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| Abbreviation | USCCB |
|---|---|
| Formation | July 2001; 24 years ago (2001-07) |
| Type | Non-governmental organization |
| Legal status | Civil nonprofit |
| Purpose |
|
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C. |
Region served | United States |
| Membership | Active and retired Catholic bishops of the United States |
President | Archbishop Paul S. Coakley |
Vice President | Bishop Daniel Flores |
Main organ | Conference |
| Affiliations |
|
| Staff | 300 |
| Website | usccb.org |
TheUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is theepiscopal conference of theCatholic Church in the United States. Founded in 2001 after the merger of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic Conference (USCC), the USCCB is a registered corporation based in Washington, D.C.
As with allbishops' conferences, certain[which?] decisions and acts of the USCCB must receive therecognitio, or approval, of the Romandicasteries, which are subject to the immediate and absolute authority of the Pope.
As of November 2025[update], the USCCB president isArchbishop Paul S. Coakley of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. The vice president isBishop Daniel E. Flores of the Diocese of Brownsville.[2][3]
The USCCB is composed of all active and retired members of the Catholichierarchy in the United States and the territory of theU.S. Virgin Islands. This includes archbishops, bishops, coadjutors,auxiliarybishops and the ordinary of thePersonal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter. The other American territories and commonwealths are not part of the USCCB.[4]
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.[3] 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 (retired bishops) do not have a vote. Proposals are passed either on majority votes or two-thirds votes.[5]
As of 2025, the USCCB has 19standing committees. Seven of these committees have subcommittees.[6]
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 theseplenary councils were held inBaltimore, Maryland, in 1852, 1866 and 1884.[7]
As the American church grew and new circumstances arose, the need for more regular meetings soon became apparent.
With the American entry intoWorld War I in April 1917, the American Catholic hierarchy realized that it needed to providechaplains 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.[8]
In August 1917, each bishop in the United States sent one priest and one lay person to meet at theCatholic University of America inWashington, D.C. The organizers also invited members of the Catholic press and religious institutes.[8]The 1917 meeting at Catholic University ended with the founding of the first national organization of Catholic bishops in the United States, theNational Catholic War Council (NCWC).[8] In December 1917, the American bishops decided to place the NCWC directly under their control.
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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 theNational Catholic Welfare Council (also known as NCWC)[9]
The bishops also created an administrative committee with seven members to manage the daily business of the NCWc between plenary meetings. ArchbishopEdward Hanna of San Francisco was named as the first committee chair and the NCWC headquarters was established inWashington, D.C. The first meeting of bishops was set for September 1919.[8] In 1919,Pope Benedict XV urged the bishops to assist him in promoting thelabor reforms first articulated byPope Leo XIII inRerum novarum.
However, the NCWC soon faced opposition. In February 1920, ArchbishopWilliam O'Connell, leader of one of the largest archdiocese in the nation, petitioned theConsistorial Congregation in Rome to ban the NCWC. He claimed that it reflectedGallicanism and diminished the authority of the bishops. Several NCWC members protested the suppression toPope Benedict XV, saying that the dissolution of the NCWC would make the bishops lookautocratic. The pope agree to lift the suppression, but asked the bishops to change the organization's name in 1922 to theNational Catholic Welfare Conference.[8]
In 1966, the American bishops decided to split the NCWC into two organizations with different focuses, but common goals.
The bishops in 2001 decided to recombine the NCCB and the USCC into one organization, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).[10]
Starting in the 1980s and continuing into the 21st century, the American Catholic church was hit with a huge wave of revelations ofsexual abuse of children by priests and bishops, along with revelations of coverups and mismanagement of the scandals by American bishops. The fact that bishops commonlyreassigned 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.[11] The initial USCCB response to the crisis was widely criticized, both within and outside the Catholic church.[12]
In June 2002, the USCCB unanimously passed theCharter for the Protection of Children and Young People, known as the Dallas Charter.[13] 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.[14][15] It also adopted a "zero tolerance" policy towards these people for sexual abuse.[16][17] In 2004, the USCCB commissioned theJohn Jay College of Criminal Justice at theCity University of New York to conduct an independent investigation to determine the scope of sexual abuse allegations from 1950 to 2002. The college produced theJohn Jay Report.[18]
Subsequent decades have seen the USCCB grappling with the fallout,[19] which included dozens of court cases resulting in financial settlements with the victims of almost $4 billion.[20]Numerous dioceses declared bankruptcy in an effort to manage the financial impact.[21] The USCCB continues to publish an annual report on its progress in addressing concerns.[22]
Gómez in November 2020 issued an apology on behalf of the USCCB to the sexual abuse victims of former CardinalTheodore McCarrick and to all victims of sexual abuse by clergy.[23]
The American dioceses are grouped into 15 regions.
