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The deeper one's faith, the greater one's generosity, cardinal says

By Catholic News Service

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. -- Noting that churchgoers' generosity to charity has declined in recent decades, U.S. Cardinal John P. Foley told a Catholic donors group that "generosity is related to faith; the greater and deeper our faith, the greater will be our generosity."

In an address Jan. 29 to a meeting of Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities, or FADICA, Cardinal Foley, grandmaster of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, recalled his childhood and young adult years when even children commonly tithed a percentage of their allowance or other earnings to their churches and other charities.

An advance copy of the text of his speech was released by his Vatican office.

"What has happened in the years since the 1950s," when people like his parents "gave easily," he asked.

He recalled his mother and father donating "at least 10 percent and as much as 20 percent of their income to the church, depriving themselves of new coats or a new car because they knew that the Little Sisters of the Poor or the Dominican sisters who cared for those dying of cancer needed the help much more than either of them needed a new coat."

A survey done last spring of Christians about their donations found that 46 percent had reduced their contributions to charity because of the economy. The worst plunges of the stock market and the related job loss and corporate cuts of 2008 occurred in the last four months.

The poll by Wilson Research Strategies for Dunham+Company noted that the more committed people are to their religious practices, the less likely they were to say they had reduced their charitable giving.

The poll also found those most affected by the economic downturn at its worst point last year were those over age 55, which also is the segment of the population most supportive of nonprofit organizations.

Cardinal Foley cited the book "Passing the Plate: Why American Christians Don't Give Away More Money," by Christian Smith, Michael Emerson and Patricia Snell, which notes that in 2005 U.S. Catholics who regularly practice their faith had an average income of more than $57,000.

"They conclude that if all committed Christians, not just Catholics, could be moved to more generous giving, say to 10 percent of income, a total of more than $133 billion -- that's $133 billion -- more dollars could be raised for worthy causes each year," said Cardinal Foley, who headed the Pontifical Council for Social Communications for 23 years until 2007.

The authors noted that one in five Christians gives nothing to the church and that a small minority of generous donors contribute most of the money used by Christian charities, he said.

The book also said that despite a massive growth in per capita income the percentage donated has declined, and that wealthier U.S. Christians give little or no more money as a percentage of their income than do poorer Christians.

Cardinal Foley said the authors suggest that one reason why U.S. Christians donate relatively little to the church is that giving patterns in general in the United States are "occasional and situational, not a consistent, structured, routine practice."

Some people also don't trust church officials, fail to understand the real needs of a community or believe that they don't have the money to give, he said. Some are convinced that "others are not doing their share" or that the privatization of family finances removes "income from any sense of accountability," according to Cardinal Foley.

"Nobody has to tell any of you that the current financial crisis is affecting contributions to religion," he said.

"In the stock market decline, the endowments of many institutions, such as colleges, have suffered huge losses," he continued. "Pledges that many people have made are going unfulfilled because people have lost jobs, investments or income. In some cases, fear and caution have been substituted for generosity."

But during the Great Depression of the 1930s, people were proportionately more generous toward churches than they were in better economic times, he said.

"Frankly, some people saw that the church was providing more services for them more efficiently than public or even other private agencies," he said. "Other people apparently concluded: This is what God wants me to do, to sacrifice for his service and to help others."

Cardinal Foley recalled that the pastor of his parish, as a newly ordained priest, was beginning the practice of tithing -- 5 percent of income for the parish and 5 percent for other charities.

The weekly envelopes reminded parishioners of the 5 percent goal and the appeal was largely successful "at a time when 95 percent of the parishioners were coming to Sunday Mass and when one-third of parishioners came to Mass every day during Lent."

"The more we believe what God has revealed, especially about charity, the greater will be the amount we give," he said.

FADICA's 33rd annual meeting Jan. 29-30 focused on "Reinventing Catholic Philanthropy," with a lineup of speakers from charitable organizations, colleges and private endowment funds.