USCCB Spring Assembly 2024

Jill Rauh, the executive director of a newly created secretariat at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, pledged to support the work of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, the USCCB's domestic anti-poverty initiative, after some expressed concern about the future of that project following some staff layoffs. Rauh oversees the work of the new Secretariat of Justice and Peace, announced Aug. 6. The new office will serve four bishops' committees to advance the social mission of the church through formation, policy analysis, advocacy and outreach.

In the wake of major layoffs in one department of the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Conference, concerns are being raised about whether the department, which works on aid and justice initiatives domestically and internationally, has the capacity to continue its work.

 "We’re focusing on the bishops because they make the decisions. We’re focusing on the national because that’s where the power lies. But don’t forget the power of the pews," said Ana Garcia-Ashley, executive director of the Gamaliel Network

The number of permanent deacons in America is holding relatively steady, but more than a third of them are also at or approaching the required retirement age for many dioceses. According to experts, the situation may suggest a need for local churches to revisit the Second Vatican Council's vision for the permanent diaconate and rethink how to invite men to discern the vocation.

Just days after the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops met June 12-14 for their Spring Plenary Assembly in Louisville, the bishops finally achieved the threshold needed to pass their national pastoral framework to guide ministries with youth and young adults.

What will it take for the U.S. bishops' conference to incorporate Francis' vision for a more synodal church, one capable of deepening an ecclesial self-understanding by attending to the most vulnerable in our midst? 

Catholic social justice activists, and even a bishop, were pleasantly surprised at the overwhelming support that U.S. prelates showed for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development during their spring assembly.

The launch of a mental health initiative by the U.S. bishops last year has "received a lot of traction," according to one of its leaders.

U.S. bishops approved new guidelines for ministering to Indigenous Catholics, a long in-the-works effort to reinvigorate the ministry and assure those communities that they don't need to feel torn between their Native identity and their Catholic one.

Several bishops told NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters that in the executive session where the Catholic Campaign for Human Development was discussed, the support for the program was overwhelming.

Updated: In his opening address to the U.S. bishops' spring assembly, Cardinal Christophe Pierre told them that Pope Francis shared their desire that Catholics in the United States "rediscover the power of the Eucharist."

At the Catholic Health Association meeting, San Diego Cardinal Robert McElroy sketched four fundamental questions about the synodal process for Catholic health care to ponder. 

At a time when so many Americans continue to struggle with poverty, and when the political class largely neglects their needs, the bishops need to stand foursquare behind the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

A bishops' conference with wizened outreach to the poor is like a bishops' conference stripped of its commitment to the defense of human life, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development promotes the U.S. bishops' teaching Catholics political responsibilities in a way no church document can. The prelates shouldn't abandon their decadeslong commitment to the program.

At the conference's spring meeting, the bishops will begin the process of "discerning the next 50 years" for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.