Very well said. Lots of learning for all catholic activities to do.

As much as I appreciate and support the work of Priests for Life, I think their mailing campaign falls into the spam category.

And Food for the Poor.  I wouldn’t have had the guts to say it’s disrespectful, but I really think it is.  Plus it’s just plain aggravating: I gave $25 to a visiting priest asking for Food for the Poor once, and in the two years since that time, they’ve more than spent my donations on mailings to me.  Why would I continue to give to them then, if I just feel hey’re going to spend it on sending more mail to me—under my maiden name?

Amen brother. I must receive something at least three times a week. I use to feel guilty tossing the stuff but I did get over it. All I can see when I receive this mail anymore is how much it must cost them to produce all that stuff. Free rosaries,  taping dimes to the letter, return address labels, etc..I know you have to advertise but once your name is on a mailing list, you are done—I am a member of st Vincent De Paul for 20 years. I know where every penny of our money goes—to the needy in our area.

YOU were annoyed? Ordering from Ignatius Press got me inundated with appeals addressed “Dear Fellow Catholic”, although I am not a Catholic or lapsed Catholic or crypto-Catholic or any other kind. (I know it was Ignatius because some of them copied a unique error of addressing me as “Mrs.”)

Catholic Answers definitely falls into the Catholic junk mail category. They DESPERATELY need my money EVERY MONTH or the MORMONS will TAKE OVER our CHILDREN and the FORUMS will HAVE TO CLOSE!! Really. Very, very poorly (and obnoxiously) done. Scare tactics. I gave to them once, but will never give to them again.

Oh, and that forum their always begging me for money to support? My funds are limited. Why would I forego giving to the poor so I can give to a Catholic forum for teenagers to waste time arguing about the SSPX or whatever? Put up ads or something.

And please don’t send medals and prayer cards with our Holy Saints on them! I cringe at the thought of how many people just toss them in the trash. I know that they are not blessed, but I find it very disrespectful! Ditto to the lady who said that these organizations spend more money on mail than what I have given them… Doesn’t make me feel good about where my money is going!

Priests For Life, Food For The Poor, Zenit, and Catholic Answers’ harassing fundraising tactics accomplish the complete opposite.  They cause you to feel so bad about their organizations that you need to go to confession afterwards! Sorry, but I can’t save the church in Alaska, when mine right here is hurting terribly. I don’t need or want any if your cheap rosaries and tin medals. Thanks for the nickels, but they’re quickly going the way of the worthless pennies. And Sisters, with all DUE respect, if you want my money, put on your habits and truly live our your vocations fully, with the mind of the Church, and knock off the anti-Magisterium activism!  And on a local basis, Father, you can’t ask me to contribute to the Capital Campaign, the Lenten Appeal, and the regular collection, and still have money to save the church in Europe and rebuild Japan!!!  Come over some night and I’ll show you my monthly bills and the mouths I have to feed as I try to be a faithful, non-contracepting Catholic at the same time!

Thank you for writing this!  I thought I was the only person who felt this way.  I have limited funds and have learned to give to charities who do not send me tons of “emotional mail.”  I don’t not want to give to an organization that’s going to spend all of my donation dollars on mail—I want the money to go where it’s supposed to go!  I agree with the above post from Jesse, Catholic Answers is one of the worst offenders.  I love what they do, but, maybe they could afford to pay & keep their staff if they would stop the scare mail—I just shredded another one last night!  When they stop loading people’s mail boxes with junk mail, then I’ll start giving to them….

I can’t tell you how many rosaries I have in my drawer from these mailings. I just can’t throw them out! And I do agree, how can they afford to send this stuff?

Also, it is ironic that the first word I see at the top of your blog is “DONATE”!!

When I receive unsolicited sacramentals in the mail I simply drop them into the (oftentimes postage-paid) donation envelope and send them back with a short note - please do not send such things through the mail.

It works!  They are charged the postage and receive no money.

