Nov. 2009 article: "The bishops have a long history of almost unlimited access to enormous quantities of federal funding....Sixty-seven percent of Catholic Charities’ income comes from government funding."
11/10/2009, "The Catholic bishops' double standard," Politico, by Nancy Keenan and Jon O'Brien
"The bishops have a long history of almost unlimited access to enormous quantities of federal funding. When it comes to funding for Catholic schools and hospitals or programs run by Catholic Charities, they accept federal funding with open arms. The bishops never question their own ability to lawfully manage funds from separate sources to ensure that tax dollars don’t finance religious practices. Yet they reject the idea that others could do the same. This is the very definition of hypocrisy.
For example, Catholic hospitals depend on federal funding. Indiana has 35 Catholic hospitals and 26 other Catholic health-care facilities. In 2007, 58 percent of patients who visited these facilities were covered by Medicaid or Medicare, a proportion reflected across the country. With well over half of their revenue coming from the government, it is safe to say that Catholic hospitals survive on government funding as well as contributions from private sources.
Catholic Charities, the domestic direct service arm of the bishops, also depends on state and federal dollars. Sixty-seven percent of Catholic Charities’ income comes from government funding. That represents over $2.6 billion in 2008— an amount that is more than three times as large as the next largest charitable recipient of federal funds, the YMCA. Just as Catholic hospitals do, Catholic Charities receives enormous quantities of government dollars while abiding by existing constitutional and statutory requirements that prevent government sponsorship of religion.
The bishops know that a vast majority of Americans, including Catholics, disagree with their hard-line dictates regarding reproductive-health care, including the bishops’ opposition to contraception."...
"Nancy Keenan is president of NARAL Pro-Choice America and Jon O’Brien is president of Catholics for Choice."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29377.html
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2012 press release from a Catholic lobby notes increased flow of US taxpayer dollars to state and national Catholic groups under Obama:
1/31/2012, "Setting the Record Straight on Federal Funding for Catholic Organizations," networklobby.org
"CONTACT: Stephanie Niedringhaus, 202-347-9797 x224, sniedringhaus@networklobby.org. Washington DC: NETWORK today issued the following statement regarding federal funding of Catholic human needs programs:...
Catholic groups and members of the Obama administration have had some disagreements in recent weeks, but we at NETWORK believe that some Catholic complaints have been exaggerated or misinformed.
One area of disagreement concerns the continuing level of government funding for vital Catholic programs. The truth of the matter is that the Obama administration has actually increased funding for Catholic nonprofit organizations and programs. In fact, more than $1.5 billion went to Catholic organizations over the past two years.[2010-2011]
Funding increases for Catholic organizations in recent years include the following:
- An increase from $12.45 million (2008) to $57.89 million (2011) in USDA food assistance to Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
- An increase from just over $440 million (2008) to more than $554 million (2010) to Catholic Charities USA
- Increases in Dept. of Labor grants to Catholic organizations such as Catholic Charities of Kansas for ex-offender reintegration and other programs from $300,000 (2009) to more than $5 million (2011)
- An increase of HHS funding for Catholic Medical Mission Board global health activities from $500,000 (2008) to $7 million (2011)."...
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