St. Louis Catholic Charities Affiliate Tangles With Archdiocese

November 06, 2008

St. Louis Catholic Charities Affiliate Tangles With Archdiocese

The St. Louis Archdiocese and the local affiliate of Catholic Charities are involved in a dispute over the bishop’s demand that the charity turn over its fund-raising operations to the archdiocese, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The archdiocese’s acting leader, Bishop Robert Hermann, has said that he wants to better coordinate fund raising with the charity, hoping to combine the two organizations’ development offices to avoid donor fatigue. But former Catholic Charities board member James Gunn has accused archdiocesan officials of wanting to take over fund-raising efforts to promote conservative Catholic ideals at the expense of social services.

Comments

A recent piece by Tim Townsend has, very unfortunately, caused a great deal of confusion and concern for those faithful and generous donors, employees, and volunteers of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

1. The Archdiocese does not wish in any way to control the way Catholic Charities raises its money, or to consolidate Catholic Charities’ development office into theirs.

2. The responsibility for all Catholic Charities fundraising remains the sole responsibility of Catholic Charities.

3. Any funds donated to Catholic Charities will be used strictly in accordance with the wishes of the donor. No funds can be diverted for any other purpose. Not only is this Catholic Charities’ long standing policy—it is the law.

4. The only thing that has changed is that, henceforth, the Archdiocesan Chief Development Officer will act as a liaison with Catholic Charities to ensure that all efforts in this regard are well coordinated with Archdiocesan development efforts. This change was made to ensure the strategically planned and coordinated fundraising efforts with donors and maximize efficiencies. Catholic Charities fully supports this effort to improve collaboration.

5. Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of St. Louis will continue to operate as it always has as a fully constituted 501c3 under the laws of the State of Missouri.

6. NOTHING HAS CHANGED, except for better coordination of all fundraising efforts.

— Geronimo Nov 17, 06:46 PM #

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