How much has the Church donated in total?

[ChristianLoew]

Hello all,

I’ve often heard that the Catholic church has donated more and helped the poor more than any other organization in history, which is absolutely wonderful.

My question is, can anyone quantify this? I would love to know roughly how much has the church donated throughout history. Obviously it would probably be impossible to quantify everything in one lump sum but is there anywhere we can look to get more detailed information on the combined efforts of the church as a whole (And organizations thereof such as Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief etc.)?

Your (name removed by moderator)ut is appreciated.

God bless.

Christian

 

[ohioszo]

Hello all,

Take the figure that is given to one’s own parish and call that 5%. Then figure that charity wise, Catholics give another 5% of Income, that is. That 5% to one’s Parish often goes to upkeep and salaries of a school, so, whether you consider that applicable to your question.

Or, you could look at the envelopes and see that there are so many that go to charities, even those which are not specifically Catholic.

All Catholic Charities whether lay run or by run by the Religious sister or brother or Priest, will tell you how much is spent on administration and how much directly … just like all charities do. Catholic Charity is more than 90-99% directly applied to the poor.

Then people give their lives to God, to serve one’s neighbor, without payment … incalculable.

Multiply that by 2,000 plus years!

I’ve often heard that the Catholic church has donated more and helped the poor more than any other organization in history, which is absolutely wonderful.

My question is, can anyone quantify this? I would love to know roughly how much has the church donated throughout history. Obviously it would probably be impossible to quantify everything in one lump sum but is there anywhere we can look to get more detailed information on the combined efforts of the church as a whole (And organizations thereof such as Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief etc.)?

Your (name removed by moderator)ut is appreciated.

God bless.

Christian

 

[Joe_5859]

You’re right, that is virtually impossible to quantify.

Are you looking just for dollar values? Consider also all the Church has donated in terms of service. How do you put a price tag on the work that Mother Teresa and her sisters have done?

Consider, too, that the Church is a global entity that has been around for 2,000 years. That certainly gives them a bit of a head start compared to something like the Red Cross.

I’m interested to see other responses, though.

 

[ChristianLoew]

Well yeah, thats just it, thats what I’m curious about. And really more from an apologetics point of view. To be able to tell people “Did you know the Catholic church has donated over xxx millions of dollars, " or “xxxx millions of tons of food, clothing etc.” or " xxx millions of hours of service”

Now sure I can SAY this, and more than likely any numbers I come up with will be true as long as I state ‘over’ xxx. But I’m just curious, does the Vatican track their efforts? They must!

I can do some leg work, I can ask Catholic Charities what they’ve done, and I can ask other organizations etc. I was just curious if any of this was documented anywhere where it could be researched.

 

[Joe_5859]

Well yeah, thats just it, thats what I’m curious about. And really more from an apologetics point of view. To be able to tell people “Did you know the Catholic church has donated over xxx millions of dollars, " or “xxxx millions of tons of food, clothing etc.” or " xxx millions of hours of service”

Now sure I can SAY this, and more than likely any numbers I come up with will be true as long as I state ‘over’ xxx. But I’m just curious, does the Vatican track their efforts? They must!

I can do some leg work, I can ask Catholic Charities what they’ve done, and I can ask other organizations etc. I was just curious if any of this was documented anywhere where it could be researched.

Ah, I see. I’m not aware of any documentation (but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any). That would be some good info to have, though!

 

[ohioszo]

Specifically, the Vatican, that entity has spending figures for charity. It has been in the news. Take world income and multiply it by 10%, do that for each year, and you may have a figure. Later years, you can further factor in the percentage of Catholics in the world … Then take in account inflation, or the value of money versus gold and silver. All I can say is that it interests me, because I’ve actually had a JW suggest that I should look into where money goes, after I mentioned some Catholic Charity (can’t remember which one.) I have been told when they have given charity, like some natural disastaer or some such. I think that there is a fact that Catholics give freely, whatever the person’s Faith or non-Faith, when we give. Whereas, we know, also, when the gift is for something specifically Catholic. My neighbor wouldn’t donate, knowing it would go to the Catholic School system, for instance: She was Lutheran … although, they were willing to hire her for sub-teaching! Talk about our openhandedness with others, maybe! Let me add that there are Protestants who have helped out with our school festivals.

Well yeah, thats just it, thats what I’m curious about. And really more from an apologetics point of view. To be able to tell people “Did you know the Catholic church has donated over xxx millions of dollars, " or “xxxx millions of tons of food, clothing etc.” or " xxx millions of hours of service”

Now sure I can SAY this, and more than likely any numbers I come up with will be true as long as I state ‘over’ xxx. But I’m just curious, does the Vatican track their efforts? They must!

I can do some leg work, I can ask Catholic Charities what they’ve done, and I can ask other organizations etc. I was just curious if any of this was documented anywhere where it could be researched.

 

[Ribet26]

As we are constantly under attack from every front on almost everything the Church does or doesn’t do I wanted to be able to have at least the annual Dollar figure of what the Church donates to the poor. Whether it is for relief from natural disasters or giving alms to the poor. Surely there are figures for this. One of the latest things I have seen show The Holy Father with his Septer ‘made of gold’ asking why the money to buy such things doesn’t go to the poor? I am aware that many of the Vatican Treasures are centuries old. Just for once I’d like to be able to come back with afactual figure. I know our Parish is very supportive of the poor, we have a large food pantry, we sponsor a cold night shelter providing food and clothing etc. and a pregnancy center. I would imagine this same mission happens at most all of our Parishes, and we can’t put a dollar figure on that. However World Wide we have the Catholic Relief Org and others that must have an amount we can use. Thank you.

 

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