Dear Parishioners:
On Monday morning, I was surprised to read about myself and Our Lady of Mercy in the Providence Journal. In the Political Scene column by reporter Katherine Gregg, a listing of lobbyists and elected officials who received loans from the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) included me and OLM.
The PPP was enacted by the Trump Administration and Congress to protect jobs. The recipients of the program include all kinds of businesses, non-profits, and other institutions, including many in the Catholic Church. It is a program to keep people working and paid during the unprecedented crisis of the Covid-19 Pandemic. The PPP’s purpose is to sustain the economy and ensure workers stay employed. The amount of each loan is based upon the number of employees and the cost of salaries and benefits.
Our Lady of Mercy Church benefited from the program, and it is a matter of public record. OLM employs 44 full and part-time employees in both our parish and school. We received a PPP loan of $400,000 to cover the costs of our employees’ salaries, healthcare, and pension benefits for two months. As a result of the closing of Churches and schools, we had a sharp decline in income. This program enabled us to keep our employees paid and working. None of our OLM employees were furloughed or laid off.
Our biggest OLM School fundraiser, “the Spring Fling,” was canceled due to the pandemic. Many of our school families faced financial hardship during the pandemic, and tuition payments had to be suspended. Also, our weekly church collection continues to decline due to the crisis. However, our outstanding OLM School teachers worked overtime during the height of the pandemic with the distance learning classes. I was grateful they could be paid. Also, as a result of the PPP, our OLM Outreach efforts to the poor, especially in time of crisis, continues. So does the increased maintenance work by our staff to sanitize and make our plant safe and hygienic.
The Catholic Church overall is one of the largest employers in the State of Rhode Island. The Diocese of Providence also benefited from the PPP. The annual Catholic Charity Appeal began as the pandemic broke out. As a result, it raised little toward the annual goal of $7 Million. The CCA helps to fund the many employees who provide the daily support and charitable work the Catholic Church to the poor, the sick, the aged, the migrants, the refugees and the needy of our state. It provides critical services and assistance to the vulnerable and needy.
Following some national news stories on the Catholic Church receiving PPP loans, Archbishop Coakley, Chair of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice, offered a response and it is in this week’s bulletin. He says in part: “The Catholic Church is the largest non-governmental supplier of social services in the United States. The novel coronavirus only intensified the needs of the people we serve and the demand for our ministries. The loans we applied for enabled our essential ministries to continue to function in a time of national emergency.”
I admit that I was genuinely perplexed at the purpose of Ms. Gregg’s column last Monday particularly the mention of me as Pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Church. After all, the column offered no indication that illegal or unethical behavior transpired in the PPP loans by those named in the article. Is it newsworthy that faith groups also benefited from a program designed to help them and others in times of national crisis? Once again we are left wondering what is the point of this kind of “journalism”. Could it be the resentment of those who successfully and legally applied for the loans and received critical funds to keep people employed? More likely it is yet another sly attempt to imply political wrongdoing and dishonest shenanigans where none are to be found.
So let’s be clear about what really did happen with the PPP. Many diverse groups and businesses including many non-profits and local faith communities directly benefited from a program designed precisely to help them at a critical time. It is a national program that has the full backing and support of the President and Congress of the United States and seems to have successfully achieved its goal across the country in a short amount of time. It’s really that simple and not as salaciously nefarious as some journalist seem to imply.
Anti-Catholic Political cartoon circa 1840s
I am genuinely grateful that the PPP is available to aid many businesses, non-profit groups, and faith communities. However, many people didn’t want church groups, especially the Catholic Church, to benefit from this program. This is hardly surprising in our increasingly secular society with its growing hostility toward organized religion. Some of the voices of opposition and resentment are a clear reminder that the Anti-Catholic Know-Nothings of the 19th Century still exist today.
Thankfully both the Administration and the U.S. Congress know the critical need and clearly understand the value of faith communities to the common good of our nation. We are certainly most grateful they do and I thank them!
Stay safe. Be Well. Do Good! God Bless.