Supreme Court nomination draws attention to People of Praise

About 440 people in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis are among more than 1,600 around the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean who count themselves members of People of Praise, a charismatic covenant community that welcomes all Christians and works for the common good.

The group has drawn national attention with President Donald Trump’s Sept. 26 nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court of Amy Coney Barrett, a federal judge on the 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals. A Catholic, Barrett’s confirmation process to the appeals court in 2017 first drew questions about her faith and connections with People of Praise.

“The dogma lives loudly within you,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, said at one point, prompting widespread criticism that such statements reflected an anti-religious bias.

Barrett, a former law professor at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, told senators she was a faithful Catholic and her religious beliefs would not affect her decisions as an appellate judge.

With her current nomination to the country’s highest court (Barrett’s confirmation hearing is set for Oct. 12), and the Supreme Court’s impact on such issues as abortion, immigration and health care, questions again are being raised about Barrett’s Catholic faith and her affiliation with People of Praise, which The New York Times reported in 2017 included her name on its website until it was removed that same year, according to a Sept. 24 America Magazine report on Barrett and People of Praise.

Some media reports have referred to People of Praise as a cult with undue influence over its members, and criticized its former practice of calling women leaders “handmaids.”

In a Sept. 24 blog post on mirrorofjustice.blogs.com, which is affiliated with the Program on Church, State & Society at Notre Dame Law School, Rick Garnett, a colleague of Barrett’s at Notre Dame, addressed Barrett’s nomination and criticisms of People of Praise, saying in part that questions about a judicial nominee’s faith could be acceptable.

“What should be off-limits,” Garnett wrote, “are (a) misrepresenting or willfully misunderstanding a nominee’s or candidate’s religious beliefs and (b) applying, without justification or warrant, greater suspicion and skepticism to a candidate’s or nominee’s sworn testimony because of disagreement with that candidate’s or nominee’s religious beliefs or affiliations.”

In a Sept. 19 story about People of Praise, Catholic News Agency said one former member acknowledged criticisms the group has faced, and said groups like People of Praise can develop unhealthy dynamics without careful attention. But he told CNA that “the rank and file People of Praise members are very, very good people, wholeheartedly dedicated to the Lord.”

So, what is People of Praise? What do its members profess, and how might it influence their professional lives? What does its presence look like in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis?

People of Praise leaders in the Twin Cities referred questions to Sean Connolly, a spokesman for the South Bend-based group. But as The Catholic Spirit prepared to go to press, Connolly said in an email that recent questions about the group have overwhelmed its ability to respond.

According to its website, peopleofpraise.org, People of Praise is a charismatic Christian community that admires the first Christians “who were led by the Holy Spirit to form a community. Those early believers put their lives and their possessions in common, and ‘there were no needy persons among them.’”

People of Praise includes Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Baptists, Pentecostals and other denominational and nondenominational Christians, the group’s website says, adding that members remain faithful to their own churches, but they also “have found a way to live together.”

An association of priests and celibate men connected with the group is the Brotherhood of the People of Praise, and its members include Auxiliary Bishop Peter Smith of Portland, Oregon. There also are ordained Catholic deacons in the community, including in the Twin Cities, which is called the Servant Branch.

Bishop Smith has told CNA that People of Praise is “a lay movement in the Church. There are plenty of these. We continue to try and live out life and our calling as Catholics, as baptized Christians, in this particular way, as other people do in other callings or ways that God may lead them into the Church.”

Founded in 1971 in South Bend during an era that saw growing numbers of lay ministries and lay movements, People of Praise says it is grounded in love and service to fellow community members, made firm by “covenant commitments” that members make to the group after several years of discernment. The covenant is “neither an oath nor a vow, but it is an important personal commitment,” the website states, adding that “People of Praise members should always follow their consciences, as formed by the light of reason, and by the experience and the teachings of their churches.” If a member feels called to another way of life, that member would be released from the covenant.

People of Praise branches often meet in small groups and hold larger community meetings. Members sometimes live in close proximity to one another.

Also called to serve the broader community, members help people in need, with some deciding to move into poorer neighborhoods to help rebuild homes, hold prayer meetings, run camps for children, grow food on urban farms and provide other assistance.

People of Praise supports marriages and families, and it developed a course for married couples titled Marriage in Christ. More than 1,300 couples have completed the course, which is based on prayer, conversation and forgiveness, and the program is being used in parishes throughout the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The group has established five schools, including Trinity School at River Ridge in Eagan, as well as Trinity Schools in South Bend and Falls Church, Virginia, and Trinity Academy in Portland, Oregon. The middle and high schools have received a total of eight Blue Ribbon awards from the U.S. Department of Education — three at the Eagan school — and the Trinity curriculum has served as a model for more than 30 private and public charter schools nationwide.

People of Praise also founded Praise Academy, an elementary school located in an impoverished neighborhood of Shreveport, Louisiana. A retired Catholic couple from St. Paul with two children living and serving people in need in a People of Praise community in Shreveport now work at the school.

The Brotherhood of the People of Praise was founded with the support of the late Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, the CNA report said, quoting Cardinal George as once writing of People of Praise: “In my acquaintance with the People of Praise, I have found men and women dedicated to God and eager to seek and do His divine will. They are shaped by love of Holy Scripture, prayer and community; and the Church’s mission is richer for their presence.”