The holiness of individuals and families gives life to the entire Catholic community, Pope Francis said.

Bishop Frank J. Caggiano of Bridgeport, Conn., provided an update on the newly launched Institute on the Catechism to the U.S. Catholic bishops Nov. 15 during their annual fall plenary assembly in Baltimore.

As the U.S. Catholic bishops begin to tackle the issue of mental health amid a national crisis, parishes can ease the pain of mental illness by “helping people to be together” in community and solidarity, said Metropolitan Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia.

Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio is just beginning his second year of his three-year term as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Excitement about the impacts of the National Eucharistic Revival in local dioceses, support for the nomination of St. John Henry Newman as a doctor of the church, and the approval of supplements to the bishops’ teaching document on “Faithful Citizenship” featured strongly on the second day of the U.S. bishops’ annual fall plenary assembly in Baltimore.

Attendees of the National Eucharistic Congress July 17-21 in Indianapolis now have the option of purchasing single-day and weekend passes in order to make attendance more affordable and flexible, the bishop overseeing the congress announced Nov. 15.

The U.S. Catholic bishops approved supplements to “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” — a teaching document on the political responsibility of Catholics — on Nov. 15 during their annual fall plenary assembly in Baltimore.

The U.S. bishops voted almost unanimously (with two “no” votes) Nov. 15 to support of a request by the the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales that Pope Francis name St. John Henry Newman, the 19th-century British cardinal, a doctor of the church.

The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, urged U.S. Catholics to support the “urgent work” of the U.S. church’s domestic anti-poverty program by giving to the upcoming CCHD national collection.

The Eucharist and synodality are interconnected, said prelates attending the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ annual fall plenary assembly Nov. 13-16. Synodality, they said, ensures the faithful’s communication so the church can fulfill its Eucharistic mission.