Catholics gave more to parishes, less to dioceses in 2002

Published: 2003-11-07

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Despite previous indications that the clergy sex abuse scandal was causing a drop in church giving by Catholics, a new report says U.S. Catholics actually contributed more to their parishes in 2002 than in 2001. The report said contributions to diocesan appeals nationwide declined slightly, however. The report was issued by Joseph C. Harris, a Seattle-based researcher who analyzed nationwide data compiled by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate in Washington. Based on CARA figures reporting from two thirds of the dioceses, Harris projected that weekly offertory collections in the parishes of all U.S. dioceses in 2002 was $273 million higher than in 2001, representing a 4.9 percent increase. His projected totals were $5.573 billion in 2001 offertory collections and $5.846 billion the following year.

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