The archdiocese, which includes the District and its Maryland suburbs, received $10,350,027 for the 2019 Annual Appeal, compared with the 2018 total of $14,192,188, which is about where it had hovered since 2013. The drive was called “the Cardinal’s Appeal” until a year ago, when officials rebranded it to play down the image of high-ranking clerics.
Different story next door:
The annual fundraising drive in the nearby Arlington Diocese is still named the Bishop’s Appeal, and it took in $17,202,000 in 2019, down from $18,400,000 in 2018 but up from previous years. The diocese, which covers northeastern Virginia, has about one-third fewer Catholics than the Archdiocese of Washington.
The sordid tale plays out . . .
Blithe Spirit 