During the 1960s, thewomen'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 ReverendJames T. McHugh during April 1967 to help coordinate a national Catholic counter-response.[24]
In 1968, the NCCB founded theNational Right to Life Committee (NRLC), headed by attorney Juan Ryan. Its goal was to coordinate information and strategy between Catholicanti-abortion groups. As of 2024, the NRLC has affiliates in all 50 states with over 3,000 local chapters.[24] These NRLC affiliate groups were forming in response to efforts to change abortion laws based on model legislation proposed by theAmerican Law Institute (ALI) in Philadelphia. New Jersey.
The NRLC held its first national meeting of chapter leaders in Chicago in 1970 atBarat College. The following year, NRLC held its first convention atMacalester College inSt. Paul, Minnesota.
In 1990, the USCCB hired the public relations firmHill & Knowlton in New York City to launch a campaign to persuade Catholics and non-Catholics to opposeabortion rights for women. This was part of a persuasive effect to educate the public on abortion as opposed to demonstrations at women's health clinics.[25]
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.[26]
In March 2012, regarding thecontraception mandate issued as a regulation under the 2010Affordable Care Act, which required that employers who do not support contraception but are not religious institutionsper se must cover contraception via theiremployer-sponsored health insurance. USCCB decided to "continue its 'vigorous opposition to this unjust and illegal mandate'".[27]
As of 2021, the USCCB has been in ecumenical discussion with thePentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA), as well as discussing the possibility of future theological dialogue between Pentecostalism and Catholicism.[28]
The USCCB is a member ofChristian Churches Together, an interdenominational fellowship of Christian denominations and organizations in the United States.
The USCCB in 2009 issued the revisedEthical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. These directives were first issued in 1971.[29][30] The main focus of these revisions was guidance for Catholic health care institutions in dealing with governments and non-Catholic organizations. It was sued by theAmerican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on the grounds that the directive in some cases caused doctors to refuse treatment of women in an emergency medical situation.[31]
From 2012 to 2018, the USCCB promotedFortnight for Freedom, a campaign to protest government activities that the USCCB viewed as impinging onreligious liberty. The USCCB replaced it in 2018 with Religious Liberty Week.[32]
The USCCB filed anamicus brief in the 2024US Supreme Court case ofUnited States v. Rahimi. The USCCB argued that protecting the innocent "is a proper consideration" when regulating firearms:[33] "As the Church teaches, and this Nation's historical traditions demonstrate, the right to bear arms is not an unqualified license that must leave vulnerable family members to live in fear. Abused victims are precisely the people whom a just government is tasked with protecting. The Second Amendment does not stand as a barrier to their safety."[33]
In January 2017, BishopJoe S. Vásquez, the chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration, criticizedExecutive Order 13769, issued by the Trump Administration. The order restricted refugees from several predominantly Muslim nations from entering the United States; it also banned all refugees from theSyrian Civil War from entering the country.[34]
The USCCB in September 2017 condemned theTrump administration's cancellation of theDeferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA had allowed nearly 800,000 young people who arrived in the United States as children of undocumented immigrants to apply for protection from deportation.[35]
At the 2018 USCCB meeting inFort Lauderdale, Florida, President CardinalDaniel DiNardo criticized the Trump administration's policies offamily separation of undocumented immigrants and the denial ofasylum in the United States to women fleeingdomestic violence in their home country.[36]
In June 2020, a USCCB committee praised the Trump Administration for changing a USDepartment of Health and Human Services ruling regardingsexual discrimination based ongender identity.[32]The statement said that it;
"...will help restore the rights of health care providers—as well as insurers and employers—who decline to perform or cover abortions or 'gender transition' procedures due to ethical or professional objections."[37]
In December 2023, the USCCB clarified Pope Francis' recent remarks on the blessing ofsame-sex couples and unmarried couples. They said that a priest could bless them, but not in the context of validating their union as a marriage.[38]
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In 2020, some conservative American bishops complained to Gómez after he congratulated US SenatorJoe Biden, a Catholic, on his election as president of the United States. In response, Gómez formed a working group to address the "confusion" that could be caused by Catholic politicians who support policies that contravene Catholic teaching.[39][40]
On January 20, 2021,inauguration day in the United States, Gómez sent Biden a congratulatory letter. The letter said that Gómez was "praying that God grant him wisdom and courage to lead this great nation and that God help him to meet the tests of these times. " However, Gómez also stated that some of Biden's policies,
"...would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender. Of deep concern is the liberty of the Church and the freedom of believers to live according to their consciences."[41]
Several bishops, including CardinalBlase J. Cupich of Chicago, objected to the Gómez letter. Cupich said that individuals within the USCCB drafted the Biden letter without first consulting with the Administrative Committee. He described the incident as an "institutional failure" of the USCCB; the bishops should have been allowed to approve the Biden letter first. In whatAmerica magazine called a "rare rebuke",[42]Cupich released two statements, one of which said,
"Today, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued an ill-considered statement on the day of President Biden's inauguration. Aside from the fact that there is seemingly no precedent for doing so, the statement, critical of President Biden, came as a surprise to many bishops, who received it just hours before it was released."[41][42]
On March 30, 2021, Gómez wrote to theCongregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in Rome, telling them that the USCCB was drafting a new document on the worthiness of Catholic politicians to receive communion.
