Catholics Continue Church Giving After Scandals

A new study has shown that reports of child-abuse crimes perpetrated by Roman Catholic members of the clergy have not significantly affected donations to the church, reports The New York Times.

The biggest effect was seen in the percentage of Catholics who give to diocesan annual appeals, which are usually headed by bishops. While the number of Catholics who donated to their local parishes was resilient, the percentage of people who gave to those yearly campaigns dropped from 38 percent in April 2002, before the scandals were first publicized, to 29 percent in 2005.