Landry veto encourages genuine Catholic action
Blog: Between The Lines
As
previously noted, while Republican Gov. Jeff Landry's line
item vetoes reflected generally fiscal probity while signaling even more emphasis
on that in the future, he also made a statement about unwarranted political
activism within Louisiana's Roman Catholic Church's bureaucracy.
Landry's vetoes in three appropriations bills followed
a general guideline he included in accompanying messages: that gifts of state
money had to fulfill state purposes. In some instances, projects he zeroed out were
too narrow geographically or too disconnected from state priorities, while
others didn't provide information to determine that.
Not that he didn't manage to use
the power simultaneously to pull political benefits from frequent opponents.
The best example of that came from the axed $250,000 from The First 72+, a charitable
organization backed by several prominent election officials that seeks to aid
the recently incarcerated. According to its Internal
Revenue Service Form 990 from 2022, that would have exceeded the entire contribution
from government grants, and represents around 15 percent of its revenues. But no
request ever was filed, as by Legislature rules, so
that made it easy for Landry to vacate.
However, one veto stood out, that being of $1
million to Catholic Charities
of Acadiana for operations of its homeless shelter. It was submitted as a
request and its purpose did seem to have a function broadly in line with state
priorities of charitable relief.
Last
year, it received about $3.5 million for
building purposes and $1.5 million apparently to
operate the shelter. The operating dollars represented about 15 percent of
all revenues, where over half of all came from grants and contracts from both
government and other sources. All told, its revenues over expenses for all
activities was just under $300,000.
Landry let through another capital outlay request
for this year, but for the operational expenses subsequently
gave a reason for the veto: "Part of Catholic Charities' mission is to
support the influx of illegal aliens into our country. Taxpayers should never
foot the bill for nonprofits who are contributing to the illegal immigration
crisis our nation is facing." While Acadiana's does offer
some services that could encourage illegal immigration, it asserts that
that vast bulk of those served by the shelter itself are (presumably legal)
residents of the Acadiana region.
Yet potentially his move had much less to do with
using taxpayer dollars to house illegal aliens than sending a general message addressing
some issue preferences articulated by the Church bureaucracy in its lobbying
activities – using the faithful's donations. While Catholic Charities of
Acadiana isn't officially part of the Church hierarchy, it includes both diocesan
Church laymen and clergy – of course Diocese of Lafayette Bishop Douglas Deshotel – as part of its
leadership and perhaps was the best vehicle by which Landry could send a
message.
And a well-deserved one with that: Louisiana's Church
needs to stick to public square judgments on moral and ethical matters as articulated
in the Church's Catechism
instead of taking ideological, not based in our faith, flights of fancy when
addressing other issues. One need only review the Louisiana Conference of
Catholic Bishops' summation
of the 2024 legislative session according to its preferences to see its
follies. While those items dealing with individual and family formation rightly
follow recognized tenets of our faith, others confuse a social/economic gospel
with the actual Gospel that strays from the genuine article.
Landry as a Catholic is blessed with an additional
tool to prevent that from happening. Perhaps by withholding the funding that
will force his diocese to withdraw funds otherwise allocated to the sketchier
uses to supplement running the shelter – hopefully those dollars that backed public
policy efforts to implement half-baked ideas divorced from any comprehensive understanding
of the tenets of Catholicism.
Dollars which in large part came from the
faithful. Catholics who wish to stay true to their faith should be outraged
that their resources – for in each parish and diocese some of that makes its
way to funding this kind of activism, both in word and deed – not only are
wasted when they can be used to fulfill genuinely the Church's mission through better
uses but also even can work at cross-purposes to their faith.
Of course, we are called
to support the material needs of the Church which typically is accomplished
through our parishes, where they retain some of the bounty but the remainder is
sent to the diocese and beyond. But if the Church's bureaucracy by its choices
for using it, perhaps with input from its ecclesiastical elements, strays from its
genuine mission, that leaves the faithful in a quandary.
I have tried to target my donations through
supplementary collections at mass or directly (my preference being for retired
priests). But if neither option is presented (online, my diocese not only
doesn't provide any options for restricted donations but it also gives no
financial information about how donations are spent – a red flag that should
warn you away from donating), then the faithful should give to organizations
outside of the diocese with a proven track record of fidelity to the Church's
spiritual teachings.
Until the Conference gets the message to keep
human ideological musings out of its advocacy, sadly tactics such as Landry's
must be employed, justifying his latest action.
