Can voter lobbying groups use ‘Catholic’ in their names? Bishops may have to decide

Amid this year’s contentious presidential election, a number of organizations actively courted Catholic voters, who were considered to be among the election’s decisive constituencies.

Several such groups were those that boasted the word “Catholic” in their names, despite not being official church entities. This appropriation of the word “Catholic” may exploit what one canon law scholar described to OSV News as a “blind spot” in canon law, the Catholic Church’s principal legislative code.

Father John Paul Kimes, a Maronite Catholic priest and fellow in canon law at the University of Notre Dame’s de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, told OSV News that canon law requires organizations formed by Catholics to obtain ecclesiastical permission in order to use the word “Catholic” in its name.

“It’s attached to the fact that the bishop has both governing and teaching authority within the diocese,” he said.

A common example involves Catholic schools: the bishop’s approval typically is required for a Catholic school to use the word “Catholic” in its name.

“So it’s both a question of governance and a question of teaching that both fall directly under his responsibility within his diocese,” Father Kimes said.

While it clearly mandates obtaining that permission, canon law actually “does not foresee there being a civil organization that exists outside of the church that wants to call itself ‘Catholic,'” Father Kimes said.

Catholics for Trump, Catholics for Harris-Walz, CatholicVote, Catholics Vote Common Good, Catholic Democrats, Catholics for Kamala, Catholics for Harris, and Catholics for Catholics are among the entities that have relied on the name “Catholic” to rally Catholic voters from both major parties, while professing their Catholic bona fides.

Most of these organizations are structured under the U.S. tax code as 501(c)(4) entities — “social welfare organizations” that can retain tax-exempt status while engaging in what the Internal Revenue Service calls “some political activities, so long as that is not its primary activity.”

Roger Colinvaux, professor of law at The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law and an expert on nonprofits, philanthropy and federal taxation, told OSV News that “501(c)(4)s may endorse candidates and … engage in electioneering activity” up to “maybe 49.99%” of their overall activities. But, he said, “It’s extremely hard to administer that rule” and evaluate compliance “on both a quantitative and qualitative basis.”

Still, while the IRS requirements may be satisfied, whether these groups are in compliance with canon law is another matter.

“Obviously the (canon law) code doesn’t speak about 501(c)(4)s or 501(c)(3)s. It doesn’t understand what these things are,” Father Kimes told OSV News.

Nonetheless, said Father Kimes, canon law “establishes a very clear principle, at least, that the use of the term ‘Catholic’ within a diocese is at the discretion of the bishop, unless … the title has been conferred by a superior authority.”

“The permission to use the word ‘Catholic’ comes primarily from the diocesan bishop of the location of the place” where an organization operates, Father John P. Beal, professor of canon law at The Catholic University of America, explained to OSV News. “If it is a nationwide thing, it would be the bishops’ conference. And if it’s international, it would be the pope or the Holy See.”

Canon law specifies in at least two places (Canons 216 and 300) that no “association” or “undertaking” is to claim or assume the name “Catholic” without “the consent of competent ecclesiastical authority.”

Canon 216 acknowledges that “since they participate in the mission of the Church, all the Christian faithful have the right to promote or sustain apostolic action even by their own undertakings, according to their own state and condition.”

Yet the same canon then cautions, “Nevertheless, no undertaking is to claim the name Catholic without the consent of competent ecclesiastical authority.”

Similarly, Canon 300 declares that “no association is to assume the name Catholic without the consent of competent ecclesiastical authority according to the norm of can. 312,” which describes the applicable authority for a given organization based on whether its activities operate at the diocesan, national or international levels.

Canon 312 stresses that “written consent of the diocesan bishop is required for the valid erection of an association or section of an association in a diocese even if it is done by virtue of apostolic privilege.”

Canon law also covers private associations of the faithful, which — although not regarded as “juridic persons” (that is, legal entities) by the church, as are their public counterparts — remain “subject to the vigilance of competent ecclesiastical authority” (Canon 305).

OSV News asked several politically oriented organizations using the name “Catholic” if they had secured episcopal approval to do so, regardless of their groups’ incorporation or tax status. Many of the groups, including Catholics for Harris-Walz and Catholics for Trump, did not respond to OSV News’ request for comment.

Among the organizations that responded, some leaders claimed their use of the plural “Catholics” in their name exempted them from canonical requirements.

