Catholic Church lobbied for taxpayer funds, got $1.4B

I'm a Catholic, and although I believe in my church's doctrine, I don't always come to the defense of my church's leaders. Here's how I see this:

Last week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue that when public funds (e.g. grants, aid, forgivable loans) are made generally available to any organization that meets certain neutral criteria, a religious organization that meets the criteria cannot be excluded merely because it is religious. The First Amendment's Establishment Clause requires the government to be impartial when it comes to religion, showing no preference toward any particular faith, or toward religious believers in general. But that doesn't mean that religious organizations must be barred from funding that is otherwise generally available.

So, assuming the Catholic parishes, dioceses, and organizations satisfied same the criteria for the PPP loans as everybody else, I don't think there's a "separation of church and state" issue here.

Another consideration: What happens if they were ineligible to participate in the PPP. They would likely be forced to furlough or lay off employees. Because churches don't pay into states' unemployment programs, those employees would not be eligible to collect unemployment insurance (or the federal government's additional unemployment aid), which would put them in pretty bad shape. I happen to think that churches SHOULD pay into unemployment programs or provide similar unemployment benefits for laid-off workers, but that's not the reality right now. And so having churches participate in the PPP is an available way for the government to look after people who happen to work for religious employers.

As for some of the more controversial details -- lobbying for special classification with regard to employee size restrictions -- I would not be surprised if the Church were in the wrong there, although it's certainly true that the Church has an organizational structure that far predates and doesn't map cleanly to U.S. corporate structures.

I want to avoid taxes but also get government support too. Who do I need to lobby and how much will it take?

I saw a lot of people saying things like "tax them".

Why would you tax a non-profit institution that has like 5K hospitals and more than 10K homes for the elderly, orphans and those with special needs?

The government shut its doors involuntarily - essentially blocking the revenue (donations) received. The government should have to provide compensation for 'taking away' the ability to minister to people and receive donations, according to the 5th amendment of the Constitution.

In this case maybe the loans should not convert to grants, should not be forgivable. Let the Catholics repay the loans with interest.

The news peg for this particular story (i.e. why the Catholic Church and not all denominations) is ostensibly the Church's ongoing legal battle and settlements re: clergy sexual abuse, but also the fact that the church's lobbying arm successfully argued an exception for religious organizations to not be disqualified under the rule's dictate "that only businesses with fewer than 500 employees, including at all subsidiaries, are eligible.":

> The Catholic News Service reported that the bishops’ conference and several major Catholic nonprofit agencies worked throughout the week of March 30 to ensure that the “unique nature of the entities would not make them ineligible for the program” because of how SBA defines a “small” business. Those conversations came just days after President Trump signed the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which included the Paycheck Protection Program.

> In addition, federal records show the Los Angeles archdiocese, whose leader heads the bishops’ conference, paid $20,000 to lobby the U.S. Senate and House on “eligibility for non-profits” under the CARES Act. The records also show that Catholic Charities USA, a social service arm of the church with member agencies in dioceses across the country, paid another $30,000 to lobby on the act and other issues.

Also, the Catholic Church is just fundamentally a more hierarchical and unified institution compared to other denominations. Sure, other denominations have dioceses and bishops, but not as rigidly structured as Catholicism, e.g. cardinals who work directly with the Pope.

Tax them.

Well, time to tax.

It's a business, like any other--it just sells something that cannot be redeemed until after death. Let's pull back tax benefits for religious institutions and treat them the same as the rest.

It’s not a monolithic financial institution in the U.S.

It’s a large array of individually operating entities providing local food banks etc.

I'm not surprised they made an exception to allow the church to gain funds despite having more than 500 employees but did not require companies with more than 500 employees to provide sick leave for corona. Classic corruption. Send the funds to our rich rapist (proven not alleged in this case) friends while Americans are starving and getting evicted in the streets while sick because they have no sick days or financial support. Many people are still waiting for their first unemployment check from March but not to worry, the church won't go out of business and little kids will continue to be raped by priests. We have our priorities straight in America. Clearly raping kids is more important than feeding, sheltering, or providing sick leave for ordinary Americans. Message received loud and clear.