LA Archdiocese Looks at $200 Million Fundraising Campaign While Dealing with Priest Abuse Scandal

By Mike Roe
KPCC
February 5, 2013

http://www.scpr.org/blogs/news/2013/02/05/12410/la-archdiocese-looks-at-200-million-fundraising-ca/

A parishioner arrives at Christmas mass at The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels December 25, 2010 in Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Archdiocese, amidst dealing with the latest in the ongoing fallout of how it handle priest molestation cases, is looking at a possible $200 million fundraising campaign, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The company Guidance in Giving out of New York was reportedly hired to study whether this campaign to help the $80 million in debt archdiocese was feasible, following 2007’s $600 million settlement with more than 500 alleged priest abuse victims.

The study is set to take six months and includes interviews with all of the archdiocese’s pastors, plus lay leaders, the Times reports. A church spokesman said that early feedback was “very positive,” according to the Times.

It’s the first such campaign by L.A.’s archdiocese in 60 years — at which time they raised $3.5 million for schools. The number of Catholics in the archdiocese has also increased from 650,00 to more than 5 million.