ESSENTIAL SERVICES

For Fran Rossi Szpylczyn, the answer was simple.

Szpylczyn, pastoral associate for administration at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Glenville, said the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program was the reason her parish was able to stay open and continue offering spiritual and material assistance to the needy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“A lot of people we never heard from before were afraid and alone and just needed to talk to someone,” said Szpylczyn, who also wrote a column for America Magazine on how her parish used the PPP loans. “Because we were paid and working, we were able to assist them."

Szpylczyn helped connect locals in need with food or gas cards; other people frightened by the state of the world were able to receive spiritual guidance. “It was helpful for people to have a place to go,” she said.

That is why many in the Catholic Church were blindsided by an Associated Press story on July 10 that said the Church “used a special and unprecedented exemption from federal rules to amass at least $1.4 billion” in federal loans. The story said “the church’s haul” could exceed “$3.5 billion, making a global religious institution with more than a billion followers among the biggest winners in the U.S. government’s pandemic relief efforts.” The Associated Press said the story was based on federal data.

The article drew an immediate rebuke from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“The Catholic Church is the largest nongovernmental supplier of social services in the United States,” said Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. “Each year, our parishes, schools and ministries serve millions of people in need, regardless of race, ethnicity or religion. 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.”

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York was even more direct, calling the story “scurrilous” in a letter to the families of the archdiocese. “Many of you have called or emailed me, wanting to know if the story was true,” Cardinal Dolan wrote. “My answer, quite simply, is absolutely not! It was misleading at best, outright false at worst.”

Cardinal Dolan added religious institutions of all faiths were encouraged to apply and no money was used “to settle lawsuits or pay victim-survivors of abuse.” The Associated Press, Cardinal Dolan wrote “invented a story when none existed, and sought to bash the Church.”

The AP story was published just one day after the Archdiocese of New York announced that 20 schools would close in the fall, affecting 2,500 students and 350 staff members. That same day, the Brooklyn Diocese announced it would close six schools which have more than $630,000 in outstanding tuition payments.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused huge financial setbacks that continue to ripple through every part of the United States. Fifty one million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits since the start of the pandemic as businesses have struggled to keep employees on their payroll. The Catholic Church is no exception, so why should it be exempt from relief?

In early April, Congress approved the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program in response to the economic fallout. Congress later allocated an additional $310 billion for the loan program, which is administered by the Small Business Administration, and extended the program application deadline to Aug. 3. Any business — be it non-profit, faith-based or secular — was eligible to apply.

According to a Catholic News Service story, “In late April, statistics compiled by the Diocesan Fiscal Management Conference showed that 8,000 parishes, 1,400 elementary schools, 700 high schools, 104 chanceries, 185 Catholic Charities agencies and 200 other diocesan organizations in 160 dioceses had applied for assistance at that point.”

“It’s difficult even for a financially stable parish,” Szpylczyn said. “If nobody is going to be going to church” no collections are coming in.

These loans have kept vital ministries and church services going in the Albany Diocese since March when Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger suspended public Masses, which was then followed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s stay-at-home orders under New York State on PAUSE. Public Masses have just recently restarted, but many parishes, schools and services will be feeling the financial pain of the pandemic for months, perhaps even years to come.

Joyce Tarantino, diocesan director of Human Resources and Safe Environment, said the Albany Diocese applied for a PPP loan and as a result, was able “to cover payroll and employee benefit costs for an approximate eight-week period as we continued essential operations, and as a result, we were able to return all of our staff to full pay and benefit status.

“Each of our parishes are separate, non-profit corporations with their own payroll and employee benefit costs,” added Tarantino. “Most of the parishes applied for PPP loan funds, which allowed them to continue to pay their staff despite the loss of offertory during the shutdown. Even without Masses, the parishes had to continue basic maintenance and business operations, as well as to provide the social outreach and catechetical programs as best they could under COVID-19 restrictions, and these loans allowed that to happen.”

Father Bob Longobucco, pastor of St. Kateri Tekakwitha parish in Schenectady, said that 95 percent of his church’s income comes from donations and collections. It’s hard to replicate that number through online giving and when churches are limited to 25 percent capacity since the return of public Masses.

“Especially in those first few weeks when we didn’t know what was going on, our collection went down dramatically,” Father Longobucco said. “Also we had people losing their jobs and people trying to decide if they wanted to stay with our school because they’re home with their kids … So we were all very concerned. We were ready to lay off a lot of people. I love my staff but we really just couldn’t be sure what to do.”

St. Kateri applied for a PPP loan and was able to keep on all 51 members of its staff with the funding.

“That loan did exactly what it’s intended to do, which is keep people on the payroll, so we were able to do that,” Father Longobucco said.

The PPP loans are also partly forgivable, which means participants won’t need to repay their loans if the employer uses the money for payroll costs, mortgage, rent or utilities.

“We hadn’t done anything wrong,” Father Longobucco said. “We’re grateful for the assistance. It made a huge difference to our parish, it made a huge difference to our school, it made things possible the way it was supposed to.” — Catholic News Services contributed to this report.