We knew last year that Catholic churches were among the biggest recipients of “Paycheck Protection Program” (PPP) loans during the pandemic. By one estimate, more than 12,000 of the 17,000 Catholic churches in the U.S. applied for funding and most of them received a lot of taxpayer money — theoretically to keep lights on and staffers paid since the usual cash intake had come to a standstill.

But a new report from Reese Dunklin and Michael Rezendes of the Associated Press finds that a lot of those churches were already hoarding cash to begin with. They didn’t need the money at all. But they chose to take taxpayer money instead of dipping into their own savings.