Healthy Mind: Mental health novena seeks healing, awareness on issue

By Gina Christian / OSV News

WASHINGTON. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops invites the faithful to join in a novena for mental health as part of the second year of the USCCB’s ongoing National Catholic Mental Health Campaign.

The nine days of prayer will commence on Oct. 10, which marks the international observance of World Mental Health Day, and conclude on Oct. 18, the feast of St. Luke, the evangelist and a patron of health care, who in the Letter to the Colossians is referenced as “the beloved physician” (Col 4:14).

Each day of the novena, which opened the USCCB campaign in October 2023, focuses on a particular aspect of mental health, addressing stigma, social relationships, and the impact of factors such as racism and poverty. Saints and others invoked during the novena include St. Dymphna, patron of those with mental illness; St. Martin de Porres, who experienced racial discrimination throughout his life; and Dorothy Day, a servant of God who twice attempted suicide as a young woman.

The Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time — which this year falls on Oct. 13, on the fourth day of the novena —has been designated as “Mental Health Sunday” by the USCCB, during which parishes can highlight the campaign by integrating mental health into the homily, offering prayers or special blessings for those experiencing anguish or distress, and including a petition for mental health during the prayer of the faithful at the liturgy.

Novena materials can be found online at https://www.usccb.org/mental-health-novena.

The novena — which encourages participants to pray, learn about and take action about mental health issues — “is offered in solidarity with those suffering from mental health challenges as well as health care professionals, family, and friends who are caring for people in need,” said the USCCB on its webpage introduction to the novena. “We hope that this modest novena will move all people to discern how God is calling them to offer greater assistance to those with mental health needs.”

The USCCB is encouraging Catholic dioceses to share novena information with their parishes with a special emphasis on Mental Health Sunday, Oct. 13, as it falls in the midst of the nine-day renewal effort and is an opportunity to promote and support the efforts of local mental health programs.

The “simple message” of the campaign is that “everyone who needs help should receive help,” said the USCCB in a Sept. 23 press release, quoting October 2023 remarks by two bishops spearheading the initiative, Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, and Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.