Mental Health Sunday
October 12, 2025 | Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Healing and Hope in Local Catholic Communities
Each year, on the Sunday following World Mental Health Day, Catholics are invited to pause and reflect on healing and hope around mental health in their local parish community. This can be an opportunity to galvanize support and spiritual care for those struggling with emotional, cognitive, and behavioral health issues.
As part of the USCCB National Catholic Mental Health Campaign, "Mental Health Sunday" is a way that Catholics in their local parish communities can engage this important issue that impacts millions of people worldwide. From depression and loneliness to behavioral and developmental disabilities, mental health is part of so many families and friendships.
Parishes can engage in Mental Health Sunday in a variety of ways:
- Take a moment to pray for those struggling with mental health in the local area
- During Masses, share about the national campaign and its call for healing and hope
- Integrate petitions around mental health issues into the Prayer of the Faithful
- Offer a special blessing for caretakers and those in mental health care work
- In the narthex/vestibule, feature resources for mental and spiritual wellness
- Encourage participation in the USCCB's national novena for mental health
- Consider launching or promoting an existing Catholic mental health initiative
Whatever is done, use this moment as a chance to connect with the universal Church's engagement in this important issue.
Mental Health Sunday Planning Resources
The USCCB encourages every Catholic parish to engage the National Campaign on Mental Health Sunday on the weekend following World Mental Health Day, during the annual nationwide Mental Health Novena from Oct. 10 to 18). For 2025, this takes place October 12, on the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The USCCB has prepared the following resource for local community leaders:
Whole Hearted: A Mental Health Sunday Resource from Catholic Charities USA
Catholic Charities USA’s Whole Hearted is a parish-based resource focused on the impact life’s painful experiences have on mental health. It integrates spirituality and religious practices with behavioral health. This can be used in local communities commemorating Mental Health Sunday.
View the Whole Hearted resource on the Catholic Charities USA website here.
"May all... people who are suffering feel the closeness of a Christian community that can reflect (Jesus's) words [Mt 5:4: 'Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted'] by its actions, its embrace, and its concrete help." (Pope Francis, Christus Vivit, no. 77)