Some years ago I said I would write a post every time I saw a story about US Catholic Bishops lecturing us about “welcoming the stranger” without mentioning the millions of dollars in federal boodle they are paid to do their ‘good works.’
I haven’t written every time, but this story particularly irked me.
And, certainly, I can’t speak for Jesus Christ (as the US Bishops think they can), but I sincerely doubt he ever had in mind that his church would be living off of Caesar’s money.
Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski never mentions the Bishops federal funding. Gee I wonder why?
This morning I see that Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami is slamming Texas Governor Greg Abbott for his decision to forego resettlement for a small portion of this fiscal year.
Of course the Archbishop is playing politics and trying to keep Florida Governor Greg DeSantis from going down that same evil (in their eyes) path.
The Archbishop of Miami has emphasized the importance of welcoming refugees, and decried the decision of Texas Governor Greg Abbott not to participate in the federal refugee resettlement program.
Texas Governor Abbott is the only Republican governor so far to support the President’s efforts to reform the UN-driven Refugee Admissions Program.
“Often mentored by church volunteers and given resettlement support, refugees and their family quickly integrate into American society, finding work and making a positive contribution to their adopted country,” said Archbishop Thomas Wenski in a Jan. 16 letter to the editor of the Miami Herald.
Tomorrow is the big day when the Bishops must get their requests for MONEY into the federal government!
“Submit proposals” means apply for taxpayer MONEY!
“Resettlement agencies are preparing to submit proposals to the Office of Refugee Resettlement on Jan. 21 to continue this ministry of ‘welcoming the stranger.’ Catholic Charities look forward to local governments continuing welcoming refugees in those communities where we already serve.”
[….]
Archbishop Wenski expressed disappointment in Abbott for discontinuing Texas’ participation in the refugee resettlement program.
[….]
“As Catholics, an essential aspect of our faith is to welcome the stranger and care for the alien.”
But, where does it say that the church can extract money from taxpayers so they can act holier-than-thou and pretend they are doing Christian charity!
So here is ‘Knowledge is Power V’
Use USASpending.govto find out exactly how much government boodle (your tax dollars) is going to ‘religious’ charities like the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
This is what I learned.
The Bishops over the last twelve months received $62.7 MILLION from you via the US Treasury for their migration programs which includes the US Refugee Admissions Program and their sweet deal to ‘take care of’ Unaccompanied Alien Children.
But, see the graph (below) and note that they are way down from the peak of the Obama years when they were really rolling in dough.
When you do your search, be aware that it might take a few minutes to figure out how the ‘non-profit’ is titled. In the case of my Bishops search I needed to spell out United States rather than enter simply US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
BTW, the Bishops get millions more dollars for other things they do, but I was only interested in their ‘refugee’ funds.
$62.7 Million is what the Bishops received over the last 12 months (to welcome the stranger).
See that their headquarters are in Washington, DC, a short walk from the US Capitol (so they can lobby more easily?)
The screenshot below shows how much of our money involuntarily went to the Bishops in FY2019, $52,867,109.
And, then see why they are hopping mad at President Trump! Their funding has been cut in half since its peak in Obama year 2016!
I clicked on ‘Profiles’ and then chose ‘Recipients’ in the drop down.
My plan is to do this for all of the nine federal contractors in the coming days. I did learn already that Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Servicedid not have such a precipitous loss of federal payout.
And I learned that some of the totals are greater than those in the table I posted in ‘Knowledge is Power II.’
And, see that I have updated one post in the series when I found the subcontractorsthat benefit from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops traunch from the US Treasury.
