United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

The first national organization of Catholic bishops in the United States was founded in 1917 as the National Catholic War Council (NCWC), formed to enable U.S. Catholics to contribute funds for the spiritual care of Catholic servicemen during World War I.

In 1919 Pope Benedict XV urged the college of bishops around the world to assist him in promoting the labor reforms first articulated by Pope Leo XIII in Rerum novarum. In response, the U.S. Catholic episcopate organized the National Catholic Welfare Council in 1919. They also created the first Administrative Committee of seven members to manage daily affairs between plenary meetings, with archbishop Edward Joseph Hanna of San Francisco as the first chairman. Headquarters were established in Washington, D.C.

After a threatened suppression of the National Catholic Welfare Council due to concerns that it over-centralized power away from the individual bishops,[4] the administrative board decided to rename the organization to be the National Catholic Welfare Conference, with the purpose of advocating reforms in education, immigration, and social action.

On January 20, 2021, the date of President Joe Biden's inauguration, when he became only the second Roman Catholic U.S. president, the USCCB sent him a letter authored by its president José Horacio Gómez, which was described as "stinging" by America.[5] While congratulating Biden on his election and stating the Bishop 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," the letter also expressed concern that his 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."[5]

The letter was contested by several bishops, including Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, who said the message was drafted without consultation of the USCCB's administrative committee; and described it as an "institutional failure" that the bishops did not harmonize their message prior to its release. In what America called a "rare rebuke," 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.”[5][6]

On January 28, 2021, the National Catholic Reporter called for an investigation by the Holy See into the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, because of the content and tone of Gomez's public statements, and the leadership's participation in the administration of the former U.S. president, Donald Trump. Among other concerns, the publication noted that during the four years of the Trump administration, the conference had made "Statement after statement after statement praising Trump, the man who separated refugee children from their families and then caged them at the Mexican border, for his "pro-life" efforts.[7]

The publication also noted that, in response to the Capitol riots of January 6, 2021, which it noted, left at least five people dead, Gomez issued a brief statement that "did not name Trump, did not condemn the white supremacy that obviously animated many of the protesters or Trump's despicable election disinformation campaign, and did not go beyond the level of platitude."[8]

The National Conference of Catholic Bishops had appointed James T. McHugh during April 1967 to lead the early formation of what was later to become the National Right to Life Committee. The NRLC was itself formed in 1968 under the auspices of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops to coordinate information and strategy between developing local and state Catholic pro-life groups and is the oldest and the largest national organization against legal abortion in the United States with NRLC affiliates in all 50 states and over 3,000 local chapters nationwide.[9] These NRLC affiliate groups were forming in response to efforts to change abortion laws based on model legislation proposed by the American Law Institute (ALI). New Jersey attorney Juan Ryan served as the organization's first president. NRLC held a nationwide meeting of pro-life leaders in Chicago in 1970 at Barat College. The following year, NRLC held its first convention at Macalestar College in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The USCCB are issuing the "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services"[10][11] that have in some cases caused doctors to refuse treatment of patients although in an emergency situation.[12]

In March 2012, regarding the contraception mandate issued as a regulation under the Affordable Care Act, which requried 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'".[13]

In June and July 2012, the USCCB promoted a campaign of events called the Fortnight for Freedom to protest government activities that in their view impinged on their religious liberty.

On June 12, 2020, a committee praised President Donald Trump's administration for changing a Department of Health and Human Services ruling regarding discrimination based on gender identity, saying 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."[14]

The USCCB platform on immigration reform includes:[15][16]

• Earned legalization for immigrants who are of good moral character to adjust their status to obtain lawful permanent residence after a background check and payment of fines.
• A legal path for foreign born workers to enter the U.S. for work in order to alleviate border crossing deaths.
• More visas to promote family reunification as well as a reduction in waiting times.
• Elimination of some of the penalties in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 such as the three year and ten year bans on deported illegal immigrants (depending on the length of their illegal stay in the U.S.)
• The root cause of illegal immigrations such as poverty and inequality in sending countries needs to be addressed.
• Enforcement should focus on illegal immigrants who pose risks to public safety rather than on families seeking employment.