[Apologetics] Fw: Catholic Answers Needs Your Help to Continue Its Ministry

Thu Apr 2 18:05:38 EDT 2009

--- On Thu, 4/2/09, Catholic Answers Projects <projects at catholic.com> wrote:

From: Catholic Answers Projects <projects at catholic.com>
Subject: Catholic Answers Needs Your Help to Continue Its Ministry
To: arthurkelly at yahoo.com
Date: Thursday, April 2, 2009, 5:56 PM

>From the Desk of
Karl Keating

Severe Financial Crisis 
Threatens Catholic Answers. 
Emergency Help Needed Soon!

We’ve already had to make cuts.

Donate Now!

With the economy as bad as it is, the cry for help that you’re about to read should come as no surprise to you.

I’m just going to tell it to you straight and not try to sugarcoat the truth.

The recession has hit the ministry hard and, right now, Catholic Answers is facing one of the biggest financial crises in its 27-year history.

I’m writing to you with the sincere hope that you’ll be able to help us out of this mess. 

We have a plan, but we need YOUR help to make it work.

How bad is the situation?

Bad enough. We’ve already made cuts totaling $600,000—which is a very big part of our budget for all our projects.

We’ve even resorted to closing our doors every other Friday—because we simply can’t afford to stay open.

We’ve trimmed the budget as much as we can without harming the staff, but Catholic Answers is a ministry of people. Everything we do is carried out by the dedicated, zealous Catholic staff we have.

Maintaining that staff of talented professionals is the largest single element of Catholic Answers’ budget. There is little room to cut other elements, because our outreach is labor-based. It’s all done by the people who make up the ministry.

We’ve done what we can, but to make up the budget shortfall caused by the current economic situation, we’ve had to start closing the office and giving the staff unpaid furlough time to keep the ministry afloat.

The employees at Catholic Answers are dedicated to their work. They love the Catholic faith. They love explaining it, defending it, and sharing it. They’re the heart, soul, and backbone of Catholic Answers.

But we have to cut back many of our efforts, including our staff’s work time, by at least 10%—just to help keep this ministry going. I myself have done the same thing.

You see, I’ve put virtually my entire life into this ministry, and I’m not about to let its effectiveness fall just because of the economic crisis our country is currently facing.

That’s why we’ve put together a new growth plan

It would be foolish to deal with the current situation just by making cuts. We need to grow the ministry—to make Catholic Answers bigger and more effective. And so we’ve put together a plan to do just that.

I’ll be telling you about this in more detail in the future. But we have already begun implementing measures to increase the ministry’s revenue, to allow it to expand its work, and to let it operate even more efficiently.

That’s good news!

The bad news is that it will take several months for this plan to have its effect, and we’ve got to deal with a painful budgetary shortfall in the interim. 

That’s why we’ve made the current cuts.

And—to keep from having to make even deeper cuts—we need to receive emergency help from key supporters such as you.

In times like these, I know it’s difficult to make extra sacrifices to support the ministries you love. It’s difficult for me to ask you.

But it’s precisely because of times like these that your help is needed more than ever.

I’m very serious. If we don’t receive emergency help right away, further cuts could become a reality.

In the past, I’ve written and let you know that—in one situation or another—we might have to cut back on our work, and from time to time we have indeed had to pull back on or cancel individual projects.

But now the economic situation is so bad for non-profits like Catholic Answers that the entire ministry has taken a hit. 

It’s not just one project or another. It’s everything we do.

How did it get this way?

Ever since the November elections and the collapse of the economy, our donations have dropped off by a frightening amount. (We rely on donations for two-thirds of our income.)

Unemployment is up, and many people have mortgage trouble. Fortunately, these ills haven’t struck most of our supporters! But everyone is nervous right now, and non-profits are being hit hard.

These are bleak times for charities, though their work is needed as much as ever.

That’s why we’ve had to take drastic steps to protect the future of Catholic Answers.

We run a tight ship as it is, and if things drop much further, we wouldn’t be able to do some of our work at all.

Our highly successful and effective projects and programs require a lot of funding to operate because of their size and scope.

Some examples are in order . . . 

•    To publish This Rock each year costs $614,000. And we don’t make a profit on it.

•    To produce and broadcast Catholic Answers Live each year costs $520,000. 

•    To operate our web site and the 136,000-member forums costs $326,000 per year. We don’t charge a dime for that.

•    Our full-time apologetics staff has a price tag of $358,000.

•    Whenever we go to World Youth Day to protect young Catholics from anti-Catholic propagandists, it costs us hundreds of thousands of dollars to distribute free copies of Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth and Pure Love to the throngs of students there.

As you can see, it adds up to a lot of money. We try not to waste a dime. Everything goes into our mission of explaining, defending, and sharing the Catholic faith.

Until just recently, we’ve been able to pay all our bills and keep growing—because of the grace of God, and the generosity of good Catholics like you.

But now that times are tough, people are tightening their belts. And yes, even cutting back on donations to their favorite charities. 

Therefore, we have to tighten our belts, too.

So we are cutting back—and not just on salaries.

Drastic cutbacks already made—
and more ahead

As I mentioned, we’ve had to cut back our work by 10% across the board.

We’re closing our doors every other Friday, without pay, and we’ve had to cut back on our employees’ health care.

Now, all of this is being done not out of panic but rather to protect the ministry.

As I mentioned, we’ve already begun implementing measures to grow the ministry financially and enable it to serve the Lord even better.

But until that plan begins to have its effect, we urgently need your help.

Like other charities, our donations have dropped off precipitously, and we’ve had to make painful cuts.

If we didn’t do something now, we’d really be in trouble two or three months from now. 

We want to be good stewards of the resources with which God has blessed Catholic Answers. Failing to take action in the face of such a sudden and drastic drop in donations would be irresponsible and would endanger the future of the ministry.

There is no "bailout" money for Catholic apologetics organizations in the latest "stimulus" bill.

There are no "earmarks" for Catholic Answers—I can assure you of that!

And that’s why we urgently need you and all our other faithful supporters to come to our aid at this time of need. Click here to send your donation. 

Quite simply, we need you to make an emergency donation for an emergency situation.

I know that if God wants Catholic Answers to continue and even to grow, it will.

But God works through human instruments—especially when it comes to the support of the ministries that do his work.

And right now, we need your emergency support—of whatever you can afford to give.

I believe we can weather this storm—that we can grow the ministry and get it back into the financial shape it needs to be in. That way we can undo the painful cuts we’ve had to make and go full steam ahead on outreach.

It will be a bumpy ride. But God is faithful . . . if we have faith in him.

That’s why I’m writing to you today. You and a small group of loyal Catholics are our chief source of financial support. We are totally dependent upon your generosity.

So, in faith, I’m placing the future of Catholic Answers in God’s hands . . . and yours.

Please prayerfully consider what kind of sacrificial gift you can give at this time to help us out of this dangerous crisis. Click here to send your donation. 

If every person who reads this letter commits to helping us—even if it’s just a small amount above what normally would be given—we will get out of the bind we’re in and start rebuilding for the future.

Sincerely in Christ,

Karl Keating

P.S. Remember, we’re closing our doors every other Friday, just to save money. Please pray and be as generous as you can at this time of need.

Click here to send your donation. 

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