Meeting June 15-17 in Los Angeles, the U.S. Catholic bishops approved a new translation of the Order of Mass and studied a proposal to downsize the committee structure, and eventually the staffing, of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

They approved an extension of the annual national collection for retired religious until 2017.

They approved a 2007 assessment on dioceses, equal to the 2006 assessment, to help fund USCCB operations.

The bishops agreed to a proposal that their Committee on Stewardship draft brochures on stewardship for teenagers, one in English and a separate one in Spanish adapted to differences in the relationship many Hispanic youths have with the church.

They elected Auxiliary Bishop Denis J. Madden of Baltimore to fill a vacant slot on the board of directors of Catholic Relief Services.

Only the first day of the bishops' three-day meeting was open to media and observers.

At the end of the second day, they concelebrated Mass at the new Los Angeles archdiocesan Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels a few blocks from the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, where they were meeting.

During their public sessions the first morning and afternoon, they heard a brief report on the work of CRS and lengthier reports on post-hurricane relief in the South; the relationship of Catholic bishops and Catholic politicians; and the rationale behind new Vatican rules for translating Latin liturgical texts into modern languages.

They viewed a new 18-minute DVD on priests and priestly vocations, titled "Fishers of Men." It was produced nationally but can be adapted for local use by inserting contact information for local vocation offices and vocation directors.

Archbishop Pietro Sambi, new papal nuncio to the United States, addressed the gathered bishops for the first time. During the private portion of their meeting they also heard a report from Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino of Havana.

The day before the meeting several leading officials of the USCCB held a press conference urging comprehensive, humanitarian reform of U.S. immigration law, an issue currently being hotly contested in Congress.

The next day, at the start of the meeting, the USCCB president, Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., issued a statement on immigration reform with the endorsement of the bishops.

In it he said the current immigration system "is seriously flawed" and "the status quo is morally unacceptable and must be changed."

For Catholics in the pew, the most important event of the meeting was the debate and vote on a new English translation of the Order of Mass -- the exchanges between priest and people and the prayers such as the penitential rite, Gloria, creed, eucharistic prayers and Lord's Prayer that are used regularly in daily or Sunday Masses.

Bishop Donald W. Trautman of Erie, Pa., chairman of the bishops' Committee on Liturgy, said the new Order of Mass translation still has to be approved by the Vatican and probably will not take effect until the rest of the English translation of the Roman Missal is completed and approved. He thought that could take up to two years.

But when the new translation is put in place, "I believe it will affect the liturgical life of every Catholic," he said.

Catholics will find changes in the wording of several prayers they have used for the past 35 years or so, including the Gloria, creed and Sanctus.

Before they voted on the new text, they heard from Bishop Arthur Roche of Leeds, England, president of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, which provided the basic translation that the bishops approved with some changes.

In his address, he told them that one thing often lost in the freer translations encouraged by the Vatican after the Second Vatican Council was the richness of scriptural references with which the prayers of the liturgy are filled. In 2001 the Vatican adopted stricter translation rules for all new liturgical translations from the Latin.

The bishops approved the Order of Mass by a vote of 173-29. They also adopted some American adaptations, mainly extra prayers not found in the Latin edition of the Roman Missal, by a vote of 184-8.

For their own future as a bishops' conference, the most important thing the bishops did in Los Angeles was discuss a proposal for restructuring that would dramatically reduce the number of committees of the USCCB. Under the proposal, the current 35 standing committees and 16 ad hoc committees would be merged into a total of 14 new committees.

National collections, for example, each currently have their own committee. One Committee on National Collections would replace eight current committees if the proposal is approved.

Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan of Santa Fe, N.M., chairman of the Committee on Priorities and Plans, explained the proposal to the bishops and led the initial discussion in a public session June 15. On June 16 and 17 the bishops continued the discussion in their regional meetings and an executive session, none of which were open to media or observers.

A final version of the restructuring proposal is to be brought to the bishops when they meet this November in Baltimore.

The national retirement collection for religious would have expired in 2007 if the bishops did not extend it another 10 years. Archbishop Jerome G. Hanus of Dubuque, Iowa, chairman of the Committee on Consecrated Life, said studies show that the need for supplemental funding for retired religious will continue at least that long.

The success of the collection, which has brought in nearly $500 million since it was started in 1988, "speaks clearly of the love the laity have for their religious," he said.

Archbishop Sambi reminded the bishops that spreading the Gospel "is the mandate of Jesus Christ to each of us."

"I can understand how the bishops of the United States can be demoralized" by the recent crisis of clergy sexual abuse of minors, he said. But he added that "there are many positive, constructive things in the U.S. church" that should be known and appreciated better.

Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, recently retired but still apostolic administrator of the Washington Archdiocese, delivered to the bishops the final report of his Task Force on Catholic Bishops and Catholic Politicians.

He announced that through the task force's work, the USCCB, with Vatican approval, recently published "the first comprehensive book of 'Readings on Catholics and Political Life,'" copies of which were being sent to every Catholic in Congress.

He closed his report with a warning to the bishops not to let "the intense polarization and bitter battles of partisan politics" seep from the secular world of politics into the inner life of the church.

Recently retired Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, chairman of the bishops' Task Force on Hurricane Recovery, reported that Catholics made massive donations of humanitarian aid for victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

But the Catholic Church in the areas hit by the storms -- particularly the New Orleans Archdiocese and the Diocese of Biloxi, Miss. -- suffered such catastrophic property damage that they still face serious needs, he said.

He said there are only limited ways that funds donated for humanitarian assistance can be used for institutional recovery, although restoring schools and places of worship also fills a humanitarian need.

He suggested that in future collection campaigns for such major disasters, care should be taken to define more carefully the charitable purposes for which the aid can be used.

According to Catholic News Service sources, one of the bishops' private sessions was devoted to a discussion of the new evangelization, led by the new head of the Galveston-Houston Archdiocese, Archbishop Daniel N. DiNardo.

-- CNS