Great post.  I, too, thought I was the only one feeling this way.  I get two or three of these letters every day.  I resent having to spend so much time shredding because they have my name all over everything.  The rosaries are so cheap they fall apart as I try to remove the tape.  I used to feel guilty about throwing away all the religious items until I saw my priest doing that to his junk mail, now I just do it.  At one time, I had two drawers full of religious cards and booklets.  No more.  Now, if only this article could be sent to the offenders.  Maybe we could email the link to this page to some of the worst offenders and print it and send it to some of those who send postage paid envelopes. :)

This hits so close to home for me.  Our Parish is in fund raising mode for close to three years to build a new parish center.  We have raffled, held drawdowns, held bazaars and done everything else to reach this goal.  Our appeals have all been to the same group of people - the congregation!  First everyone has to donate in some form or fashion and then turn around and purchase the items or tickets to the events.  I keep heavily suggesting that we find some other methods to accomplish our goals but to no avail.  We have gone to the well and the water is drying up, however no one seems to understand that enough is enough!

James Ignatius, good idea about the sacramentals.

I have the alternative.  I’ll give you free CDs and if you want to support us, feel free.  We’d appreciate it.  Includes fr. Benedict Groeschel and Simonetta, rosary recordings, audiobooks, music, etc.

Your in Christ,

Len Pacek

Www.SaintPhilomena.com

P.S. We never share our lists with anyone.

I have the alternative.  We’ll give you free CDs and if you want to support us, feel free.  We’d appreciate it.  Includes Fr.. Benedict Groeschel and Simonetta, rosary recordings, audiobooks, music, etc.

Your in Christ,

Len Pacek

Www.SaintPhilomena.com

P.S. We never share our lists with anyone.

My Mom started the first pro-life groups in our small town of 30,000 and eventually, the only umbrell group in the state of IL. She too agreed with you last lines. “I’d rather have 1000 people give a $1 than 1 person give $1000., because then I know I have 1000 people who care aout the right to life of the unborn.

About two years ago I sent a small amount of money to a Mission in the former Soviet Union. since then I’ve been sent semi-regular appeals for money. The total postal cost for all of those letters must have exceeded my Original donation by now (especially since I live in the UK).

It does get quite annoying after a while, I donated because I thought it was a worthy cause not because I wanted more letters.

Me too! I do crafts—scrapbook and quilting—so I sometimes save the holy cards and I always (brace yourself) rip apart the rosaries for the crucifixes and metal parts, which I sew onto things. But the rosaries fall apart instantly and you can’t possibly use them, so why bother to keep them? When I was a child, my parents taught me that when people send you things in the mail it is an effort to make you feel as if you should pay for them, but as you never asked for them you have no obligation to send anything. So I never feel obliged to pay a dime for the rosaries, greeting cards, address labels, etc., whether I use them or not.

However the appeal letters used to make me feel VERY guilty for not helping. Not anymore. I have occasionally responded, but as someone vaguely attached to the marketing industry let me tell you that they are sending these out in the hope of finding supporters who don’t know about them—no more and no less. The appeals are written according to formulas, by professional appeals writers who just adapt their formulas to the organizations. If you read one that is not generic, it was probably written by either the organization itself or a PR person who was not affiliated with one of those generic appeals firms.

On the up side—these campaigns employ writers, photographers, printers, paper manufacturers, envelope companies, mailing houses, medal makers, rosary makers, post offices, mail carries, and all kinds of people. They really do. And that’s a good thing, especially in this economy. Most of the time (not all the time!) they have a large enough return to be worth it. So stop feeling guilty, throw the stuff away if you don’t support the organization, send a check if it’s something you want to support, and DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT.

My take is if the “faithful” which many of us claim we are in the church would give our 10% of our time, treasure and talent there would be no reason for parishes and some organizations to fund raise.  We need to take a page from our protestant brothers and sisters, 10% is in their DNA.  Send me your “junk” mail this the way I learn how many organizations that are out there committing acts of service to our Lord.

For what it’s worth, the “freebies” that come in the mail (prayer cards, plastic rosaries, tin medals, etc.), I accumulate in a box and then send to a prison, a different one each time, for their chaplain to distribute.  I do the same with old Catholic periodicals, old Magnificats (the reflections are good any time!)  Turn it into something good!

Nice idea.  We get requests from chaplains and prisoners all the time.  They have a real lack of materials for Catholic prisoners in many prisons.  In Christ, Len
Www.saintphilomena.com

1) I once heard an old Jesuit priest say that Catholic churches should never have to fund RAISE funds because we should be GIVING alms.
2) I used to feel guilty about keeping the free Catholic gift or penny sent in mailers.  I don’t anymore.
3) Well-meaning ministries can get caught up in fundraising so much that the raising of funds itself becomes the focus.  I’ve seen it happen.

