According to “Lobbying for the Faithful,” a report from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops spent $26.6 million in 2009 on advocacy and outreach. The bishops, according to the report, were only beaten out by the $88 million spent by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Pew also reported that Catholic Relief Services, at $4.7 million, was the 19th biggest religious spender in Washington. The U.S.C.C.B. and C.R.S said the figures were grossly overstated. Alan Cooperman, associate director for research at the forum, defended the study’s methodology and pointed out that the report included caveats about organizations that in addition to advocacy work were also large social service or relief and development providers. Forum representatives are meeting with officials from both agencies to resolve the dispute and Pew plans to offer new figures in a revision of the report.
Bishops, C.R.S. Challenge Pew Figures
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
An interview on economics and Catholic social teaching with Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winning economist and a professor at Columbia University.
Lesson one: I had to buy more stamps.
Celebrating the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea should give new energy to evangelization efforts, a new document from the International Theological Commission says.
In this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell walk us through the pontiff’s recovery, including “slight improvements” in his speech.