offertory

The service itself incorporated many Indigenous elements and peoples, including an emotional moment when a woman in Native dress wept in front of Francis as she brought him the offertory gifts.

However, through the fall, offertories have been off around 10 percent.

There are similar challenges in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., where in-person attendance is roughly a quarter of pre-pandemic levels and offertory revenue is down about 10% after plunging 30% early in the outbreak.

In its federal bankruptcy court filing, the diocese said that about 40 percent of its annual revenue typically comes from offertory collections at its parishes.

Documents filed with the bankruptcy court on Thursday show that COVID-19 and social distancing restrictions led to smaller offertory collections at the 135 parishes on Long Island since March.