We each need to focus our attention on our little corner of the world and tithe locally. If everyone truly supported his or her local parish and its activities, we’d need far fewer of these far-flung appeals.

Somewhat ironically, once I subscribed to the National Catholic Register (aka this publication) and Faith & Family, they sold my information to the mailing lists.

I know because they were the only ones who listed my name as Mrs. D. Rose (even though I’m male). This was during the time they were both under Circle Media, so perhaps with EWTN now owning the Register and F&F owned by the other company, this has changed.

That said, I love the Register and Faith & Family, and since Ignatius press and tons of other Catholic companies had already sold my info, I didn’t care that we received more of these requests for donations.

You’ve got two generations of media and Catholics here: the old school, snail-mail, faithful Catholics and the younger group to whom these appeals fall flat. Eventually this old style way of soliciting donations will fade.

Amen, I do not understand why donor lists are unprotected.  While you may make money mailing the list, you turn off the person who donated in the first place and overwhelm them when they open the mailbox.  In addition to this, we have become a Church of second collections nearly every week.  In a very strange way, money, urgently needed, has become the god that will save babies, save our country, etc., etc.  I have always appreciated deeply, how EWTN fund raises, once a month, and when they need more, a personal appeal is broadcast on the network and they do not send additional materials unless you request them.  At times, it does feel like an invasion on ones’ personal time and resources to expect that an individual can peruse each individual charitable request.  Thank you for this timely post as I peer at a coffee table that is two stacks full of mail.  I am not uncharitable, I am simply, daily, overwhelmed.  God bless you!

I am at the poverty line. I usually have to move to a new apartment every few years due to rent increases. One thing that follows me is the donation appeals. My mailbox receives 2-3 appeals almost daily. I think to myself when I hear others complain about the mailings, “Would I rather be the one needing the money? Or…would I prefer to be the one whom the appeal is going to? Most of the Catholics that complain have homes, nice cars, take great vacations, dress in fine clothes, and spend more money on lawn service each month than they do on charitable contributions. I know that every time I give, I receive 5 more letters asking for more money. I also know that almsgiving is a means of atonement for sin. My father was a great almsgiver and he passed that down to all of his children. I never lack for anything because the Father meets my needs and blesses me. I saw the same with my dad as he raised five of us. I thank God for the example of my humble, generous father who knew that every cent he had came from the Lord. Stop whining. These organizations usually have a priest writing the solicitations or a nun. This is not their expertise. Be grateful that you don’t live on a parkbench. For, if you did, there would be no mailbox to send a solicitation to…How hard are the hearts of those who are blessed with homes and incomes and families and see no need to give of their blessings?

I support about 5 charities.  By that I mean that each gets 2 checks a year; at Easter and at Christmas.  They are requested not to send acknowledgements (the canceled checks will do) and are warned that if they send more than 2 ‘help us’ letters a year, they will be removed from the list.  To date, it works.

“In addition to this, we have become a Church of second collections nearly every week”
When I was growing up there was always a second collection.

For the rosaries, cards and the like, I pass them along to the parish office to give to the children who love them.

Nickels and dimes go the parish collections. The prisons is a good idea.

One of the Sheep - thank you for your story! What you say so so very, very true.

This post was not to add to the whining, nor to criticize the great, sincere work so many of the people in these wonderful organizations are doing for the needy. Indeed they are doing the work of Christ. This is to hopefully bring about some improvements in the way they ask for money and to bring an awareness as to the negative effects of some of their current methods.

It’s important that we treat each person with dignity and respect, whether they live on a park bench or in a mansion. Doing so is not only the right thing to do, but I believe it will lead to more effective stewardship, alms giving and ultimately more funds for so many of these great, important organizations.

God bless you.

If you receive unsolicited mail with Sacramentals, give them to your RCIC program at your Church.  The kids love to get them and it gives the catechists an opportunity to talk about them and their proper use and disposal.  Thanks.

The websites of many of the apostolates receive hundreds of thousands of page views. They really should sell more banner advertising to support their mission.

The Church should not be getting involved in professional fundraising.

If you write “He or she DIED, please stop mail” on there return slips, and mail back, especially if free postage, Most will stop.  It works for me.

I am an Anglican priest. My wife was raised Episcopal. About three years ago she “swam the Tiber.” For years we have computed a Tithe of our net income and given to several charities.
Now, we receive from Roman Catholic charities many many mailings that beg for money for people in dire straits.
I remember these kinds of mailings from my Roman Catholic upbringing (1950s) and was surprised to see it still happening. Still also, the wife reports, each Sunday at her church, there is a 2nd collection.
My parish has no collections at all, but we do have ONE “offering” each Sunday (never on holy days of obligation).
I think it is cultural.

Amen! I also am sick and tired of all these ‘special’ appeals! It’s getting way out of hand! In our diocese we have 15 second collections a year! Way too many! Economic times are tough! Nothing has improved. So, please, back-off of the special appeals!

I think most of what needed to be said has been but I want to make sure I get in my two biggest irks- 1. those who pepper the return envelope with one and two cent stamps so it takes up half the face of the envelope. (I assume that is to tug at your guilt strings if you’re tempted to throw them away).  As soon as I see the stamps they get tossed.  And (2) those who do not show their organization or markings on the envelope so you have to open it before you know who it is from.  Those always goe into the garbage sight unseen with no exceptions.

Yes, Catholic Answers was definitely bad, which was sad because it was such an instrumental part of keeping me Catholic. I had stopped supporting them because every month was the end of the business if they didn’t get support. It seemed that if they were doing that badly the Lord must not want them to continue. They said they were going to improve, I have noticed there have been fewer end of the world notices from them, so maybe they are trying.

As for the stuff you get, I realized with the address labels that they were trying to guilt me into giving money to them so they could send out more address labels. I’m sure it works, but I want no part of it. And if someone is foolish enough to send me a stamped envelop that’s one less stamp I need to buy for something else.

If you want to stop parish fundraising, then parishoners need to TITHE.

All it takes is one magazine subscription, even if a friend has it taken out for you as a Christmas gift. A dear, but very ecumenically-minded Protestant friend, has been giving me subscriptions to First Things and how can I turn him down everytime he offers? Technically speaking, FT isn’t a “Catholic” periodical, but it comes within a few tiny decimal points of being a 100-percenter. My friend gets the same pleas I get because I asked him, “Getting a lot of Catholic fundraising mail, too?” We both laughed. Some of it’s very good, some overly political, some just plain schlocky. Guess what; we can be sure Protestants, to a certain degree more suitable to meet their readership demographics n’ tastes, are getting pretty much the same amount of mail. Well, no Rosaries unless they come from a very “high n’ crazy” Anglican group. I suppose they substitute Our Fathers for Hail Marys. They both go to the Father!
  Yeah, it’s tough getting those specially minted Rosaries in honor of JPII or some other cause near n’ dear. But “mail call time” can get even more interesting when you have a Protestant spouse who’s been asked to explain Rosaries to inquiring kids asking, “Why does Dad and other Catholics get these?” LOL. That’s when I’m glad the dog is begging me to take him for a stroll.

I thought I was the only one getting this stuff.  As a relatively new Catholic I too feel guilty when I don’t contribute to these appeals.  But I’m trying to get over it.  The recession and my loss of a full time job helps since I have less money to part with. :)

I agree about tithing. Protestants have done this for years and it certainly is biblical.

Charity is not an option for every Christian.  It is the only way to be a Christian.  But there should not be a feeling of guilt if we cannot give because we have no money to give. Praying for the living and the dead is an act of mercy which we can all easily do, especially for those who appeal for our help. There are rules for almsgiving. We are not obliged to love our neighbors MORE THAN ourselves but if their need extreme and the source of the alms are goods necessary to our life, then the obligation to give is NONE, unless the needy are public personages.  If our neighbor’s need is extreme and the source of the alms are necessary to our state of life or superfluous to our state of life, the obligation to give is GRAVE because our neighbor’s life if preferable to our dignity. Then again, we are not obliged to give to every one that asks from us or to give to their every necessity because we do have to exercise prudence to give only to the truly poor, and we have to be generous to give aid to many. Our giving should be gracious so as not to embarrass the poor and prompt lest they despair.  We should be just so as not to neglect our duties - like paying our own debts or supplying the needs of our family. The bad attitude of some beggars act to purify our intentions. We give for the love of God, not because we want the beggar to respect and honor us.

Charity is not an option for every Christian.  It is the only way to be a Christian.  But there should not be a feeling of guilt if we cannot give because we have no money to give. Praying for the living and the dead is an act of mercy which we can all easily do, especially for those who appeal for our help. There are rules for almsgiving. We are not obliged to love our neighbors MORE THAN ourselves so if their need extreme and the source of the alms are goods necessary to our life, there is no obligation to give, unless the needy are public personages.  But if our neighbor’s need is extreme and the source of the alms are necessary to our state of life or superfluous to our state of life, the obligation to give is GRAVE because our neighbor’s life if preferable to our dignity. Then again, we are not obliged to give to every one that asks from us or to give to their every necessity because we do have to exercise prudence to give only to the truly poor, and we have to be generous to give aid to many. Our giving should be gracious so as not to embarrass the poor and prompt lest they despair.  We should be just so as not to neglect our duties - like paying our own debts or supplying the needs of our own family and relatives. The bad attitude of some beggars act to purify our intentions. We give for the love of God, not for the respect and honor that we expect from the beggar.

I would not have known about some of the charitable organizations if I had not received their mailings. But like most families, we have a budget.  So I have chosen just enough charities that my total monthly charitable giving is about 5% of our income. I used to feel bad about turning down some charities, especially the phone calls, but no longer.  I know that we are trying to do our part.  The phone solicitors don’t know and don’t care what we are doing. It is especially annoying talking to phone solicitors who say, “I understand, but could you at least give…” Sometimes it seems they are not listening at all. We are faithful to our monthly charities even when times get difficult for us.
I have found a method that immediately shuts up the phone solicitors.  I no longer try to converse with them at all. I just say- Please take me off you list- that brings an immediate end of the conversation.  (But it won’t guarantee that you won’t be called again.)  As far as the mailings.  No worry- like other have mentioned, the gifts and money are free and can be given to other missions or to keep without guilt if you want.  Let the campaign managers deal with how productive their mailings are. But their mailings do get their message out and occassionally I want to consider whether or not to keep supporting a certain charity or take on another. I have lots of selections to choose from. As long as I am trying to do my part, no need to worry.

On point.  Thanks for saying so succinctly what I’ve wanted to and never could put into words.

I agree that the constant fundraising appeals, the guilt-laying letters, the selling of mailing lists and all the rest is maddening. I dislike it all as much as you.

But as someone who once worked in fundraising for an archdiocese and still works for a Catholic organization that depends on donations and fundraising to operate, I have to tell you that while you think people don’t respond to these appeals, the fact is that they do. It only takes a few percent to respond with a donation to make it all worthwhile financially. (Whether we should be happy with a few percent supporting our ministry from a spiritual perspective, that’s another matter.)

I agree that we should begin to look to new models of support for Catholic philanthropy, but we have to be honest: Catholics are not good at it. Too many people think that if your ministry is worthy God will just drop money from the sky on you. It you’re a Catholic business, people get angry that you charge money for something they think should be free because it’s faith-related.

The blame for the current state of affairs lies equally on the organizations and those of us they solicit.

So how do we change it? How do we change the culture of giving in the Church? How do we change the attitudes?

It seems that all the complainers are writing on this topic.  Give me what you can- end of story. I love giving to Priests For Life, Food for the Poor and Catholic Answers as well as my local Catholic radio and my parish.  I do not give to everyone all the time, but I give. Gladly.
There are so many people who are constantly attacking the church. We should be half as vigorous defending our church. JF

It is worthwhile to check with the Charity Navigator to find out about salaries. FOOD FOR THE POOR has a CEO who makes $400,000+ a year.

Better to give to local charities where you know the people.

Dear Matt and Friends:
Good points. I myself work full time in fundraising for Catholic Organizations and I could not agree more. This is something I have been advocating in my own zone of work and that I am trying to find concrete ways to put into practice. The point you mentioned about relationships is defintely the key. In the end we as Catholic fundraisers should be seeking not to get money, but to offer a soul a chance to invest in the mission we represent and to share spiritually in the wealth of graces we wish to offer them. I would love some feed back on how you all think we as fundraisers can concretely be of service to you as well as the organizations who rely on us to put food on their tables.
Assuring you all of my prayers, RMC13

Building relationships, not annoying people, etc., etc. is old hat for secular fundraisers (beisdes being common sense). For some reason Catholics are so often behind the curve.

I have wondered: if we could trust our Bishops to support good organizations—instead of the likes of ACORN, etc—we Catholics could give all our charity to the local parish, and have the Bishops allocate the funds.

Truth is, I give way more money to about 10 organizations that I’ve learned to trust over the years, than even to our local Parish and Diocese. Why? Because the Bishops in this country have, for decades, been through-and-through Socialists, even Marxists. 

The Bishops have hankered after billions of tax dollars, when they SHOULD have been lobbying the Government to stop taking our money forcibly, thereby leaving US to decide for OURSELVES how to charitably give monies. TAXES are NOT “charity”!! 

The fiasco of the Bishops giving untold millions to suspect organizations that directly—or indirectly—undermine Church teachings—THAT is why I carefully pick and choose who gets my money.  And, more often than not, it is not anything that the Bishops ask for, because, simply, I don’t trust the Bishops.  Read any good publication like The Wanderer, and you will learn—dear readers—that the Bishops STILL, to this day, allow countless millions of our dollars to go to organizations that are directly or indirectly fostering abortion, contraception, over-population brainwashing of the young, advocating for same-sex “marriage”, etc, ad nauseam.  I cannot believe that this is all a mistake, given our Bishops’ track records.

Along those lines, I cannot count how many times I have read articles in which the Church is “afraid” to lose its tax-exempt status.  It is time for the Bishops to forego any and all attachment to our tax-free status.  Lobby for lower taxes!  Let us keep our money to begin with; and WE shall decide which organizations merit our hard-earned dollars.

No, I suffer “donor fatigue” like the rest of you readers.  I toss most appeals without ever opening them.  And I stick with about my favorite 10 organizations:  Population Research Institute; Food for the Poor; Cross International; Priests for Life; EWTN; FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students); the St. Paul Center for Biblical Scholarship (Scott Hahn’s initiative); and a few others.

@BOULETBOULET: That’s quite a Rightist Rant you’ve just posted; even going so far as to revive the ghost of Joe McCarthy concerning your sweeping take on our bishops’ ideological leanings. Then you put in a plug for The Wanderer. Lawdy, what next finding a Catholic version of Der Angriff, Dr. Goebbels rag for Berlin?  Why not pull out a list and say, “I’ve got a list of x number of bishops and othere clerics who’ve been known to give aid and comfort to the enemies of the Church?
  Well, it’s late and time for me to hit the hay. In your honor, allow me to share a tune I think you’ll find most interesting.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxQ7GUEPsrU&feature=related
  Good night and sleep tight! LOL

Steven posts such a gentle rant, I wonder that it was posted. McCarthy, Hitler, Goebbels, Nazis,...

BouletBoulet certainly has some justification for his mistrust of bishops. Was it not the bishops who did not act in the sex scandals? And indeed covered up when they did not promote further acts? It might truthfully be said that they have some crust asking for more money when various dioceses are going bankrupt because of payments to the victims.

Have I mentioned what their pusillanimity has done to the reputation of the Church? and of its priests? They seem not to realize that their actions have made them complicit in the crimes, in the sins. All the fine words and Dallas charters will not wash away this failure.