Christopher Hale, founder of Catholics for Harris, told OSV News in an email that his “volunteer-driven grassroots organization” had been advised by its unnamed canon lawyer, whom he said had provided pro bono guidance, that it was not subject to canon law.

“Because we use the plural term Catholics and clearly present ourselves as an independent grassroots organization with no affiliation to the Church or its subsidiaries, our canonical counsel has confirmed that we do not need permission from any ordinary to function publicly,” said Hale.

Father Kimes argued that canon law does not distinguish between the singular and plural use of “Catholic,” and that efforts to interpret such a distinction in canon law reflect “a very American approach to the understanding of words.”

“That’s how you get around trademark law,” he said, dismissing the attempted distinction as unpersuasive.

Some groups, however, claimed to have a kind of de facto approval from a bishop to use “Catholic” in their name, while others told OSV News that canon lawyers assured them they could do so under church law.

Joshua Mercer of CatholicVote — which operates both a 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) nonprofit, with the latter having formally endorsed the Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, during the GOP primary and worked to mobilize Catholic voters behind him in the general election — told OSV News that the organization is “in good standing” with the Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin, where its principal activities are currently based. The organization’s website says it does not claim to speak for any bishop or the U.S. bishops, but represents to the public that it is “in full communion with and 100% faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.”

Mercer responded by telephone to OSV News’ Oct. 23 request for information emailed to CatholicVote’s president Brian Burch.

“We have the permission of the bishop to do what we’re doing,” Mercer, who edits the CatholicVote newsletter “The Loop,” said, referring to Bishop Donald J. Hying. “The bishop is aware of us using the term Catholic and that’s been long-standing.”

OSV News has reached out to Bishop Hying by email and phone and is awaiting a response.

Mercer claimed Bishop Hying’s predecessor, the late Bishop Robert C. Morlino, had actually been the ordinary to initially issue permission to CatholicVote, whose 501(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations are actually incorporated in the state of Michigan under two entities that do not use the word “Catholic”: Fidelis and the Fidelis Center for Law and Policy.

The mailing address for both Fidelis’ entities falls within the Diocese of Gaylord. But in an Oct. 23 email to OSV News, diocesan communications director Renee Shimmel advised that “no permission was granted” to the organization, “and the Diocese of Gaylord is not affiliated in any way.”

Bishop Timothy L. Doherty of Lafayette, Ind. — the diocese in which CatholicVote maintains a post office box at which to receive donations — told OSV News in an Oct. 23 email, “Neither I nor my predecessors ever gave an endorsement or approval to CatholicVote.

“I am aware of them and have been on the phone with their leader a couple of times,” wrote Bishop Doherty. “In the first call, I cited the canon law … but as an organization with roots elsewhere, there might have been an approval.”

Mercer said he was “not 100 percent sure” that Bishop Morlino — who died in 2018 — had actually provided approval in writing for CatholicVote to use “Catholic” in their name. Mercer referred OSV News to Burch for confirmation.

OSV News attempted to follow up with Burch to clarify whether the bishop gave any such written approval, but as of publication had not yet received a response.

Steven A. Krueger, president of Catholic Democrats — which describes itself as a “not-for-profit national organization representing a Catholic voice within the Democratic Party, and a voice for the Democratic Party in the Catholic community” — told OSV News, “With respect to our use of the word Catholic in our name, I would characterize our ‘episcopal permission’ to be a ‘de facto approval’ or ‘constructive approval’ in nature.”

Krueger, who said the Boston-based organization counts “over 60,000 supporters across all technology platforms in all 50 states,” said that shortly after his 2008 appointment as executive director, the group “recruited one of the top canon lawyers in the Catholic Church in the United States, Dr. Nicholas P. Cafardi” as a board member and adviser “on a range of matters.”

Due to illness, Cafardi had to step down after 16 years, said Krueger.

Krueger also cited a 2013 panel discussion and Mass the organization had co-sponsored — with the former including “two key senior staff members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops” as panelists, and the latter receiving coverage by the now-closed domestic office of the USCCB’s Catholic News Service — amounted to “‘constructive approval’ of Catholic Democrats” and “a form of ‘implied consent.'”

As “another form of ‘de facto approval’ of Catholic Democrats,” Krueger noted that Catholic Democrats’ X account “is followed by two cardinals,” Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, now retired archbishop of Boston, and Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, N.J., who “only follow 562 and 129 accounts respectively.” The Catholic Democrats president said he has “personally known Cardinal O’Malley since 2004.”

