Bishops finalize reorganization, approve $147.7 million USCCB budget

Published: 2007-11-13

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- The U.S. bishops took the final steps to formalize the new structure of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Nov. 13 and approved a $147.7 million budget for 2008 and a 16 percent reduction in the diocesan assessment to fund the USCCB. In a series of votes on the second day of their fall general meeting in Baltimore, the bishops accepted recommendations of the USCCB Committee on Priorities and Plans for the interim plans of conference offices and committees, the mandates of 15 permanent subcommittees and the establishment of a permanent subcommittee on Hispanic liturgy and a temporary subcommittee on Africa. They also agreed, with little discussion, on new bylaws and a new USCCB committee handbook drawn up by their Committee on Canonical Affairs. Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., who was to end a three-year term as USCCB president at the close of the Nov. 12-15 meeting, called the bishops' actions "a watershed moment" that "sets us on a new course as we move into the future."

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