When the International Catholic Deaf Association (ICDA) gathered in 1971 in Baltimore, Maryland, it was suggested that Ministry for Deaf Catholics needed a national voice that might express the spiritual needs of the American Deaf Catholic Community and also an organization that would focus on updating the knowledge and skills of pastoral workers with Deaf persons and act as a support group for pastoral workers. After a  week-long discussion, the moderators voted to establish a National Catholic Office for the Deaf (NCOD) that might eventually be affiliated with the National Conference for Catholic Bishops (NCCB). Fr. David Walsh, C.Ss.R, was elected the Executive Director. The religious in attendance voted to support the decision of the moderators.

 

In a meeting with Cardinal John Carberry, the Archbishop of St. Louis, the Episcopal Moderator of ICDA, Fr. Walsh was assured that approval of the United States Catholic Conference (USCC) or National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) was not necessary to use the title National Catholic Office for the Deaf. Accordingly, from that time on cursillos, pastoral weeks, Catholic Deaf community weeks, religious education summer workshops were organized out of the NCOD office of Fr. Walsh at Ligouri, Missouri. Later Listening (Currently known as Vision Magazine) and Radar, a newsletter for pastoral workers, were prepared and mailed from Ligouri to Catholic Deaf centers and parishes for the deaf.

By 1973, a year and half after the establishment of NCOD, a national steering committee consisting of priests, sisters, and lay pastoral workers, had been elected and had held national meetings to prepare the NCOD constitution and by laws. These meetings were held in Glenview, Illinois, West End, New Jersy, and Washington D.C. In 1973, the NCOD Board of Directors, through the efforts of Cardinal John Carberry, arranged a meeting with the USCC officials in Washington D.C to discuss the possibility of NCOD becoming part of USCC. This was not acceptable to bishops, since they did not want to single out one group of persons with a disability to establish an office under the USCC. Subsequently, the USCC established the National Catholic Office for Persons with Disabilities.

 

However, the NCOD continued its programs and its membership grew. In 1976, through the strong support of the Loyal Christian Benefit Association (LCBA), with headquarters in Erie, Pennsylvania, NCOD was able to move to Washington D.C. Space was obtained at Trinity College.

In November of 1976, a group of pastoral workers with the Deaf gathered in  Bountiful, Utah. The major reason for the gathering was to discuss strategies on how to form a regional organization of Arch/dioceses in the Western United States. In 1984, there was a large gathering  of about 50 to 60 people at Pius X Minor Seminary in Galt, California, to discuss the future of Deaf ministry and thus the birth of Western Region as Region I of the National Catholic Office for the Deaf.