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Abuse allegations hitting Buffalo Diocese in the pocket

Posted at 5:32 PM, Sep 11, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-11 19:41:47-04

Since allegations surrounding the Buffalo Catholic Diocese led to calls for Bishop Malone's resignation, donations saw an immediate impact. 

7 Eyewitness News went through 35 bulletins of 35 different Catholic Churches across Western New York. From those bulletins, we found that donations on the weekend of August 19th (or before calls began for Malone's resignation) totaled $284,243, while donations on August 26th (after calls for Malone's resignation began) hit $249,338. That is a decrease of $34,905, or about 13%. 

Stopping the amount of donations is actually something many Catholics have been doing, like Nicole Wright. 

"At this time I do not feel in my good conscious that I could give anything to the diocese" Wright said. 

Wright still hands in the collection envelope, but instead of money, she puts letters inside explaining why she doesn't feel comfortable donating money. 

"It's the only way we can make it effective to get change" Wright said. 

Wright, a devout Catholic, finds it difficult not to donate as she sees the how much good the money actually does. 

"It's very important to support the church in the good that they do" she said. 

But, according to Wright, she sees this as a way to bring transparency back to the Diocese, and to make it safer for the future. 

"I want to be able to stand behind our Diocese, and our Bishop we have."

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