Since President Trump nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, her membership in the charismatic group People of Praise has drawn much scrutiny, with some comparing it to a cult.
The group, a majority Catholic Christian fellowship group based in South Bend, Indiana, has been disparaged for its traditionalist leanings on sexual ethics and familial norms. Some news outlets and pundits have compared People of Praise to Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, erroneously claiming that the group inspired the dystopian series.
The controversy surrounding Barrett and her Catholic faith comes as the Senate anticipates an intense confirmation process, with attacks on the judge where “no blow is too low.” Barrett has already been party to one such process, in 2017, when California Sen. Dianne Feinstein made her a household name with social conservatives by declaring that the “dogma lives loudly within you.”
That accusation of radically traditional dogma, which Barrett has repeatedly denied influences her jurisprudence, has, by extension, been cast upon People of Praise because of her involvement in the group. The Washington Examiner compiled a list of misunderstandings and misrepresentations of People of Praise, with explanations of where the religious organization actually stands.
1. People of Praise isn’t a cult.
The group has drawn much criticism for its use of language that is common in Christianity, as well as its embrace of charismatic Catholicism, a mid-century phenomenon that is similar to Pentecostalism. Members of the group often make a personal commitment called a “covenant,” which is usually discerned after several years with the group. According to internal documents, the covenant asks them “to obey the direction of the Holy Spirit manifested in and through these ministries in full harmony with the church,” leading some to claim that the group “subjugates” women by demanding obedience.
The word covenant, along with references to men as the spiritual “heads” of families and small groups, is uncommon in American Catholicism, but is increasingly seen in Pentecostalism and evangelicalism, from which People of Praise draws much of its inspiration. The covenants, in which members say they will follow the spiritual leadership of the group, are essentially marks of membership, “resembling the permanent commitments made in Christian religious orders,” according to the group’s literature.
They are not, however, binding in the way that a priest or a nun would take a vow swearing loyalty to the Catholic Church because People of Praise is an ecumenical group, not attached to a specific church or Christian denomination. The group stresses that members who make a covenant “always follow their consciences, as formed by the light of reason, and by the experience and the teachings of their churches.”
2. People of Praise did not inspire The Handmaid’s Tale.
The claim that Atwood based her books on People of Praise has dogged Barrett since Trump considered her for a Supreme Court seat in 2018. It arose from the fact that, until recently, female leaders in the group were called “handmaidens,” a reference to a passage in the Gospel of Luke. The group dropped the title after The Handmaid’s Tale became a popular TV series.
Atwood told the New Yorker that, when researching for her novel in the 1980s, she got the name from a different charismatic group, People of Hope, which has no relation to People of Praise. The group’s spokesman, Sean Connolly, said that there is no reason to believe that Atwood based the series on any aspect of People of Praise, which did not receive much media attention until the 1990s.
The term “handmaiden” has long had significance in Christianity, and in particular to Catholics devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, according to scripture, called herself the “handmaiden of the Lord” when the archangel Gabriel asked her to be the Christ-bearer. The moment is often depicted in Christian iconography.
3. People of Praise is not particularly conservative.
The group, although it attracts many people with politically conservative views, is not considered religiously conservative in several important ways. It is ecumenical and charismatic, two qualities at which many liturgically conservative Catholics look askance. It encourages communal living, a unique aspect of its ministry that was the subject of a 1996 profile in the South Bend Tribune, which praised it as an “ongoing experiment in communal living, with Christian beliefs at its core.”
The group has enjoyed friendly relations with Pope Francis, contrary to many politically conservative Catholics. Along with several hundred other ecumenical groups, People of Praise celebrated the 50th anniversary of ecumenism’s revival in the Catholic Church in Rome. Francis, in 2014, appointed Peter Smith, a member of the group, to be auxiliary bishop to the Archdiocese of Portland.
4. Amy Coney Barrett does not advertise her membership in the group.
Much of the criticism surrounding People of Praise rests on Feinstein’s supposition that, as a judge, Barrett would allow her spiritual beliefs and practices to influence her rulings. But Barrett, aside from saying that she separates her religious belief from her interpretation of the law, keeps her personal life private. As a public figure, she has never once confirmed her membership in People of Praise, although many others have.
A Sunday Politico profile identified pictures of Barrett in People of Praise internal publications. Before that, Nathan O’Halloran, a Jesuit priest who grew up in a charismatic community, wrote a 2018 op-ed published in the Jesuit magazine America recounting how he, along with others, “extended our hands in prayer” over Barrett and her family.
