<P> The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops ( USCCB ) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States . Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops ( NCCB ) and United States Catholic Conference ( USCC ) , it is composed of all active and retired members of the Catholic hierarchy ( i.e. , diocesan , coadjutor , and auxiliary bishops and the ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter ) in the United States and the Territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands . In the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , the bishops in the six dioceses form their own episcopal conference , the Puerto Rican Episcopal Conference . The bishops in U.S. insular areas in the Pacific Ocean -- the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , the Territory of American Samoa , and the Territory of Guam -- are members of the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific . </P>
what is the us conference of catholic bishops
the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States