The CatholiCity Message
Volume XV, Number 12 – December 8, 2011
Feast of the Immaculate Conception
2011 CHRISTMAS APPEAL
Dear CatholiCity Citizen,
We only ask for your help once a year, and here's why: CatholiCity gives away up to $60 worth of free materials to every soul who comes to us for help, so we typically run a deficit by Advent. Inflation (especially for shipping) has sent our costs soaring. This year the deficit is approaching $100,000.
I just spent an hour before the Blessed Sacrament imploring Our Lord and Immaculate Mary to inspire you to respond generously to this year's appeal.
We trust in your love for souls. You care about making converts, helping the fallen away return to the Church, and helping people go to heaven instead of the other place.
In fact, after Mass I promised Jesus that I would personally add $1 to your gift and to every gift your fellow CatholiCity Citizens make. Seriously, make my contribution add up into the thousands!
It takes less than two minutes to make an online donation:
http://www.catholicity.com/support/donation.html
Just imagine meeting a soul in heaven who was converted through a free CD, book, or web content that you helped subsidize! We are offering three wonderful gifts as a token of our gratitude:
GUADALUPE FRIDGE MAGNET FOR EVERY DONOR
Every donor, regardless of amount, will receive a beautiful Our Lady of Guadalupe magnet as a powerful daily reminder to pray every time your family members grab a snack or prepare a meal.
LAPEL PIN WITH YOUR $25 GIFT
For $25 or more, in addition to the magnet, you'll receive an Our Lady of Guadalupe lapel pin. These are custom made for CatholiCity and have been blessed by a priest at St. John's Cathedral in Cleveland. (I have also touched them to my Relic of the True Cross.) A tasteful way to evangelize, it also makes a thoughtful gift for someone you love.
ART-HOUSE PRINT WITH YOUR $50 GIFT
Along with your lapel pin and magnet, you will receive an exquisite 8x10 Our Lady of Guadalupe art-house print when you make a donation of $50 or more. Ready for framing with integrated double-matting on premium-grade stock, I know there is a special place for this image in your home.
You can see the Our Lady of Guadalupe magnet, lapel pin, and art-house print here:
http://www.catholicity.com/support/donation.html
THE 24 HOUR CONVERSION TOOL
CatholiCity is always there for you, your family, friends, and most importantly, for anyone searching online for the truth -- every minute of every day since 1996.
Your generosity will ensure that hundreds of thousands of potential converts will continue to have the opportunity to receive our free life-changing CDs, novels, booklets, audio downloads, news, commentary, links, resources, and online prayers. (Many have told us that my CatholiCity Message alone is worth one donation per year, almost as many as who are annoyed by this once-a-year appeal...)
TEN CENTS CAN ADD UP FAST
With overhead like insurance, computer tech, rent, etc, it costs around $2 to $3 to manufacture, process, package and ship a CD, book, or 10-pack of booklets (still only a fraction of what it costs other charities and secular companies). If we lose just 10 cents per item, that adds up to $100,000 for every million items, so you can see the tightrope we're on.
NEW FREE BOOKLETS, CDs, NOVEL PLANNED FOR 2012 If we can afford it, we want to release two more free Catholic booklets next year, including one on Confession for Lent 2012, along with a new CD, and (pray for me) my first new novel in a long time.
I'm especially intrigued with your success in giving out booklets at grocery stores. Imagine thousands of fallen-away Catholics coming home after years and decades away from the Sacraments through this simple venue.
TO MAKE YOUR TAX-DEDUCTIBLE CHRISTMAS GIFT ONLINE:
http://www.catholicity.com/support/donation.html
TO SEND A CHRISTMAS GIFT BY MAIL:
CatholiCity
2011 Christmas Gift
PO Box 26101
Fairview Park, OH 44126
HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU GIVE?
We know some of you can make an especially large one-time gift of hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Please discuss this with your loved ones. On her feast day, ask Immaculate Mary if she wants you to make a particularly generous sacrifice to help bring souls to our beloved Catholic Faith.
Of course even a modest gift of $2, $5, or $10 when combined with thousands of others will help us reach our goal. Together we've distributed millions of free CDs and books over the past twenty years. With God's grace and your continued sacrifice, we will reach countless more souls in the next twenty.
While praying, I sensed there is one person in particular who can make a really big gift this year, perhaps in honor of someone close who was either converted or miraculously healed by God's grace through our novels or talks. I will contact you to thank you directly.
If you cannot afford to help financially, please pray one Rosary for the success of this year's appeal.
May you and your family have a blessed Advent, a holy Christmas, and a grace-filled 2012.
With the Immaculata,
Bud Macfarlane
Founder and Executive Director
CatholiCity.com
P.S. Here is more background on the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe:
THE BISHOP WAS REFLECTED IN HER EYES
Allow your gaze to rest upon this gorgeous portrait of Mary for a few moments and feel its supernatural power. Imagine this holy image adorning your kitchen, office, lapel, or bedroom as a daily reminder to pray. You can view it here:
On December 9, exactly four hundred and eighty years ago tomorrow, when Saint Juan Diego lowered his cloak to show Archbishop Zumarraga the winter-blooming flowers he required Our Lady to provide as proof, this amazing image appeared instantly. Among the many scientifically baffling facts recently discovered about this supernatural picture is a photographic mirror image of Zumarraga reflected in both eyes of Mary when he looked at the cloak while the image came into existence.
Viewable to modern man only through magnification, it was utterly impossible for a human being to produce given the technology of the age. The bearded man reflected in Mary's eyes matches painted portraits of Zumarraga from the era, and according to ocular experts, bends three-dimensionally with the curvature of her eyes.
http://www.catholicity.com/support/donation.html
(All donations are tax-deductible.)
