United States Conference of Catholic Bishops


The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 2001 after the merger of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and United States Catholic Conference, the USCCB is a registered corporation based in Washington, D.C.
As with all bishops' conferences, certain decisions and acts of the USCCB must receive the recognitio, or approval, of the Roman dicasteries, which are subject to the immediate and absolute authority of the Pope.
, the USCCB president is Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. The vice president is Bishop Daniel E. Flores of the Diocese of Brownsville.

Structure

The USCCB is composed of all active and retired members of the Catholic hierarchy in the United States and the territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands. This includes archbishops, bishops, coadjutors, auxiliary bishops and the ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter. The other American territories and commonwealths are not part of the USCCB.
The president is the chief executive officer of the USCCB and is in charge of the Administrative Committee. He also presides at the plenary sessions of the bishops. The vice president is the second highest official and is assigned certain duties by the president. The treasurer manages the USCCB finances and the secretary keeps the minutes of the plenary sessions. These officials are all bishops serving three-year terms in office.
The USCCB normally holds two general assemblies per years. The assemblies are open to all bishops along with organizations and individuals who work with the USCCB. Voting on proposals are limited to active bishops of the Latin and Eastern Rite churches; emeritus bishops do not have a vote. Proposals are passed either on majority votes or two-thirds votes.
As of 2025, the USCCB has 19 standing committees. Seven of these committees have subcommittees.

History

During the 19th century, the bishops in the United States met periodically to discuss issues facing the American church and to set policies and rules for its operation, with approval from the Vatican. Three of these plenary councils were held in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1852, 1866 and 1884.
As the American church grew and new circumstances arose, the need for more regular meetings soon became apparent.

National Catholic War Council

With the American entry into World War I in April 1917, the American Catholic hierarchy realized that it needed to provide chaplains and other services to Catholic soldiers serving in the United States and France. It would also need to raise funds from dioceses around the country to support these services.
In August 1917, each bishop in the United States sent one priest and one lay person to meet at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. The organizers also invited members of the Catholic press and religious institutes.The 1917 meeting at Catholic University ended with the founding of the first national organization of Catholic bishops in the United States, the National Catholic War Council. In December 1917, the American bishops decided to place the NCWC directly under their control.

National Catholic Welfare Council

With the end of World War I, the general feeling among the American Catholic hierarchy was that they should create a new association of bishops to build on the successes of the NCWC. The American bishops met in February 1919 at Catholic University to discuss this new organization along with other matters. By the end of the meeting, they had decided to hold a yearly conference of what was now called the National Catholic Welfare Council
The bishops also created an administrative committee with seven members to manage the daily business of the NCWc between plenary meetings. Archbishop Edward Hanna of San Francisco was named as the first committee chair and the NCWC headquarters was established in Washington, D.C. The first meeting of bishops was set for September 1919. In 1919, Pope Benedict XV urged the bishops to assist him in promoting the labor reforms first articulated by Pope Leo XIII in Rerum novarum.

National Catholic Welfare Conference

However, the NCWC soon faced opposition. In February 1920, Archbishop William O'Connell, leader of one of the largest archdiocese in the nation, petitioned the Consistorial Congregation in Rome to ban the NCWC. He claimed that it reflected Gallicanism and diminished the authority of the bishops. Several NCWC members protested the suppression to Pope Benedict XV, saying that the dissolution of the NCWC would make the bishops look autocratic. The pope agree to lift the suppression, but asked the bishops to change the organization's name in 1922 to the National Catholic Welfare Conference.

National Conference of Catholic Bishops and United States Catholic Conference

In 1966, the American bishops decided to split the NCWC into two organizations with different focuses, but common goals.
  • The National Conference of Catholic Bishops was created to work on church affairs within the United States.
  • The United States Catholic Conference would concentrate on the Catholic church and American society.

    United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

The bishops in 2001 decided to recombine the NCCB and the USCC into one organization, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Sexual abuse crisis

Starting in the 1980s and continuing into the 21st century, the American Catholic church was hit with a huge wave of revelations of sexual abuse of children by priests and bishops, along with revelations of coverups and mismanagement of the scandals by American bishops. The fact that bishops commonly reassigned clergy accused of abuse from their parish to another parish where they still had access to children was considered to have allowed the abuse to proliferate. The initial USCCB response to the crisis was widely criticized, both within and outside the Catholic church.
In June 2002, the USCCB unanimously passed the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, known as the Dallas Charter. The charter committed the American Catholic Church to providing a "safe environment" for all children and youth participating in church-sponsored activities. To accomplish this, the American bishops pledged to establish uniform procedures for handling sex-abuse allegations against priests, lay teachers in Catholic schools, parish staff members, coaches and other people who dealt with children. It also adopted a "zero tolerance" policy towards these people for sexual abuse. In 2004, the USCCB commissioned the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York to conduct an independent investigation to determine the scope of sexual abuse allegations from 1950 to 2002. The college produced the John Jay Report.
Subsequent decades have seen the USCCB grappling with the fallout, which included dozens of court cases resulting in financial settlements with the victims of almost $4 billion. Numerous dioceses declared bankruptcy in an effort to manage the financial impact. The USCCB continues to publish an annual report on its progress in addressing concerns.
Gómez in November 2020 issued an apology on behalf of the USCCB to the sexual abuse victims of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and to all victims of sexual abuse by clergy.

Regions

The American dioceses are grouped into 15 regions.
  • Regions I through XIV contain the Latin Catholic dioceses
  • The non-territorial Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter is part of Region X.
  • The Eastern Catholic eparchies constitute Region XV.

    Committees

National Right to Life Committee

During the 1960s, the women's movement in the United States started working on the state level to legalize abortion rights for women. To combat these efforts, the NCCB in April 1967 appointed Reverend James T. McHugh during April 1967 to help coordinate a national Catholic counter-response.
In 1968, the NCCB founded the National Right to Life Committee, headed by attorney Juan Ryan. Its goal was to coordinate information and strategy between Catholic anti-abortion groups. As of 2024, the NRLC has affiliates in all 50 states with over 3,000 local chapters. These NRLC affiliate groups were forming in response to efforts to change abortion laws based on model legislation proposed by the American Law Institute in Philadelphia. New Jersey.
The NRLC held its first national meeting of chapter leaders in Chicago in 1970 at Barat College. The following year, NRLC held its first convention at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Issues

Abortion

In 1990, the USCCB hired the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton in New York City to launch a campaign to persuade Catholics and non-Catholics to oppose the Abortion-rights movement. This was part of a persuasive effect to educate the public on abortion as opposed to demonstrations at women's health clinics.
In the November 2023 assembly, the bishops again stated that abortion was a greater threat to life than gun violence, racism, climate change and inequality in health care and was the preeminent priority of the American Catholic Church.

Contraception

In March 2012, regarding the contraception mandate issued as a regulation under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which required that employers who do not support contraception but are not religious institutions per se must cover contraception via their employer-sponsored health insurance. USCCB decided to "continue its 'vigorous opposition to this unjust and illegal mandate'".

Ecumenicism

As of 2021, the USCCB has been in ecumenical discussion with the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America, as well as discussing the possibility of future theological dialogue between Pentecostalism and Catholicism.
The USCCB is a member of Christian Churches Together, an interdenominational fellowship of Christian denominations and organizations in the United States.