Church donations awaiting requests for grants

Saturday, Jan. 27, 2007 | 7:11 a.m.

A program to help the poor with money from the pockets of Las Vegas Valley churchgoers has seen a spike in donations, but the local diocese can't seem to give the money away.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development is based on annual collections held in parishes around the nation the week before Thanksgiving. Each diocese keeps about one-fourth of the money in a local account and sends about three-fourths to a national fund. Nonprofit poverty-fighting groups can apply to either or both for grants.

Last fall the 28 parishes of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Vegas sent $19,194 to the local account, roughly the same total valley churches reached the year before and almost double the $10,810 raised in 2004.

No local groups, however, have applied for the funds in the last two years, said Tim O'Callaghan, director of the diocese's social action ministry.

"It's hard to find groups that meet the criteria," O'Callaghan said. "They have to be empowering local people to lift themselves out of poverty."

O'Callaghan said he was working on a list of organizations that might qualify for the funds as part of an effort to get the word out about the program. He also wants to develop a committee of parishioners to evaluate future applications.

In the meantime, the Las Vegas diocese's local account has grown to $83,925, including funds from previous years. Local parishes also have sent about $115,000 to the national account in the last two years.

In 2005 the Sun found that nearly one-fourth of the funds from the local account had gone to anti-abortion campaigns, instead of to the program's stated purpose "to break the cycle of poverty."

That hasn't happened since, O'Callaghan said.

O'Callaghan, who was brought in to oversee the program and other aspects of the social action ministry in August, said he and the 12-year-old diocese are both "in a learning curve."

Also, he said, the Las Vegas area is full of newcomers, which means many organizations may not know about the fund and its purpose.

"The stuff that they're doing in other places - in more mature communities - is amazing," he said.

In its 36 years, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development has spent more than $280 million on 7,000 projects nationwide, according to the national campaign's Web site.

O'Callaghan said he has yet to develop specific goals for the local program.

Still, he said: "I'd like it to one day be a big thing."