WASHINGTON — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had a busy meeting in Washington, D.C., Nov. 14-17. In addition to approving statements on lay ministry and the death penalty, the bishops:

" Elected by secret ballot Msgr. David Malloy, currently an associate general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and a former member of the Vatican diplomatic corps, general secretary Nov. 15. Msgr. Malloy, 49, will take office Feb. 3. He has been an associate general secretary since 2001.

Msgr. Malloy will succeed Msgr. William Fay, 56, a priest of the Boston Archdiocese, who has been a bishops’ conference official since 1995 and general secretary since 2001.

The general secretary is the bishops’ chief staff officer overseeing their national offices at conference headquarters in Washington.

" Reviewed relief efforts in the wake of two devastating storms in the south this year. The bishops’ hurricane relief task force discussed how Church officials got the “runaround” from the Federal Emergency Management Agency when they wanted to know what federal plans were for helping the regions devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

The harsh criticism of FEMA came from Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, named earlier this year to head the task force coordinating Church aid to the regions devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

“It was clear to me that not a whole lot of help was coming from FEMA,” he said. Bishops’ conference officials had to engage in several conference calls with the White House before Jim Towey, head of the White House Office for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, was appointed as a liaison to the bishops, but still “the answers we were getting were not clear,” said Archbishop Fiorenza. “The task force believes strongly that we must continue to put strong pressure on the White House and Congress so that we get the needed answers.”

" Approved a revised Lectionary for Masses With Children. The text must be approved by the Vatican before it can be used in the liturgy in the United States. If that occurs it will replace the experimental children's Lectionary that has been in use since 1993.

The children's Lectionary features shortened Scripture readings and simplified vocabulary to adapt the texts to the shorter attention span and smaller vocabulary of its target audience, children 10 years old or younger. The responsorial psalms between the first and second readings for Sundays are typically shortened to three sets of verses, about half the length of those used by the full congregation.

" Authorized by voice vote a rewrite of their 1982 preaching manual, “Fulfilled in Your Hearing,” to acknowledge “current liturgical practice and understanding” and reflect the General Instruction on the Roman Missal issued by the Vatican in 2000, which was approved in 2002 for use in the United States.

— Wayne Laugesen CNS contributed to this report.