# The dangers of ‘Catholic, Inc.’

**By:** Patrick Neve  
**Published:** 2026-07-08T20:00:00.000Z  
**Source:** [The Catholic Herald](https://thecatholicherald.com/article/the-dangers-of-catholic-inc)

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 The term “Catholic, Inc.” is popular online, often used by smaller content creators and plugged-in Twitter Catholics to refer to relatively large Catholic media organisations.
Some of these organisations are institutions, while others are very large personal brands that have taken on institutional shape. But the term is better used to describe organisations much larger and more bureaucratic: the national charities, the NGOs, the diocesan apparatuses, the faceless machinery of the Church in America.
This Catholic, Inc. is much more dangerous to the Church than the former, because it has become largely disconnected from the mission of the Church.
The popular saying misattributed to St Francis, “Preach the gospel at all times; use words when necessary,” was the rallying cry decades ago when Catholic, Inc. was being formed.
The Church has always been charitable, and the Church has always been at the forefront of building hospitals and schools. Unfortunately, over time, that truism has been warped into something closer to “preaching the gospel is rarely necessary; don’t use words”. We see this in the way Catholic, Inc. has latched onto “synodality” and the idea that listening is the most important thing. Listening is the opposite of preaching, and while it needs to be done, it is certainly less controversial than the latter.
Once, the witness of the Church was seen very clearly in our care for the poor and in our charitable work. It was radical to build hospitals, a natural outflow of our love for Christ and of seeing Christ in our neighbour. It still is. But we live in a post-Christian society that takes charity, hospitals and schools for granted. Today, merely doing those things is not enough to distinguish Christians from the average person. What is needed to distinguish us now, more than ever, is explicit preaching.
That is the message behind Christ’s healing of the paralytic, which was read at Mass a couple of days ago. Some men bring their paralysed friend to see Jesus, and though this paralysed man cannot walk, Jesus begins by forgiving his sins. Then, as a sign of His divinity, Christ heals him. The Church works the same way. We preach the good news of the gospel, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and then, as a sign that the message is to be believed, we give people things they could not get anywhere else.
We give them spiritual healing first, and then we give them physical healing. The physical healing is a by-product, not the sole method through which we preach the gospel. But an overemphasis on physical charity at the expense of the gospel has become clear in the way these large non-profits talk about the poor. They appeal to things like “welcoming the stranger”, and stop there. We give them food and shelter because that is what the grant money is for, but don’t preach the Gospel. It seems that, over time, these NGOs have stopped caring about the primary mission.
Pope Leo has taken notice of this. Addressing the Dicastery for Evangelisation this May, he insisted that “evangelisation must remain the fundamental motivation behind every action of the universal Church”. Every action of the universal Church and of local communities alike, the fundamental motivation behind all of it, must be explicit preaching to repent and believe in the Gospel.
Which means that if a Catholic charity has no interest in whether anyone meets Christ, it is not fulfilling the mission of the Church. It is fulfilling the mission of whoever funds it.
This brings us to a very real danger that Catholic, Inc. presents in the Church. It is no secret that a great deal of our Catholic charitable work is funded by government grants. This makes our charitable work beholden to whoever holds political office and is willing to pay. This does not directly imply corruption, but it does create a bias in these organisations. It is simply true that whoever is your benefactor has a claim on you, and you are more likely to do what they say. What has happened as a result is that Catholic, Inc. is beholden to state interests and staffed by ideologues.
I do not want anyone to mistake my meaning: Good people are working in these charities, especially in the nitty-gritty work of actually caring for the poor, which is face-to-face, very difficult work that requires a heart for it to do well and to keep doing for a long time.
It is also true that this systemic lapse in explicit preaching is not always malicious. For many, it may be well meaning and well intentioned. The corporal works of mercy are important and necessary aspects of the Faith, after all. They must be done. But it does seem that there are interests in the Church that are against the gospel being preached alongside those works, and I do think there are a few, particularly in leadership, who actively do not want it preached.
To root out this problem, our bishops have the primary responsibility. They need to examine the people we have leading these organisations. Are they purely “experts” in social services, mere bureaucrats, or are they apostles? Those two kinds of people do two different things.
Furthermore, if you work in these institutions, you need to start evangelising your co-workers. Be the weird super-committed Catholic in the building. Because that is the only way we are really going to see any change. We could solve world hunger tomorrow, but if no one knew Christ, our work would be in vain.

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