Catholics still giving to church
At the height of the crisis over child molesters in the priesthood, studies of rank-and-file Roman Catholics predicted a donor revolt. But nearly two years into the scandal, survey suggest that the rebellion bishops feared never fully materialized. While several U.S. dioceses failed to meet their fund-raising goals, it appears that giving to parishes and the church overall actually rose last year, according to Catholic researchers.
A lack of complete financial information from each of America’s 195 dioceses makes it impossible to definitively compare year-to-year totals, researchers said. However, the data available indicates Catholics gave consistently to their parishes – though in some areas, they withheld donations from local bishops’ appeals that cover diocesan operations and other costs.
Catholics “may be angry at bishops, but they say, ‘I love my parish and I love my pastor and I know the parish needs money to keep the lights on,”‘ said Mary Gautier, a senior researcher at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, who has collected donor data for three years.
Gautier released a donations report this month, based on surveys sent to the dioceses on behalf of the International Catholic Stewardship Council, an association of diocesan fund-raisers.
Not every diocese responded, and some failed to answer every question, but Gautier said her perception was that the dioceses generally were up a bit on collections.
Joseph Claude Harris, an independent researcher in Seattle who analyzes Catholic giving, extrapolated from Gautier’s data to estimate that parish collections rose by 4.9 percent last year to $5.8 billion, while giving to bishops’ appeals dropped by 2.3 percent to $635 million.
Other researchers are skeptical, wondering if the dioceses that haven’t reported information may be doing so because the figures are disappointing.
If parish giving is down in dioceses that haven’t reported, “then overall giving is down,” said Chuck Zech, an economics professor at Villanova University who specializes in Catholic church finances. “It’s self-reported. Why didn’t the other third (of U.S. dioceses) give us the information?”
Still, Zech said Harris’ finding were consistent with a survey he helped oversee with the Gallup Organization and Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities. The poll conducted last month found most Catholics had not reduced donations to their parish or diocese. But 27 percent said they did not respond to national appeals from bishops, an increase from 19 percent last year.
A financial report from the Vatican also supported the U.S. findings. Officials in Rome said donations from the American church increased last year, although no figures were released.
The trend is remarkable considering how badly the church has been battered since the crisis erupted in January 2002.
Polls last year indicated that between 30 percent and 40 percent of Catholics planned to contribute less. Voice of the Faithful, the lay reform group created in response to the crisis, formed an alternative fund for Catholic donors called the Voice of Compassion.
Yet, many dioceses, including some hard hit by the scandal, reported donations were on track last year and in some cases exceeded expectations.
In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which is in an ugly public fight with prosecutors over releasing priests’ files in a grand jury inquiry, donations from parishes rose $5.3 million, or 3.8 percent.
The Archdiocese of Chicago said that parish contributions rose by 7.6 percent, while a three-year fund-raising drive to expand schools and refurbish buildings raised record pledges of $220 million.
Other dioceses did not fare as well, though how much is due to the scandal and how much to a slow economy can be disputed.
The Archdiocese of Portland, Ore., which had more than 65 abuse claims pending at one point in 2002, said the archbishop’s appeal lost 3,300 donors.
And in the Archdiocese of Boston, where the crisis erupted and led to Cardinal Bernard Law’s resignation as archbishop, the cardinal’s appeal fell short of its goal by more than $7 million.
Edward Ricci, a Florida attorney who has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Catholic causes, withheld donations from the Diocese of Palm Beach, Fla., after two successive bishops there admitted abusing young men and resigned. Ricci even set up a Web site urging other parishioners to delay giving until the nation’s bishops enacted reforms.
He was surprised that donations had increased and questioned whether dioceses “sugar coated” the data they reported to minimize the scandal’s impact. But he also said it was possible that Catholics donated out of habit or a desire to put the crisis behind them.
“This is unfortunate,” he said, “but Catholics tend to be more sheep than leaders and they just fall into their old habits.”