April 28, 2005 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Even as the Vatican announced the election of a new pope last week, Catholic dioceses and nonprofit organizations continued to honor the previous pontiff by establishing new charitable funds to collect contributions from mourning donors.
At least two Catholic dioceses were soliciting donations to honor Pope John Paul II, who died April 2, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, in Washington, said other U.S. dioceses may start similar efforts.
The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland started a John Paul II fund to support religious education and social services in the city. The organization established the fund after some parishioners asked to make donations in memory of the late pope, said Ed Mayer, a spokesman for the diocese.
The diocese has raised less than $1,000 so far, he said. “We don’t know if it will be successful,” Mr. Mayer said. “But so far it’s been a good response.”
In addition to Cleveland, the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg, in Florida, will start a similar fund to support youth-education programs.
“The pope’s death has moved certain people,” said Joseph B. Citro, executive director of the Catholic Foundation for the Diocese of St. Petersburg. Mr. Citro said the fund will officially start collecting money on May 28, John Paul II’s birthday, but he already has started to ask for contributions on the diocese’s radio station and in church bulletins.
Mr. Citro suspected that parishioners may be giving more to the Sunday collection plate as well to honor John Paul II, but said it was too early to tell because his diocese tallies such donations on a monthly basis.
Individual Contributions
The John Paul II Cultural Center, a museum in Washington, also plans to start a special fund to honor the legacy of its namesake. The fund will pay for educational programs, such as symposia that bring together people of various faiths to discuss “the moral challenges of this century,” said Sandy A. Peeler, a spokeswoman for the center.
More than 10,000 individuals have contributed to the center since John Paul II’s death, she said. The surge in donations has been so large that the organization is having trouble keeping track of it. “We’re a little overwhelmed with what we’re getting,” she said. “It hasn’t slowed down.”
Catholic Charities USA, in Alexandria, Va., does not plan to establish a fund for the deceased pontiff, but still has received about $1,500 in unsolicited gifts from six donors in the name of John Paul II, said Shelley Borysiewicz, a spokeswoman for the group.
Paul G. Schervish, director of the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College, said Catholic groups that are not establishing John Paul II charitable funds or considering similar fund-raising efforts are missing an opportunity to allow donors to express their grief through philanthropy.
“They don’t want to be seen as exploiting the situation,” he said, but “people will want to give in his memory.”
