Catholic dioceses amassed taxpayer aid
Scores of Roman Catholic dioceses in the U.S. had more than $10 billion in cash and other readily available funds when they received at least $1.5 billion from the nation’s emergency relief program for small businesses slammed by the coronavirus, an Associated Press investigation has found. Taxpayer-backed aid from the Paycheck Protection Program was supposed to help recipients that lacked the kind of financial safety net that cash and short-term assets provide.
While dioceses, their churches and schools went into the pandemic with billions, the cash catastrophe church leaders feared did not materialize, AP found. New financial statements that several dozen dioceses have posted for 2020 show available resources improved despite the pandemic’s hard, early months — the same time they sought paycheck protection aid.
The pattern held whether a diocese was big or small, urban or rural, East or West, North or South.
In Kentucky, funds available to the Archdiocese of Louisville, its parishes and other organizations grew from at least $153 million to at least $157 million during the fiscal year that ended in June, AP found. Those same offices and organizations received at least $17 million in paycheck aid. “The Archdiocese’s operations have not been significantly impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak,” according to its financial statement.
In North Carolina, the Raleigh Diocese and its churches and schools collected at least $11 million. Yet during the church’s 2020 fiscal year, overall offerings were down just 5% and assets available to the diocese, its parishes and schools increased by about $21 million to more than $170 million, AP found. Raleigh officials did not answer direct questions.
In Illinois, the Archdiocese of Chicago had more than $1 billion in cash and investments in its headquarters and cemetery division as of May, while the faithful continued to donate “more than expected,” according to the independent ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service. Archdiocesan officials said the money was needed to cover substantial expenses while parishioner donations slumped when lockdowns forced the cancellation of Masses. Without paycheck support, “parishes and schools would have been forced to cut many jobs” because the archdiocese couldn’t have made up the difference given its own expenses, spokeswoman Paula Waters wrote.
The financial resources of several dioceses rivaled or exceeded those available to publicly traded companies — like Shake Shack and Ruth’s Chris Steak House — whose participation in the paycheck program triggered outrage last spring. The two joined other companies in returning the money.