CardinalLuis Ladaria, prefect of the CDF, replied to Gómez on May 7th. Ladaria cautioned the USCCB to preserve unity among its bishops in discussinganti-abortion issues. Ladaria also said that abortion andeuthanasia were not the only grave issues of Catholic moral teaching.[43][44][45][46]He further stated that any new USCCB provision had to respect the rights of individual bishops in their diocese and the prerogatives of the Vatican.[47]In April 2021, the Gómez working group announced that it was drafting a new document on communion.[48]
During the 2020protests over the murder ofGeorge Floyd by police inMinneapolis, Minnesota, ArchbishopJosé Horacio Gómez, the USCCB president, issued a statement condemning Floyd's death. He cited ReverendMartin Luther King Jr.'s words that "riots are the language of the unheard".[49]
Following the official political stance of the Vatican, the USCCB endorses atwo-state solution to theIsraeli–Palestinian conflict, which it describes as "a secure and recognizedIsrael living in peace alongside a viable and independentPalestine."[50]
On 11 December 2024,[51] during the ongoingGaza war, the USCCB and theAmerican Jewish Committee (AJC) published a joint document that condemnedantisemitism andanti-Zionism. It states that calling Zionism inherently racist is antisemitic; and that allegations aboutZionism being settler-colonialism, or having as its goalthe ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, are antisemitic and false.
Later on 25 March,Kairos Palestine, an organization led by Catholic Patriarch EmeritusMichel Sabbah and composed of Catholic,Orthodox, andProtestant Palestinians, sent a letter to the USCCB objecting to the document. Kairos Palestine particularly condemned the document's characterization of anti-Israel sentiment as antisemitic, stated that it ignored "overwhelming evidence" of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and accused the USCCB of alienatingPalestinian Christians.[52] The Catholic organization Pax Christi USA issued a statement backing Kairos Palestine.[53]
Archbishop Broglio's response to the letter on 31 March explained that the USCCB partnered with the AJC to combat rising antisemitism, but appeared to not directly respond to the specific objections of Kairos Palestine. On 14 April, Kairos Palestine sent another letter to the USCCB which called Broglio's response "unacceptable", accused the USCCB of sharing responsibility for the plight of Palestinians, and condemned the conflation of the Palestinian cause with antisemitism as "theologically and morally wrong".[52]
Most funding for the USCCB is raised through national collections, government grants, and diocesan assessments.[54]
This lists the USCCB presidents, their dioceses or archdioceses and their dates of service:[55]
This lists the USCCB vice-presidents, their dioceses or archdioceses and their dates of service:[55]
On this matter of reassigning predator priests, the apologies issuing from bishops and cardinals will not be heard unless and until they go beyond the rhetoric of "mistakes and errors" and name the protection of abusive priests for what it is-- a sin, born of the arrogance of power
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops estimates that American dioceses have paid nearly $4bn since 1950 to settle claims with victims.
HEALTH CARE DENIED Patients and Physicians Speak Out About Catholic Hospitals and the Threat to Women's Health and Lives
Cardinal Luis Ladaria, Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, writes to US Bishops urging them to preserve unity amid discussions onanti-abortion issues. He notes that it would be misleading if the impression were given that abortion and euthanasia alone constitute the only grave matters of Catholic moral and social teaching.
The Vatican's top enforcer of doctrine has sent a warning to U.S. bishops about a potential proposal by some conservative clergy to deny communion to Catholic elected officials who support legislation allowing abortion.
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