New ND report on Catholic generosity finds giving stems from conscious effort | News | Notre Dame News | University of Notre Dame Skip To Content Skip To Navigation Skip To Search University of Notre Dame Notre Dame News Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Home Contact Search Menu Home › News › New ND report on Catholic generosity finds giving stems from conscious effort New ND report on Catholic generosity finds giving stems from conscious effort Published: June 26, 2013 Author: Michael O. Garvey Massive catastrophes, the globally televised images of human suffering they generate, and the innate compassion of ordinary people invariably combine to unleash impressive feats of giving, but a new University of Notre Dame study suggests that generosity, at least among American Catholics, may be more complicated than that. The study, “Steps on the Journey to Becoming a More Generous Person,” published by the Catholic Social and Pastoral Research Initiative (CSPRI) of Notre Dame’s Institute for Church Life and co-authored by Brian Starks, CSPRI director, and Christian Smith, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Sociology at Notre Dame, found that spontaneous givers were, as a group, less generous than their more systematic counterparts. “We find that Catholics who are more generous are very likely to have made a prior conscious decision to give more money away and to follow routine, habitual systems of giving,” Starks said. “This suggests that, for other Catholics to become more generous, it would help to do the same. “Concretely,” Starks continued, “American Catholics who made a conscious decision to give more money away at some prior point in their lives donated three times as much money to religious and nonreligious causes in the previous 12 months as Catholics who said that their financial giving ‘just happened.’ “Further, American Catholics who relied on systems or routines in their financial giving gave away two times as much money as those who relied instead on spontaneous or situational giving.” “Steps on the Journey to Becoming a More Generous Person” is the second report published by CSPRI, and, as in its predecessor, “Unleashing Catholic Generosity,” Starks and Smith have used data drawn from a nationally representative survey of 1,997 U.S. adults undertaken in 2010 as a project of Notre Dame’s Science of Generosity initiative. “In our first report,” Starks said, “we showed that when Catholics become ‘spiritually engaged’ with money, they become more likely to give to the Church. Here, we further show that Catholics who are more generous are very likely to have made a prior conscious decision to give more money away and to follow routine, habitual systems of giving. This finding suggests that, for other Catholics to become more generous, it would help to do the same. These may seem like obvious findings, but they are important to note because they underscore the need to focus on creating varied opportunities for people to make purposeful decisions to become more generous and to promote systems and practices of giving that routinize and habituate their own behavior-altering decisions.” Contact: Brian Starks, 574-631-6109, bstarks@nd.edu Posted In: Faith Research Home Experts ND in the News Subscribe About Us Related June 01, 2022 University of Notre Dame to establish consortium of Catholic universities to study Muslim-Christian relations January 31, 2022 New book explores the role of Catholic peacebuilders in addressing global mining issues December 09, 2021 Vatican’s focus on moral and ethical impact of new technologies “a challenge to do better,” scientists say April 09, 2021 Notre Dame helps Catholic Church with underutilized real estate March 29, 2021 The truth about Christ lies in contradiction, philosopher finds For the Media Contact Office of Public Affairs and Communications Notre Dame News 500 Grace Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Pinterest © 2022 University of Notre Dame Search Mobile App News Events Visit Accessibility Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube LinkedIn