The Catholic Lobby That Isn’t

Underlying the national debates on birth control and abortion is the enormous reach of the Catholic Church.

The church’s influence stems in part from its membership. About 24 percent of adults in the U.S. describe themselves as Catholic, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

That’s not to say that all Catholics agree with the bishops. A study by the Guttmacher Institute found that 98 percent of Catholic women who were sexually experienced and of child-bearing age had used a method of birth control other than natural family planning.

Despite the differences between clergy and laity, the church wields significant clout in Washington.

When Pew studied advocacy by religious groups last year, it ranked the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops second in expenditures, behind only the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

The conference spent an estimated $26.7 million in 2009 on efforts to influence public policy.

Yet it hasn’t reported any national lobbying expenditures since 2006.

Pew took a broad view of advocacy, compiling information from questionnaires, along with research of web sites, mission statements, tax documents and other records.

The church evidently draws a more narrow definition of lobbying. Because it reported no lobby expenditures to Congress, Pew cited an expenditure in the conference financial reports, called “policy activity.”

Financial statements published on the conference web site show that this spending increased in 2010, to $31.2 million.

Catholic colleges, hospitals and health networks are at the center of the conflicts over birth control spending. These institutions are more likely than the bishops to report activities that fall within the reporting requirements of the Lobbying Disclosure Act.

We’ve assembled a list of 96 Catholic organizations reporting lobbying expenditures in 2011. The compilation is by no means exhaustive, since there are undoubtedly local and regional groups that have lobbyists in Washington.

Yet the list is extensive, drawing data from First Street, Pew, the Center for Responsive Politics and organizations such as the Catholic Health Association of the United States and the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities.

Altogether, the lobbying expenditures of these organizations totaled nearly $11.5 million last year. That’s on top of the amount the bishops spent on “policy activity.” The conference’s 2011 figures have not yet been released.

Catholic organizations that lobbied Washington in 2011: