The CatholiCity Message
Volume III, Number 22 – August 6, 1999
Dear CatholiCity Citizen,
It's good to be back! We have a lot of items lined up...
1. THE TAXMAN COMETH
Sometime in September, we'll be asking for your support in this CatholiCity Message for the 2nd annual CatholiCity Tax Drive. Once again, the future of this Internet city will depend on you. Yes, we always need prayers, but we also need money. We've been hanging on by our fingernails since last year, and if you allow the "other" Citizens to pay the taxes, we assure you that CatholiCity will shut down before the year 2000. If you want to make an early donation, go to:
http://www.catholicity.com/support/donation.html
2. ENVOY AWARD
Several weeks ago, CatholiCity won honorable mention in the annual Envoy Magazine Awards for Website of the Year. Thanks, Envoy.
3. NOT QUITE BILLIONS AND BILLIONS
Since April, we've added over a hundred new links to our Best Catholic Links page. If you want to check out the latest and greatest, go to:
http://www.catholicity.com/links/new.html
4. HALF A MIL
In case you haven't been to the homepage lately, sometime last week CatholiCity went over 500,000 individual visitors on our counter. These are individual visitors -- not hits. We've had many millions of "hits" during our first millennium. Thanks for coming!
5. SO WHAT EXACTLY DID HE SEE?
Many readers of Bud Macfarlane's third novel, House of Gold, have asked us what he meant in the Preface when he wrote, "As for me, I saw what follows with my own eyes, then I wrote it down." Here is Mr. Macfarlane's reply: "I was describing the process of how I compose novels. I don't know about other writers, but I actually see and hear the characters and the action in my mind's eye, then I copy it down. It's like writing a book about a movie. I never actually plot out my books beforehand. It all just unfolds. While I do say my prayers before I sit down to write, it's not a mystical, religious vision, if that was what any of you were wondering."
6. OUR BRUSH WITH GREATNESS
We got a chance to meet Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza and Legatus, at our national men's conference in Minnesota last month. Dominos Pizza's rise to greatness is an interesting story. Its emphasis on innovation, quality, speed, and simplicity has even had a significant effect on how the Mary Foundation, Saint Jude Media, and CatholiCity are operated. Thanks, Tom. It was a real honor. By the way, Mr. Monaghan mentioned that the most riveting book he ever read in his life was Saint Jude Media's Pierced by a Sword.
7. ANOTHER MCCLOSKEY CLASSIC
Father McCloskey, Director of the Catholic Information Center of the Archdiocese of Washington, author of the life-changing "Winning New Converts," and all-around CatholiCity Homeboy, has done it again with "A Spiritual Consultant." If you ever wanted to know how and why you should seek a spiritual director, this is must reading. If you never wanted to know how or why you should seek a spiritual director, this is must reading...
http://www.catholicity.com/mccloskey/
9. PATRON OF THE WEB?
Word on the street tells us that Saint Isadore of Spain (560-636 AD), who is credited with creating the first "database," his twenty volume Etymologiae, may soon be declared the Patron Saint of the Web. Frankly, our vote goes to our webmaster, but since he isn't dead or canonized yet, let's all 14,000 of us say a prayer to Saint Isadore for the upcoming CatholiCity Tax Drive. "Dear Saint Isadore, intercede on behalf of all the souls who have ever been or will be helped by CatholiCity and its Citizens. Please open the part of the hearts that opens the purse strings in the souls. Amen." If this prayer is answered, we'll let the Vatican know it's on the right track...
Y2K QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"It's very hard to predict the future, particularly before it happens."
Yogi Berra
CATHOLIC QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"The way to become strong is by doing small things you've made up your mind to do, however much you don't want to do them at the time."
Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson
10. TRUE STORY
There was a fallen-away Catholic man, on his deathbed in the hospital, who refused to see or talk to a Jesuit priest, much less go to Confession or receive Last Rites. The dying man fell asleep, and woke up to find the Jesuit sitting very close to his bed, his face only inches away. "What are you doing here?" the man cried angrily. "I've never seen a soul go to hell before, so I came here to watch." The dying man repented, received the sacraments, then passed away.
See you next week!
Yours in Christ,
Your Friends at CatholiCity
