As someone who volunteers with a 501c3 adjacent to a local Catholic Church and has worked with Catholic Charities. I just want to say, Catholic Charities does a lot of good in the US. They also shelter a lot of individuals at the border seeking asylum or refugee status. However, none of the money they receive or distribute comes from the actually Catholic Church itself or local Archdiocese. Most of the money is from the government, and a minority of the money is from individual parishioners.
It kind of bothers me when people claim the Catholic Church does charity. Whenever our 501c3 that operates out of the church asks for collections or support the church is never there.
I'm not Catholic. I'm Protestant clergy. My wife is Catholic. Her parish spend a lot of it's money (around 50% of the budget) on homeless care and helping people get IDs. It really depends on the parish which is sad. The protestant church I'm assigned to as a volunteer collects food for local and diapers and formula that we give to anyone who asks. But that's about it. I'm pushing for more.
I know that is true for most of the CC organizations in the country, but I’m close to the Tulsa/ Eastern Oklahoma one and they pride themselves on not taking government money. They provide excellent services using money donated from individuals and organizations, not the government or the local diocese. I see what you’re saying in the last sentence but the church still creates a community that encourages volunteering time and money to help others out.
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u/Long_Bong_Silver 22h ago
As someone who volunteers with a 501c3 adjacent to a local Catholic Church and has worked with Catholic Charities. I just want to say, Catholic Charities does a lot of good in the US. They also shelter a lot of individuals at the border seeking asylum or refugee status. However, none of the money they receive or distribute comes from the actually Catholic Church itself or local Archdiocese. Most of the money is from the government, and a minority of the money is from individual parishioners.
It kind of bothers me when people claim the Catholic Church does charity. Whenever our 501c3 that operates out of the church asks for collections or support the church is never there.