BOSTON, July 22 — The Archdiocese of Boston said today that it would refuse donations from a charitable fund set up to let people give to Roman Catholic causes while bypassing the archdiocese's financial control.
The group, Voice of the Faithful, a fast-growing organization formed by Boston-area lay Catholics in response to the clergy sexual abuse scandal, had said it would begin raising money last weekend at its first convention, attended by 4,000 people from around the country.
The intention of the group's Voice of Compassion fund was to maintain contributions to many programs that are supported by the archdiocese's annual fund-raising drive, the Cardinal's Appeal, including programs to help inner-city parishes, people with disabilities and patients recuperating in hospitals.
But the Voice of Compassion fund planned to give money specifically to those archdiocesan programs, without having the archdiocese apply it to support other services or costs. At least part of the Cardinal's Appeal pays for running the archdiocese, everything from groundskeeping to seminary administration.
Contributions to this year's Cardinal's Appeal, which began in May, have been down significantly, reflecting widespread anger with Cardinal Bernard F. Law's handling of the sexual abuse scandal. As of mid-June, the archdiocese had received $4.8 million in pledges, compared with $7.5 million at the same time last year, church officials said.
Despite that shortfall, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese, Donna M. Morrissey, said in a statement tonight that it would not take Voice of the Faithful's money. So far, the group said, it had collected pledges of more than $10,000.
The archdiocese could not accept contributions collected in the manner Voice of the Faithful had, the statement said, "because it undercuts that customary means of financial support to the mission of the church in this archdiocese, which is the Cardinal's Appeal."
Moreover, the statement added, the group's approach to donations "does not recognize the role of the archbishop and his responsibility in providing for the various programs and activities of the church."
The statement went on to say that it was refusing the Voice of Compassion funds out of "a sincere effort to maintain the proper relationship between a bishop and the faithful."
Leaders of Voice of the Faithful said they were startled by the decision.
"It is not the intention of Voice of the Faithful to undercut the cardinal," said Dr. James E. Muller, a founder of the group.
"On the contrary, it's our intention to make these funds available to the cardinal for the good works of the archdiocese. We feel that what has undercut the fund-raising has been the scandal and that's not to be blamed on Voice of the Faithful."
Voice of the Faithful, which was formed in a suburban church basement in February and now claims 19,000 members from 40 states and 21 countries, represents the most mainstream lay Catholic response to the sexual abuse scandal. Its members — many of them older devout Catholics who serve as eucharistic ministers or Sunday school teachers — have tried to call for a greater lay voice in the church without alienating the church's hierarchy.
Today, Michael Emerton, a Voice of the Faithful spokesman, said the group was not encouraging people to avoid giving to the archdiocese, but was simply providing an alternative for "people who already made that conscious decision not to donate to the Cardinal's Appeal."
David Castaldi, chairman of Voice of the Faithful's finance committee, said the committee had tried for weeks to discuss the fund with the archdiocese but had "been unsuccessful in arranging such a meeting. I would hope they would meet with us and I would hope that the archdiocese would reconsider its position."
The fund's money would be given to the National Catholic Community Foundation, an independent nonprofit group, which planned to distribute it to the programs after getting an archdiocesan accounting of how the money would be used.
Mr. Castaldi said if the archdiocese rejected the money, the foundation would contribute it to Catholic groups not under the archdiocese's authority. Voice of the Faithful has also said that similar funds might be established in other cities.
The Rev. Robert Bullock, pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows in Sharon, Mass., had urged his parishioners to give to the Cardinal's Appeal but he also attended the Voice of the Faithful conference this weekend. He expressed a mixed reaction to the archdiocese decision.
"I can see the concern the archdiocese is raising, and I see what the Voice of the Faithful is saying," he said, adding that, "We need to find ways in the midst of this crisis to keep ministries supported."
The Rev. Bob Bowers, pastor of St. Catherine's, in a housing project in the Charlestown section of Boston, expressed a stronger disappointment. "I would challenge them to say how they are going to help the people here," he said, referring to archdiocese officials.
St. Catherine's would probably benefit from the fund. This year, Father Bowers said, the archdiocese cut its annual contribution to his church from $70,000 to $50,000.
The decision, Father Bowers said, "seems to say to me that the archdiocese doesn't yet understand the critical nature of the problem," that "because of their frustration, people are linking their feelings about the church to their donations."
He added, "I think it's going to heighten people's dismay with the operations of the church, heighten their frustrations and their calls for change when this door is being shut."