Religion: The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
6 Cardinals, 28 Archbishops & 238 Active Bishops in the USCCB
0 out of 6 = 0%
0 out of 272 = 0%
The Roman Catholic Church has a global hierarchy, and a clear hierarchy of 196 geographical dioceses and archdioceses in the US, headed by 36 Archbishops. Five of these men are Cardinals of large Catholic territories and wield a great deal of power in their local communities, and in the US as a whole. Currently, they are Cardinal Blase Joseph Cupich of Chicago, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley of Boston and Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, NJ. In November of 2020, Pope Francis elevated Wilton Daniel Gregory from archbishop to the post of cardinal of Washington, joining the five long-standing US cardinals. Cardinal Gregory is the first African American Catholic Cardinal.
The office of a bishop of the Catholic Church in the United States is to serve a particular diocese as its “bishop, chief pastor and minister”, with each diocese comprising an average of 350,000 Catholics in a geographic area. Under canon law, the bishop who leads a diocese has complete jurisdiction in his diocese. These dioceses are grouped together under 32 Latin Catholic archdioceses and 2 Eastern Catholic archdioceses. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops is the central leadership body, and includes both archbishops and bishops; though notably, each bishop is answerable only to Rome.
Overall, the US Catholic Church employees 100,000 clergy and ministers, 37,000 of whom are priests and 19,000 deacons. The group also includes the relatively new category (see “Co-Workers in the Vineyard,” US Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2005, p. 45) of lay ecclesial ministers, which is comprised of both men and women. In fact, the National Pastoral Life Center identified 30,000 lay ministers “working in paid positions of at least 20 hours a week” in 2005. 64% of these jobs are held by laywomen, 20% by laymen, and 16% by women religious. Groups such as Future Church suggest practices that parishes and dioceses can follow to “allow competent women to serve in the diocese,” and help “qualified women serve in administrative positions,” and be “equally represented on diocesan and parish boards.” These practices are suggestions for development, as the current ordained hierarchy, reporting to the Holy See, is exclusively male.
In addition to the parishes, 630 Catholic hospitals in the US employ 641,000 people with a total budget of $101.7bn. 6,525 Catholic elementary and high schools employ 151,000 people, and Catholic colleges and universities (approx. 260) have 250m000 faculty and staff. The Catholic Church in America oversees more than one million employees with a $100 billion (with a b) budget for the operation of parishes, diocesan schools, nursing homes, retreat centers, hospitals, and other service institutions.
The Roman Catholic Church does not ordain women. It serves 51 million adult Catholics in 17,651 parishes with no women in hierarchical leadership.
A 2015 Pew Research Study found that 60% of US Catholics believe the Church “should allow women to become priests,” despite rulings by the Roman Curia in 1976, 1988 and 1994 firmly denying ordination to women.
Does it matter if women are represented in the hierarchy and top decision making of this large, well-ordered organization whose top 36 members report only to Rome?
What will it take for women to get into the Power Percentage in Catholicism in the United States?