I was commenting on the ideological tarbrush BouletBoulet used to smear the Bishops as a whole. Three decades ago I covered the nuclear freeze issue and the Bishops support of it for a diocesan Catholic paper. @Gabriel Austin: Although I disagreed strongly with the NCCB’s offical stand and that of many individual pro-freeze bishops, I never had any doubts as to their sense of individual patriotism. I deemed it far too undignified to question their loyalty. Too bad I had reach back that far to demonstrate how its actually possible to take a strong but honest disagreement on points with the Bishops without publicly undermining the respect we as Catholics owe to their office (remember, salute the rank, no matter how much you dislike the person wearing it?) ... especially by openly questioning their love of country, or even the Church, judging by your additional about “their pulsillanimity.”
  What friendly and non-judgmental-“who me, but I’m not judgmental, I’m only stating the facts” contributors the Register seems to attract. Well, I’ll save you the trouble: Yes, I’m judgmental indeed. But what drives me to that point more often than not is the overly sanctimonious tripe I’ve read by the most holier than thou and most Catholic of all contributors the Church ever knew she had, especially when it comes to passing judgment and describing the conditions of the souls of those who dare to even question the ridiculousness of giving unqualified support to any and all pols who just by saying they’re “prolife” even though their real overall record indicates otherwise when all factors are considered.
  But to even mention such nagging inconsistencies is to open oneself to the Grand Inqusitors. Fine, and cheerfully I say c’mon! But they’ll be the ones who’ll look the most pusillanimous in the end.

Stephen writes:
“I was commenting on the ideological tarbrush BouletBoulet used to smear the Bishops as a whole”.
Surely it would be more accurate to write of the USCCB rather than “the bishops as a whole”. For the bishops are not a whole; each is the master in his own diocese. Do we even know how many of these documents have been carefully considered by the bishops? Or are they rather the products of the bureaucracy of the USCCB? They may have been voted on. But since when are moral questions settled by vote?
I am unclear how Stephen believes he is advancing the argument by not addressing the issues, but rather by smear. “The overly sanctimonious tripe I’ve read by the most holier than thou and most Catholic of all contributors the Church ever knew she had, especially when it comes to passing judgment and describing the conditions of the souls”. And then comes “The Grand Inquisitor”. Next we’ll be hearing about the only reproach known of the Inquisition - the Galileo Case. May the Lord save us from our defenders.

Very well said, but what do you do about organization that also send you a gift, a medal or sometimes something else?  I get these a lot from so called Indian Reservations.  Somehow it irritates me when any charity (including secular) sends a free “gift” and then expects a donation in turn.

Most of these are ones I can’t use anyway and because some are not religious I can’t give them away to a needy organization.

Lately, with a sad heart, I have also been tossing them.  I do give to a number of organizations that I can, and sometimes give them a “one time gift”, but I can’t afford that every month, since we’re seniors and have a limited income.

So please, if you’re a Catholic paper or magazine, don’t be selling names.  I feel bad when I have to turn any of these down, so please unless I actually make you a donation online or through the mail doesn’t imply that I will do the same next month.  I’ll be willing to pray for your needs, but unless a win a lottery I can’t give to everyone.

I love Catholic Relief Services.  But the only mail I get from them is the fundraising letters, and sometimes a newsletter that is almost entirely focused on their work and the need for money (i.e. no reflections, etc).  The Mennonite Central Committee, however, sends me a calendar, monthly magazines with reflection articles, prayers AND organizational updates, and other random freebies.  They don’t send fundraising appeals, except at Christmas.  What a difference

Even more frustrating than mass mailings is tables outside the church almost every Sunday selling something.  Fundraising for youth group, selling wooden hand-crafted religious art from Jerusalem, whatever! 

At one local parish, the pastor put an end to it.  He said that if Jesus drove the sellers out of the temple for turning His father’s house into a marketplace then our churches should do the same.  The only thing we ever see outside that church now is a sign announcing when adoration will take place.  It is so incredibly refreshing.  I wish all Catholic churches would have that policy.

The most abusive & fraudulent misuse of Catholic Charity is the annual CCHD collection permitted by each Bishop across the Country with the corrupt approval of the USCCB !  Catholic leaders lying to the pew sitters & of course it’s always to “help the Poor” !  Good Bishops should stop this annual abomination which only goes to support left-wing partisan & communist community organizations that put the Muslim in the oval office.

I get a lot of Catholic mail and feel very guilty about throwing things away.  It lays a heavy burden on my psyche when I throw those rosaries away, or a prayer card, or even Mass cards.  But one thing that I do is save enough Mass cards for “just in case” to use as sympathy cards, birthday cards, anniversary cards.  Storing the treasure of Masses in heaven is a great way to take care of those we love spiritually as well as send some money onto the religous organizations that say these Masses.

