USCCB has ‘balanced budget’ for now, but priorities, resources under review

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is on solid financial footing, having restructured some operations while weathering the end of key federal refugee resettlement contracts — but changes in resource allocations may be on the horizon, said the conference’s budget chair.

Archbishop James F. Checchio, outgoing chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Budget and Finance, delivered a Nov. 11 update to the bishops during their annual fall plenary meeting, which took place Nov. 10-13 in Baltimore.

While “the budget for 2026 restricted funds looks very different than in the past” due to the loss of millions in federal funds for refugee resettlement, “the budget is balanced with a surplus of $3.2 million,” largely due to reorganization and cutbacks in the USCCB’s Catholic Campaign for Human Development, said Archbishop Checchio, who was named coadjutor archbishop of New Orleans Sept. 24. Until the appointment, he had headed the Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey.

In his presentation — which preceded a vote approving the conference’s upcoming budget — Archbishop Checchio said the conference’s third-quarter year-to-date rate of return on long-term investments was 13.6%.

He noted that earlier in 2025, the USCCB “had to withdraw $15 million” from those long-term investments — specifically, to cover the loss of revenue from longstanding cooperative agreements with the federal government for the resettlement of vetted refugees and unaccompanied minors.

The Trump administration’s termination of the contracts — part of hardline shifts on immigration policies — ended the USCCB’s four-decade partnership with the congressionally established U.S. Refugee Assistance Program. The domestic initiative, created in 1980, enabled refugees vetted and approved by the federal government to be legally resettled in the U.S. The USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services was one of 10 national resettlement agencies working with USRAP.

The USCCB filed suit in response and in February laid off approximately one third of its MRS staff.

The conference said it would not renew its cooperative agreements with the federal government regarding children’s services and refugee support, as such arrangements had become “untenable.”

However, Archbishop Checchio said in his presentation, the USCCB has since been able to return the $15 million withdrawn from its long-term investments, “once we received that money.”

Archbishop Checchio highlighted the financial results for the year ending Dec. 31, 2024, saying that “there was a $35.5 million positive change in our net assets.”

The archbishop added he was “particularly pleased to report” — as Bishop Timothy C. Senior of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, chairman of the USCCB’s Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, had said Nov. 10 — that “CCHD’s net asset balance at the end of 2024 was a positive $1.4 million,” compared to the negative $2.8 million it saw at the conclusion of 2023.

“We certainly want to commend him and the committee for their difficult work of making changes and producing those good results throughout this year,” said Archbishop Checchio.

Among those changes were 2024 restructuring and layoffs of an unspecified number of employees in the USCCB’s Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development, of which the CCHD is a part.

But “the good news notwithstanding, said Archbishop Checchio, “my annual report spoke to a challenge.”

“Succinctly, times have changed, but our physical structure has not,” said Archbishop Checchio. “And the way we do business largely remains the same.”

He pointed out that since the restructuring of the USCCB’s communications, justice and peace, and more recently its migrant and refugee services divisions, the cost to maintain the USCCB’s “underutilized headquarter building” in Washington “was roughly $4.4 million, which includes insurance but not capital projects.”

Archbishop Checchio noted that the USCCB is now evaluating its “priorities and plans” to calibrate resources accordingly.

“What do we want the conference to do? That will determine what we need space-wise — to know what we’re trying to have, what we need to supply for our mission,” he said.

“Even if we do nothing and continue to just use half or less than half of the USCCB headquarters for our operations, we can fund our operations and balance our budget by taking a 4% annual draw from our unrestricted long-term investments,” said the archbishop.

However, he added, “the question obviously arises, is that a wise use of our revenues, to fund the building?”

The archbishop explained that “historically, the long-term investments have only been used when necessary and to the extent that they are needed.”

The 2026 budget relies on a $1.3 million draw from the long-term investments, as well as monies set aside “for the closing out of our terminated pension plan,” he said.

But “this is just a one-year solution and not long-term,” the archbishop added.

As a result, the conference “has much to do” over the next year “to figure it out.”

In the meantime, he said, the 2026 budget is balanced, and represents “neither a surplus nor a deficit.”

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