Dec. 11, 2020 Catholic News Service WASHINGTON The signals were clear at the start of the pandemic. No Masses, no offertory income. No offertory income, nothing to assess by the diocese. Nothing in the diocese to assess, reduced revenue to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. And what is true at the parish level is also true for all types of Catholic institutions. From what I ve heard, it s bad, but it s not as bad as people thought it was going to be in the beginning, said Patrick Markey, executive director of the Diocesan Financial Management Conference in Phoenix. The parishes aren t getting direct donations from the people. The dioceses rely on the parishes to support them. The (bishops ) conference relies on the dioceses to support it, Markey said.