Catholic Charities should hold a Combined catholic campaign. This is done for Federal- Postal employees and called the Combined Federal campaign and often occurs in September. All of the charities should combine their efforts in ONE cost effective A Combined Catholic campaign which would save all of them Mailing and clerical costs associated with fundraising. In the Combined Federal campaign there is a booklet listing each and evry charity. You can pick various charities as many as four individual groups or you can give to a general fund which distributes the per pay check deduction to as many of the charities as possible. This would be better than having hundreds of Catholic groups spend much duplication in time and effort-expenses in redundant fundraising. Sincerely Ed. M. Waterbury, Ct.

Ed - that’s a really interesting and good idea!

This is why it is very important for our Catholic schools and parishes teach the Truth. That is, they must trust God to provide when they teach the Truth to people. Parishes and schools think that a watered down Truth is more welcoming, but this just sends people away looking for something that makes a difference.God’s Truth makes a difference in peoples lives; then people will financially support and feel loyalty to those parishes and schools.

Oh, the burden! How hard it is to sort your mail!

Seriously?

Fact: These organizations would shrivel up otherwise. Studies (Yes, they do studies) show that when people aren’t asked to give… they don’t give. I know this must come as a shock to you, but most people are busy and will otherwise forget about xyz charity.

I don’t want emotional guy pushing a charity in my face. I really don’t. Send me a letter. It will give me more detail than a sales pitch and I can read faster than you can talk. If I want to give, I can pull out my check book which I don’t carry with me.

Very well done! Of course, this does not just apply to Catholic nonprofits, but a lot of companies who don’t follow best practices when it comes to marketing and communications, both offline and online.

I work in Communications for Catholic Charities New York - www.CatholicCharitiesNY.org - and just so you know, we would never sell your information! We also work hard to have a mix of interesting, useful information that we regularly send out to those who ask for it, and only execute appeals at key points throughout the year.

Some nonprofits seem to not “get it” when it comes to communications because they simply don’t have the resources to allocate to fostering a real communications plan internally, so they farm out direct mail and other communications products to vendors who are stuck in the old ways of doing things.

Being a professional fundraiser for over 31 years helping Catholic religious orders raise millions of dollars in support for their ministries, I would like to shed some light on why many of you are receiving too much direct mail.

But first some back ground:

The vast majority of Catholic contributors are mature working class people (many are over 60 years) of age) whom provide small gifts on a frequent basis.

This audience is responsive to traditional direct mail programs and willingly supports overseas missions, ministries and spiritual activities.  They are comfortable with novenas, the Stations of the Cross and enrollment programs.  And even though 50% have internet capability (social media does not work) and they still trust sending checks or cash by mail rather than using PayPal.

Many Catholic non-profits prioritize their income for their work thus reducing their resources available for a fully funded development office.  Hence the reason they will outsource to a professional firm.

If you are receiving a ton of mail from one specific non-profit while having not donated for a number of years—there can be many reasons.  There doing it themselves, in-house and don’t understand the business and are just mailing their entire list praying for a miracle. Another is their in-house computer system (if they have one) is outdated or not getting the data needed.  Or they might have the best most sophisticated in-house state-of-the-art computer system money can buy…. but no one understands it or they don’t want to invest money in paying higher salaries or training.

Those of you whom have had their names rented or exchanged by others and are receiving too much of what we call “cold mailings” ... all I can say is “sorry about that, please just toss it”.  In this market on average, we are expecting 98% of these mailings will get tossed and 2% will respond which is far better than most commercial business mailers.  Of the 2% that respond, we expect more than half of these to never respond again.

In summary,  the Catholic church in the USA is shrinking.  They are not replacing there aging priests, brothers or nuns which are now averaging late 60’s - 80’s.  This is indirectly affecting the number of supporters for their ministries and thus finding new support can be challenging.

For now, direct mail still works better than social media and the next time you receive that mailing from a Catholic organization please cut them some slack…  Last check was there are over 1.2 million non-profits in the USA competing for your support.

Kenneth J. Groh
Development Associates, Inc.

Happy xmass, pls, i have been trying many catholic charity for help, but non of them as not help, all i need is that, i want to study, at one of the catholic charity university.thanks

Happy xmass, i appreciate this charity for their support on people, pls, i need this charity help on education, i want to be educated, so all i need is that, how you can help me on my study over there.

Pls, i need this charity help on my education.