NEW YORK (AP) – The past year has been a difficult one for U.S. charities affiliated with the Catholic Church. Even as many donors reacted in dismay to the church’s sex-abuse scandals, the charities faced new challenges due to the immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. For the biggest agencies – Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief Services – it’s too early to gauge the overall financial impact of recent sex-abuse developments. But several local Catholic Charities affiliates report a drop in donations due at least in part to the scandals. Those included abuse allegations that led to former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s ouster from the priesthood and a Pennsylvania grand jury report asserting that about 300 Roman Catholic priests had abused children at six of the state’s dioceses over seven decades.