“The number of parishes that reached their assigned goal climbed to 42, with another 20 parishes bringing in more than 90% of their goal.” From the DOR web site in reference to the 2008 Catholic Ministries Appeal(CMA).

When the DOR states that the 2008 CMA set a new record for giving it must be remembered that much of the “giving” was due to coercion or confiscation. The DOR’s policy is to extract the funds from each parish’s general fund if they don’t meet their DOR established goal. Also, some people donate because they know that the diocese will get the money anyway through this confiscation of funds from the parish.

The fact that only 42 out of 176 parishes met their goals this year(before confiscation) says a lot about the state of the diocese. Obviously the school closings and the parish clusterings are having a significant impact on giving.

The best solution would be for a sincere campaign of evangelization in this area. Bringing people into the Church will result in an increase in giving and will stop the decline in parishes and schools. This is something we would all be happy to support.