If one pokes around the activities of the USCCB in the late '60s and '70s, it's bittersweet, to say the least. Take the Bishops'  Vietnam Assistance Program, launched to provide health care to the people of South Vietnam, which actually put nuns and priests with a healthcare background on the ground, and which resulted, for a brief period of time, in a cooperative and working relationship between the US Catholic Church and  USAID. Even as late as the mid-'80s, The Pastoral Letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy struck a tone you don't hear much today--in fact, that thing was so well-written, they keep on releasing the anniversary editions. Now we get an entire industry on the "defence" and promotion of marriage. Admittedly, the USCCB continues to make and contribute to many effective statements about poverty and global issues but these statements don't define them the way they used to as the keepers of Christ's message on Earth.