Brief History of the Subcommittee

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Commission on Certification and Accreditation (USCCB/CCA) was established under a mandate by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) in 1982, and incorporated as a programmatic accrediting agency to accredit clinical pastoral education and ministry formation programs and approve certification standards and procedures in 1983. Since its foundation, the USCCB/CCA accredited clinical pastoral education programs. In 1995, it also began to accredit ministry formation programs.

In addition, since its foundation, the USCCB/CCA also approved the certification standards and procedures submitted by national organizations of ecclesial ministers. Beginning in 1993, the Commission started reviewing the certification standards and procedures of specialized ecclesial ministers submitted by arch/diocesan offices. In 2004, the commission approved the first state-wide certification standards and procedures submitted by the Minnesota Catholic Education Association, for the certification of catechetical and youth ministry leaders in six arch/dioceses in the state of Minnesota.

After a study commissioned by the USCCB to review the history and role of the separately incorporated commission was completed, it was determined that there was no longer a need for commission to accredit programs to remain separate from the Conference itself. Thus, the current Subcommittee on Certification for Ecclesial Ministry and Service was established under a mandate by the USCCB in 2011, succeeding the separately established USCCB/CCA. Therefore, the separately incorporated commission voted to dissolve in December 2011.

The USCCB established the new subcommittee within the Committee on Catholic Education in 2012, with the understanding that it would no longer accredit clinical pastoral education and ministry formation programs, but focus now on the role of approving the certification standards and procedures for the certification of ecclesial ministers in both institutional (chaplains, campus ministers, etc.) and parish (DRE’s, youth ministers, etc.) settings. The reason for this change was because accreditation is an academic function and best able to be handled by other appropriate Catholic and academic accrediting institutions.