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Tuesday, July 14th, 2020

Tax-exempt Catholic Church has received at least $1.4 billion in tax-funded pandemic relief

Author:     Joan McCarter
Source:     AlterNet/DailyKos
Publication Date:     July 11, 2020
 Link: Tax-exempt Catholic Church has received at least $1.4 billion in tax-funded pandemic relief
Stephan:   The Roman Catholic Church took a $1.4 billion payout of your tax dollars. There are so many things wrong with that. First, the Founders very specifically did not want tax money used to support religions. Any religion. They could not have been clearer about this. Second, what this money is really about is bailing out a church in desperate financial trouble because of the hundreds of millions it has had to pay out as recompense for the sexual molestation its clergy perpetrated with parishioners, particularly children. And, third, because the point of the payoff was to try to influence how Catholics will vote in November.

St. Patrick’s gets police protection and at least $1 million for pandemic.

This isn’t the kind of news Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Marco Rubio want to see about the continually problematic Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) they got into this spring’s coronavirus relief bill: The U.S. Roman Catholic Church got at least $1.4 billion in those loans “with many millions going to dioceses that have paid huge settlements or sought bankruptcy protection because of clergy sexual abuse cover-ups.” (Disclosure: Kos Media received a Paycheck Protection Program loan.)

The AP has found that the Catholic Church got between $1.4 billion and at least $3.5 billion from the program, split among at least 3,500 forgivable loans to dioceses, parishes, schools, and other church programs. The report found that the church, by “aggressively promoting the payroll program and marshaling resources to help affiliates navigate its shifting rules,” became the biggest winner of all from the PPP loan programs. The legislation made an allowance for faith groups and other nonprofits to get the loans, which, being tax-payer funded, are not normally available to […]

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