The NCWC and its predecessor, the National Catholic War Council (1917), represented the efforts of the Catholic bishops to act collectively as a national body. It was comprised of a staff of clergy as well as committees of bishops who discussed and sometimes issued statements on matters of national policy such as education, welfare, and health care. Nearly suppressed by Popes Benedict XV and Pius XI, the organization became the National Catholic Welfare Conference in 1922 and later split into the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the United States Catholic Conference. Today it is the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
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