral human development, which seeks the good of every person and of the whole person," she said.

She also quoted Pope Leo XIV, who she said has "named the problem clearly." During his papal visit to Spain in June, the Pope said mental health "is increasingly threatened in the context of societies that consider themselves advanced." He called that a sign that "there is something deeply wrong with a certain notion of progress."

That's a sharp word for wealthy countries, including our own. We've got more comfort and more ways to connect than any generation before us, and yet plenty of people feel more alone.

"Today, interior, emotional and relational wounds represent one of the most profound dimensions of human suffering," Sister Alessandra said.

The size of it

The numbers back her up. The World Health Organization says more than a billion people worldwide were living with some form of mental health disorder as of September 2025, OSV News reported. The WHO has called for "greater investment and action."

In the US, more than one in five adults have a mental health issue in a given year, and one in 20 have a serious one, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. NAMI also says more than one in seven American young people aged six to 17 have a mental health disorder each year. And it says 75 per cent of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 24.

Where people bring their pain

Sister Alessandra made a point every pastor will recognise. "Parishes, schools, religious communities and small ecclesial communities are often where people bring their suffering and seek a listening ear, accompaniment and support in times of psychological vulnerability," she said.

That's why, she said, "in many local Churches, mental health is emerging as one of the most urgent pastoral challenges." The Vatican has used that phrase, an urgent pastoral challenge, to describe the issue.

She named two groups at particular risk. One is people who've lived through humanitarian crises. "War, forced migration, political instability, environmental disasters and structural poverty" all "leave deep trauma in individuals and communities," she said. The other is young people, who "face new forms of emotional vulnerability linked to social pressure, economic uncertainty and isolation."

While "the situations differ," she said, "the root is the same: a person becomes vulnerable when security, relationships, meaning and hope are missing."

For Christians, that list reads almost like a description of what the church is meant to offer. Security in God's care, relationships in the body of Christ, meaning in the Gospel, and hope that doesn't disappoint.

Not a one-off

Sister Alessandra was clear that occasional gestures aren't enough. "The Church cannot limit herself to occasional or reactive responses," she said.

"As Christians, we are called to develop a stable, competent, compassionate and preventive ministry that embraces the person in their totality: body, mind and spirit," she said. "This requires trained pastoral workers, collaboration with health professionals, clear referral pathways, attention to suicide prevention, support for families and care for young people."

That's a practical list. It isn't asking pastors to become psychiatrists. It's asking churches to know when to walk alongside someone and when to help them find a doctor, and to do both well.

Pope Leo has made the same call in his prayer intention for October. He's asking for mental health ministry across the whole Church, and for an end to the stigma and discrimination that people with mental illness often face.

Voices, not just cases

World Mental Health Day was started in 1992 by the World Federation for Mental Health. This year's theme is "Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change." Sister Alessandra said that focus speaks to the need both to listen to people living with mental illness and to act on what they're going through.

"Those who live with mental suffering are not only recipients of care: they are protagonists of the path forward, and their voices must help shape the answers," she said. "Caring for them is not a marginal concern. It belongs to the heart of the Church's mission."

What it means for the rest of us

You don't have to be Catholic to take something from this. Churches of every tradition are places where people turn up hurting, often before they'd ever tell a doctor. The question is whether they find a listening ear when they get there.

The novena runs through to Sunday 18 October. If you'd like to pray along, the prayers are online. And if you're struggling yourself, please talk to someone. In Australia, Lifeline is on 13 11 14, any time, day or night.