Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Freethinker

Home
Nonreligious
Catholic Church a big winner in US’s huge Covid-19 cash giveaway

Catholic Church a big winner in US’s huge Covid-19 cash giveaway

Last updated on: July 11, 2020 at 1:51 pm by Barry Duke

Catholic Church a big winner in US’s huge Covid-19 cash giveaway 2020-07-11T13:51:40+02:00 Barry Duke

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Image via YouTube

COMMENTING on revelations that the US Catholic Church used a special and unprecedented exemption from federal rules to aggressively snatch at least $1.4 billion in taxpayer-backed COVID-19 aid, New York Diocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling, above, airily suggested that the RCC simply took what was rightfully theirs, and just wanted to be ‘treated equally and fairly under the law.’

Many of the millions handed to the RCC, according to the Religious News Service, went to dioceses that have paid huge settlements or sought bankruptcy protection because of clergy sexual abuse cover-ups. And one beneficiary was a treatment centre for Catholic paedophile priests which received a loan of between $350,000 to $1 million.

An Associated Press analysis of federal data released this week found that the church’s haul may have reached – or even exceeded – $3.5 billion, putting it among the biggest winners in the US government’s pandemic relief efforts.

RNS said that houses of worship and faith-based organisations that promote religious beliefs aren’t usually eligible for money from the US Small Business Administration (SBA). But Congress let faith groups and other non-profits tap into the Paycheck Protection Program, a $659 billion fund created to keep Main Street open and Americans employed.

By aggressively promoting the PPP and marshaling resources to help affiliates navigate its shifting rules, Catholic dioceses, parishes, schools and other ministries have so far received approval for at least 3,500 forgivable loans, AP found.

Image via YouTube

Catholic League’s Bill Donohue, above, is outraged by AP’s “malicious” investigation. Yesterday he squealed:

AP did not do an investigation of Jewish, Mormon, Muslim, or Protestant houses of worship, or institutions affiliated with them. But it did probe the Catholic Church. Did the Church do anything illegal? No. Then what’s the beef? It got too much money.

It also doesn’t like the fact that some of the money could be spent on lawsuits …

What is perhaps most striking about the AP story is its disinterest in Hollywood law firms that received PPP money. Dozens of them did so. Maybe AP can find out how much money went to pay off the kids whom the celebrities raped.

The funds received by Catholic dioceses go to pay for an array of services, many of which are vital to the poor. To suggest otherwise is not only unfair, it is malicious.

Zwilling’s archdiocese of New York, for example, received 15 loans worth at least $28 million just for its top executive offices. Its iconic St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue was approved for at least $1 million.

In Orange County, California, where a sparkling glass cathedral estimated to cost over $70 million recently opened, diocesan officials working at the complex received four loans worth at least $3 million.

And elsewhere, a loan of at least $2 million went to the diocese covering Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, where a church investigation revealed last year that then-Bishop Michael Bransfield embezzled funds and made sexual advances toward young priests.

Sid Micah Schwartzman, a University of Virginia law professor specialising in constitutional issues and religion who studied the Paycheck Protection Program said:

Religious groups persuaded the Trump administration to free them from a rule that typically disqualifies an applicant with more than 500 workers. Without this preferential treatment, many Catholic dioceses would have been ineligible because – between their head offices, parishes and other affiliates – their employees exceed the 500-person cap.

The government grants special dispensation, and that creates a kind of structural favoritism And that favoritism was worth billions of dollars.

The amount that the RCC collected, between $1.4 billion and $3.5 billion, is an undercount. The Diocesan Fiscal Management Conference, an organisation of Catholic financial officers, surveyed members and reported that about 9,000 Catholic entities received loans. That is nearly three times the number of Catholic recipients the AP could identify.

The AP couldn’t find more Catholic beneficiaries because the government’s data, released after pressure from Congress and a lawsuit from news outlets including the AP, didn’t name recipients of loans under $150,000 – a category in which many smaller churches would fall. And because the government released only ranges of loan amounts, it wasn’t possible to be more precise.

Even without a full accounting, AP’s analysis places the Catholic Church among the major beneficiaries in the PPP, which also has helped companies backed by celebrities, billionaires, state governors and members of Congress.

PPP was open to all religious groups, and many took advantage. Evangelical advisers to President Donald Trump, including his White House spiritual czar, Paula White-Cain, also received loans.

Loan recipients included about 40 dioceses that have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the past few years paying victims through compensation funds or bankruptcy proceedings. AP’s review found that these dioceses were approved for about $200 million, though the value is likely much higher.

When asked about the waiver from the 500-employee cap that religious organisations received, Zwilling deferred to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

A spokesperson for the bishops’ conference acknowledged that its officials lobbied for PPP, but said the organisation wasn’t tracking what dioceses and Catholic agencies received.

Among the recipients was the Saint Luke Institute, a treatment centre for priests accused of sexual abuse and Catholics “who suffer from a broad range of psychological and behavioral concerns.” It received a loan of between $350,000 to $1 million.

Based in Silver Spring, Maryland, the institute has at times been a way station for priests accused of sexual abuse who returned to active ministry only to abuse again, RNS pointed out.

Image via YouTube

Another who insisted that Catholic dioceses were fully entitled to cash handouts was bishop Lawrence Persico of Erie, Pennsylvania, above. Approximately 80 organisations within his diocese received loans worth $10.3 million.

In 2018, a long-awaited grand jury investigation into clergy sexual abuse in Pennsylvania was released, detailing decades of alleged misconduct and cover-ups in six of the state’s eight dioceses. The roughly 900-page report, thought to be the most comprehensive of its kind, painted “a horrid portrait” of activity that occurred in the dioceses of Scranton, Allentown, Harrisburg, Greensburg, Erie and Pittsburgh.

It implicating 300 “predator priests” statewide who were guilty of:

Criminal and/or morally reprehensible conduct.

The grand jury found credible allegations by more than one thousand victims, but added:

We believe that the real number … is in the thousands.

Persico pointed out that church entities help feed, clothe and shelter the poor – and in doing so keep people employed.

I know some people may react with surprise that government funding helped support faith-based schools, parishes and diocese. The separation of church and state does not mean that those motivated by their faith have no place in the public square.

• If you’d like to buy me a cup of coffee – and boy, do I get through a LOT of coffee keeping this site active – please click the link below.

I’d love a cup of coffee

News

America

Bill Donohue

Bshop Lawrence Persico

Catholic Church

Clerical abuse

Joseph Zwilling

Previous Post

July 10, 2020

Christian cruelty exposed as pressure grows to ban gay 'cure' outfits

Next Post

July 12, 2020 God 'stronger than Covid-19' – mosque dispersal an 'attack' on Islam

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Archive My Atheism News Opinion Reviews Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 March 2007 April 2006 February 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What city did Paul write his first letter to the Corinthians from?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Rome Ephesus Corinth Athens

Books by This Author Books by The Freethinker

See All Titles »