In an email to OSV News, the 501(c)(4) Catholics for Catholics — which according to its website is “inspiring a new wave of Catholicism and patriotism in America” by “fighting to bring the Catholic faith back into the public square through rosary rallies, media, political action & more” — said that its name selection had included consultation “with canon law experts, including Philip Gray, who serves as president of The Saint Joseph Foundation,” an Ohio-based nonprofit that provides canon law assistance.

“The name was vetted to fall within the full parameters of Canon 216,” said the organization, adding that “‘Catholics for Catholics’ represents a balance between identifying it as a group made up of Catholics without the organization calling itself ‘Catholic’ or claiming to represent the Catholic Church.”

Speaking by telephone with OSV News Oct. 28, Gray — who declined to confirm he was a canonical consultant for Catholics for Catholics — said that based on the above information the group provided to OSV News, Catholics for Catholics was in conformity with canon law, which included a “nuance” between “a Catholic apostolate … that is an official action of the official church, a public association” and “an apostolate of the Catholic laity” that “means that it’s a private association.”

“To be a public association requires the erection by a bishop or a conference of bishops or the Holy See,” Gray argued. “But to erect a private association only requires a Catholic to desire to pursue apostolic action on the basis of their baptismal mandate.”

But in October 2022, the bishops of the Arizona Catholic Conference issued a public alert to Catholics about groups engaging in “unapproved political efforts” that use the word “Catholic” in their name, noting, “The use of the name ‘catholic’ implies that the initiative in some way represents the Catholic Church.”

“Hence the competent authority — in most instances the local bishop — must give permission for any entity, endeavor, or movement to call itself ‘catholic.’ Those who do so without permission are in violation of Church teaching and law,” the bishops’ conference stated.

The following month, Catholics for Catholics issued its own statement endorsing the Arizona Catholic Conference’s stance, explaining their organization “engages in political activism focused on advancing conservative, traditional Catholic principles in the public square.” The statement claimed Catholics for Catholics’ name was canonically vetted, but did not indicate whether the group had sought any kind of ecclesiastical permission in that process.

OSV News is awaiting a response from Bishop John P. Dolan of Phoenix, who signed the Arizona bishops’ statement and in whose diocese Catholics for Catholics is headquartered, on whether the organization ever requested and received episcopal permission to use “Catholic” in its name.

Gray told OSV News that his interpretation of canon law on this point focused specifically on the nature of the undertaking being labeled as “Catholic.”

“The issue is not, ‘Are you using the term Catholic in your name?'” he said. “The issue is, ‘Are you pursuing an undertaking in keeping with your baptismal promises in a private manner, or are you pursuing action in the name of the church?’ And if you’re pursuing action in the name of your church, you’ve got to have the permission of the bishop.”

Still, Father Beal told OSV News there are wide implications for the use of the word “Catholic” with organizations that openly endorse political candidates — unlike the USCCB, which is focusing on forming Catholics’ consciences to fulfill their responsibilities as citizens.

“It calls into question other Catholic entities,” he said. “What individual Catholics do on their own is fine, but don’t call it ‘Catholic.’ Don’t identify the church with the activity of individuals.”

Father Kimes said the issue raises another question — one on whether “the teaching authority and the governance authority of the bishop extend over the use of the term ‘Catholic’ to institutions that themselves are not ecclesial.”

He said that one option would be to leave it “up to the bishop of the local place where the organization is based to say, ‘This is organization is using the term ‘Catholic’ outside of my permission.'”

A “more definitive” approach, said Father Kimes, would be to ask the Holy See for permission “to create particular law in the U.S. … occasioned by this unique concept in American civil law” regarding the use of “Catholic” for 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations.

The USCCB has already obtained such approval for complementary legislation regarding, among other canons, those relating to fundraising appeals (Canon 1262) and acts of “extraordinary administration by a diocesan bishop”(Canon 1277).

If approval were obtained from the Vatican, a particular law on the use of “Catholic” by 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) groups would then be promulgated and posted along with the existing complementary norms for canon law on the USCCB website, said Father Kimes.

This story was co-authored by Gina Christian, a multimedia reporter for OSV News, and Kate Scanlon, a Washington-based national reporter for OSV News.

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