The CatholiCity Message
Volume III, Number 24 – September 3, 1999
Dear Beloved CatholiCity Citizen,
How do you love somebody online? In the past few years, we've never addressed you as "Beloved," but we are doing so this week. You are a real person, a human being, with faults, talents, problems, bills, stresses, dreams, family, and the spark of God in your soul that is called Faith. You have a real life, and dignity, and you deserve to be treated accordingly. We've always levelled with you. In fact, we believe the "secret" to our success as producers of Catholic novels, CDs, tapes, and the CatholiCity Message is that we tell the truth as best we can. Nothing fancy. We screw up sometimes, too. In short, the Truth is love, especially online, where the Truth is not always easy to find, and the Prince of Lies seems like the ruler.
The tax drive is next week, on September 8th.
Last year, when CatholiCity was on its deathbed, we offered you the truth. A number of of you responded, and we hung on for exactly one year, as promised. But we're not healthy. It's worse than last year. We're always behind. We can't give people the attention and help their dignity requires. CatholiCity is like a boxer in the late rounds, getting pounded, ready to go down for the count. Our webmaster and staff are increasingly overwhelmed. We simply can't keep up daily with your needs. About eight months ago, even though it broke our hearts and sapped our spirits, we stopped any and all promotional efforts to draw people to CatholiCity, hoping that it would keep our volume of work to a reasonably insane level. But people keep coming. More would stick around if we (meaning the CatholiCity staff) had the resources to treat them better when they arrive.
We need two more full-time workers just to stay on our feet.
Next week, you're going to have a choice. As we've prayed and pondered over what to tell you next week during our Second Annual Tax Drive, and talked with friends and workers, we came to this conclusion:
CatholiCity simply cannot continue as a crossroads for Catholics worldwide with only 2% of its Citizens donating a voluntary tax, and less than .01% voluntarily supporting it on a monthly basis.
Realistically, we need $12,000 per month to even hope to meet our professional standards for additional staff.
Finally, we have two numbers on our minds. Neither are dollar amounts. The first is a number of individuals reading this message. We told you a week or so ago that if you let "the other guy" support CatholiCity this year, CatholiCity will fold.
That number is (NO LONGER APPLIES).
You decide how much to send us. You decide if you want to send a one-time check or an automatic monthly or one-time credit card pledge.
If the number of "yous" turns out to be (NO LONGER APPLIES) citizens, then CatholiCity will not only live, but prosper, like a real city should, and we might never have to do a Tax Drive again.
By the way, if you're a millionaire and want to send us a gift of hundreds of thousands of dollars, don't be shy. But we've never seen that happen in almost a decade of apostolic work. Maybe we're just lousy Tax Men. For some reason, Our Lady has seen fit to send us benefactors who are, for the most part, regular folks with lots of other bills to pay.
What is the second number on our mind?
Millions. In terms of grace, in terms of faith, in terms of hope, in the only terms that really matter, CatholiCity, even if it shuts down, has always been a success. Souls receive grace here. Over the course of salvation history, until Christ returns, millions of people could be helped by CatholiCity. And even though the future appears bleak today, if enough of you step forward, it could be hundreds of millions over the next decade.
Heaven or hell. The real issue.
Souls surf into CatholiCity by the tens of thousands, searching for the Truth. They find it here, and they find in a unique way. The great fallacy is that you can "automate" the way people receive that truth. When in fact, truth needs a human element and is conveyed through human contact in the mystery of grace. Without the necessary staff, we can't support the countless hundreds of thousands of evangelical, teaching, and grace-filled moments of opportunity you provide for each other here every year.
Our staff needs to eat, wear clothes, pay rent, and fix their junk cars when they break down in the harsh Cleveland winters. The phone company, which doesn't give a whack about souls, will cut us off if we don't pay the bill. We have to heat the office.
Millions. Millions of souls in heaven. That what drives us. Keeps us up late working. We love souls, imperfectly, of course, cause we're of the flesh. But we love! We love! We love through God's pure grace, just like you. Don't let the devil fool you into thinking only the holy can help Jesus save souls. Apostles are poor sinners who love souls just enough to animate their faith with works. Will you join us?
Let's pray:
"Immaculate Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, please inspire the Citizens of CatholiCity. Saint Jude, hope of the helpless, intercede for us. Saint Anthony: Help! Oh Sweet Jesus, have mercy on us. Father, not our will but thine. Amen."
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
"If you see a fork in the road, take it."
Yogi Berra
"Now is not the time for talk, now is the time for action."
Nathan Payne
"Faith without works is dead."
Saint James the Apostle
See you next week, on Mary's Birthday, September 8th, when we'll ask you to pay your taxes!
Yours in Christ,
Your Friends at CatholiCity
