A NEW WAY TO GIVE

The coronavirus pandemic has caused a financial crisis that has struck every part of society, from families to area businesses as well as local parishes in the Diocese of Albany.

Some churches have had to cut back hours or lay off staff in an effort to stay afloat in a time where the faithful can’t physically attend Mass. To help Catholics support their local parishes during this dire time of need, the Diocese of Albany has created a new page on the diocesan website through which the faithful can donate to their church, or any local parish, with a one-time or recurring gift.

“There is no question that people want to support their parish; it’s very important to them to support the Church, support their faith,” Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger said during an interview with The Evangelist. “And if they are aware of ways of doing it, it increases the likelihood that this will happen.” 

The page launched on Friday, April 17, and much like the livestreaming Masses, it will give parishioners another way to feel connected to their parish.

“Even though parishioners cannot physically attend Masses, parish ministries are continuing,” said Nancy Bielawa, the diocesan executive director for Stewardship and Development. “(Parishes) are being creative, learning to do things they didn’t know how to do, like livestreaming. The expenses don’t stop just because you can’t physically go to the church. The continued offertory is really critical and that makes the church sustainable.

“A lot of people and parishes don’t (do online giving). The Bishop came to us and said we have to do something to help parishes to enable easy access for parishioners to make their offertory gifts, especially those that don’t offer eGiving.”

Bielawa said the Diocese looked at what the Diocese of Nashville was doing with online giving and decided to use the same provider, Blackbaud, that it used for the Re-Igniting Our Faith campaign. The page is easy to navigate. Simply find your church or churches that you want to support and start the giving. Bielawa did add, however, if your parish already offers online giving, and you have used that option before, continue to do so because the money will get to your parish quicker. Bishop Scharfenberger said “parishes that have online giving, eGiving, are doing significantly better than those that don’t. It depends on how well they are doing their communications. Parishes and dioceses that have good communication with people are doing better than those that are not.”

Even though eGiving is the wave of the future, Bielawa said the No. 1 way of giving is still by check.

“One of the things that I had suggested for people who like to go old school, is to grab some envelopes and pre-address them to their parish and put it with your mail and do it that way,” she said.

Most parish staff are going in once a week to pick up mail and do banking, so “a good old-fashioned envelope addressed to the church will do the trick,” she explained.

Bielawa added that the online form of giving moves people away from “go-away” gifts.

“What most often happens to offertory live in church is people are giving what is called a ‘go-away’ gift. People look up and see the ushers and dig into their pockets and you give whatever you have on hand,” Bielawa said.

“Moving to online giving really lets people reflect on how meaningful the Church is, where does it fall in my philanthropy, and then I should give that way.”

No matter how you give money, one thing you want to be on the lookout for are scammers, especially now, with many people receiving stimulus checks from the government. Several parishes around the state were affected by a scam in which people would call parishioners for donations, supposedly on behalf of their home parish, asking for the routing number of the person’s bank or providing a different address for money to be sent to.

To avoid scams, you should never give out any of your personal information (social security number, bank information or credit card) over the phone to someone you don’t know even if they purport to be in some official capacity. Just hang up. Don’t buy gift cards over the phone or via email; and if someone calls telling you that you can buy a vaccine for COVID-19, hang up, because there isn’t one yet. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Food and Drug Administration recently warned people, particularly senior citizens, of numerous coronavirus scams.

Despite these scams, Bishop Scharfenberger is not surprised that most people are looking at ways to help.

“I don’t go out all that often, but I do go shopping once in a while, in supermarkets, you’ve got to go to the drugstore. I have always found people pretty congenial in Albany, but I have noticed a real uptick in conscious courtesy,” Bishop said. “People are trying to practice the distancing and employees have just been wonderful at cash registers. But there has been a real effort to exercise kindness and charity because we all know we are going through tough times so that has been very encouraging.”

To donate to your parish online, visit www.rcda.org/parishgiving.