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	Catholic Charities Still Struggling to Make up Fundraising Losses By Alan Burke Salem News [Massachusetts] November 28, 2005 At the depths of the scandal, the news could not have been worse for Catholic Charities. Priests were guilty of abusing children, and Cardinal Bernard Law, the region's spiritual father, had known about it and done little to stop it. The outrage touched many churchgoers. And it threatened to taint anything connected to the church, including Catholic Charities, an organization that serves the needy regardless of their religion, while relying on the donations of ordinary people here on the North Shore to cover a vital 13 to 15 percent of its local expenses. Today, as a new Christmas season begins, Virginia Doocy, the agency's North Shore director, says the collection plate still is not as full as it was before the scandal. So far this year, donations to Catholic Charities North are $50,000 short of what they were in 2001, the year before the priest abuse scandal exploded. And statewide, at least, the agency's fundraising continues to be touched by controversy. This week, Catholic Charities made headlines when Archbishop Sean O'Malley canceled plans to attend a fundraiser next month at which Boston Mayor Thomas Menino will be honored. A conservative Catholic lobbying group has called for a boycott of the dinner, because Menino backs abortion rights and gay marriage. On the North Shore, however, it is the priest abuse scandal that has taken the biggest toll on Catholic Charities. The troubles in the church remain a vivid memory. "Some people called to say, 'I'm not giving to the church anymore,"' Doocy said. Many of those have kept their word. The annual spring dinner at the Hawthorne Hotel — where donors used to line up to have photos taken with Cardinal Law — has changed. "It's not that kind of event anymore," Doocy says. The new archbishop, Sean O'Malley, might be invited, but the affair does not revolve around his presence. As a Catholic, Doocy said, it was "really disheartening" to see people turning away. But she is quick to separate Catholic Charities from the church leadership. Moreover, so did most donors, saying, "I'm giving this to Catholic Charities and not the archdiocese." Realtor Barbara White of Swampscott is a longtime and committed giver — so much so that friends often called her to discuss the situation. But she drew a sharp distinction between a leadership seen as a corrupt and a respected charity which she sees as independent. "Some people who'd given to the Cardinal's Appeal now gave more generously to Catholic Charities," she said. "They knew that money would go to help people. It wouldn't be used as a slush fund to pay legal bills." Catholic Charities contributes to food banks, provides assistance to families needing heating oil, handles adoptions and refers the sick to available medical care, among other things. Some of its funding comes from government grants, some from state programs and some from the archdiocese. Locally, its headquarters is in Lynn, with satellite offices in Salem and Gloucester. One byproduct of the drop in donations has been an increase in direct-mail contributions. "We knew we had supporters who were not going to our events," Doocy said. Since the scandal, donations from direct-mail fundraising have tripled — from less than $100,000 in 2001 to $300,000 today. The extra money helped, Doocy said, especially when the hard-hit archdiocese could no longer offer as much support as in the past. But even with the greater success of direct mail appeals, overall contributions are down. Raw numbers don't tell the whole story, of course. Factors other than the abuse scandal can hurt donations. For example, this year she worries about a string of major disasters, from the Southeast Asian tidal wave to Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Pakistan. Have charitable givers reached their limits? White remains optimistic, however, that donors will see that real needs remain on the North Shore — and sometimes that need is stronger than any scandal. "People give for all sorts of reasons," she said. "Maybe when they were young, a parent died and Catholic Charities helped their family. Maybe they've done very well in life and they want a way to give back. ... And Catholic Charities helps everybody, even though it has Catholic in its name." CATHOLIC CHARITIES NORTH Fundraising totals for Catholic Charities on the North Shore: 2001 $525,000 2002 $467,000 2003 $467,000 2004 $500,000 2005 $475,000
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