All bishops and archbishops in the United States are members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the assembly that works on behalf of Catholics throughout the country to promote the greater good.
Along with duties in their dioceses, members of the bishops’ conference typically serve on conference committees. Archbishop Bernard Hebda has been a member of the USCCB Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance since 2011. He now chairs the committee, which provides guidance on issues concerning canon law.
As the chairman of a standing committee, he automatically is a member of the conference Administrative Committee, which is the conference’s executive management group. Archbishop Hebda is also a member of the U.S. Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, which promotes religious freedom-related education initiatives and public policy. The archbishop has previously served as a member of the Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, which recommends policies and monitors compliance with the bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, aka the Dallas Charter, in order to create a safe environment within the Church for children and youth.
While he was bishop of the Diocese of Gaylord, Michigan, he was tapped twice for additional service. Pope Benedict XVI named him to the executive board of Caritas Internationalis, the Vatican-based umbrella group of Catholic aid agencies.
In the wake of child abuse at parishes and Catholic institutions in Ireland, then-Bishop Hebda was also chosen to be part of a delegation of U.S. bishops who undertook an apostolic visitation, or inquiry, of the Pontifical Irish College in Rome and the Irish national seminary, St. Patrick’s College in Maynooth, in 2011.
