AUSTRALIA
ABC – PM
[with audio]
Major churches and charities say they don’t think the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse will affect donations and support for their charitable works. Cardinal George Pell says the issue of sexual abuse has hurt the public image of the Catholic Church.The church is a major provider of health, education and charitable services in Australia.
Sue Lannin
Transcript
MARK COLVIN: Cardinal Pell says the issue of sexual abuse has hurt the public image of the Catholic Church.
The church is a major provider of health, education and charitable services in Australia.
So will the scandal hurt the church’s brand with consequences for charities and not-for-profit groups?
Finance Reporter, Sue Lannin.
SUE LANNIN: Australians make taxable donations each year of around $2 billion and the Catholic Church and its agencies are big recipients.
Organisations PM spoke to, including major charities and churches, said it was too early to tell if their donations would be affected by the fallout from child sexual abuse allegations and the setting up of a royal commission.
Advertising copywriter and commentator, Jane Caro, says she doesn’t think donations to Catholic charities will be affected.
JANE CARO: Look I think it’s a blow to the image of the Catholic Church. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. But I suspect it’ll have far less effect on charities, partly because people tend to compartmentalise, which they’ve been doing for a long time. They’ll think, oh yes, that goes on in a part of the church that I’m not involved with but my nice charity, my nice school, whatever it is, they’ll probably isolate a little bit from the generalised scandals to the Catholic Church.
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