The coronavirus crisis has taken a serious toll on the Catholic Church, an institution already facing a financial crisis from the thousands of sexual assault lawsuits filed against the organization. In an effort to cope with the crisis, New Jersey dioceses have used exemptions to receive funds normally intended for small businesses. Both the dioceses and the federal program have faced criticism for the use of coronavirus funds. 

NJ.com reports that all five of New Jersey dioceses have applied for loans from the Paycheck Protection Program. According to a new report from the Associated Press, the church has received between $1.4 billion and $3.5 billion in federal coronavirus aid. Reportedly, much of this aid has gone to help dioceses that have filed for bankruptcy, or have shelled out for sexual abuse settlements. 

Normally, the Catholic Church is excluded from receiving federal loans from the Small Business Administration, as it is a place of worship. However, lobbyists vied for faith groups and nonprofits to be included in the Paycheck Protection Program, the federal government’s coronavirus aid, giving them a shot at $659 billion in funding. The Paycheck Protection Program has already garnered criticism for some of the recipients, which allegedly included large companies, billionaires, and lobbying firms.

According to NJ.com, the lobbyists asked for faith organizations to be exempted from the rule that in most cases, allows only businesses with fewer than 500 employees to apply for the Paycheck Protection Program.

Which Church Institutions Received Forgivable Loans?

Because of these exemptions, the church has received approval for 3,500 forgivable loans through the Paycheck Protection Program. Reportedly, it is not clear which institutions within the Catholic Church did receive these forgivable loans. 

NJ.com notes that Congress did instruct the Church to reveal some information about the loans, an instruction which was coupled with a lawsuit from a news organization. However, the data released does not present a full picture of what loans were received and by whom, as the information for loans under $150,000 was kept private. 

America, The Jesuit Review spoke to the opacity around church finances, which existed before the coronavirus crisis, noting that it is difficult to fully understand the financial health of the Catholic Church on both a diocesan and national level.

However, NJ.com does provide some revelatory information about the larger loans. Reportedly, the Archdiocese of New York took out 15 loans. In total, over $28 million went to its top executive offices. St. Patrick’s Cathedral alone received a cool $1 million. 

NJ.com notes that on the other coast, the diocese of Orange County, California received at least $3 million from the paycheck protection program. The same diocese recently constructed a $70 million cathedral. The news source notes that the Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia diocese received $2 million from the Paycheck Protection Program. 

For its part, the Diocese of Trenton rejected allegations that the diocese had used coronavirus relief funds to compensate for money spent on sexual assault lawsuits and settlements. The diocese released a statement saying, “the suggestion by some in the media that previous legal settlements paid by the Church have anything to do with needing this COVID relief is false and slanderous.” 

Instead, the diocese claimed to be using the money to pay its almost 7,000 employees. 

New Jersey dioceses stated that the church’s inability to hold services during the COVID-19 has meant that its parishioners are not contributing tithes on a weekly basis as they normally would.

However, it was not lost on critics that the dioceses had created a New Jersey Independent Victim Compensation Program to deal with some of the many sexual assault lawsuits, nor that the program has already paid out $11 million in settlements. Before the program was created, the five New Jersey dioceses paid out $50 million in sexual abuse settlements. 

This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.