Webathon Update: We are on the way

This week has been a humbling, happy experience for me. To ask people for money in these troubling economic times, and then to see those people -- to see you -- respond so generously, fills my heart with gratitude. Thank you all so much for your help. We are trying to get to $20,000 today. It is a huge goal, but we can make it.

Please donate now.

Some will think that I am asking for your donations because I know my salary depends on it. And that is true, true I mean that my salary depends on it. But there is something else here. I ask for money because I believe in the mission of NCR. People should know us as journalists, just journalists, says Tom Fox, NCR publisher. Journalism is our mission. Applying the tools of journalism to the life of the Catholic church is what we do. We tell the story of the church engaged in the world.

To doo that, we need your help.

Earlier today I said we need a "loaves and fishes" moment. We need to raise a minimum of $20,000 today. We don’t expect one donation to cover that or even three or four. What we expect is the enthusiastic support of the small donors. We have had record numbers of visitors to the website this week. If everyone who as visited this website this week would give $5 we would far exceeded our goal.

We’ve carried a lot of news on the website this week that might give you pause: Tensions over communion rules in Austria, the struggles of Catholics in Platteville, Wis., the ongoing abuse trial in Philadelphia. The Vatican’s decree on the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. These are all serious and important stories. To read them is why people visit NCRonline.org.

But these are not the full story of the Catholic church. I know that. You know that. Here’s my favorite story from the past week: The diocese of Lafayette, La., is burying the unclaimed bodies in the Lafayette Parish corners office. Can you get more basic for a church of compassion and service than that. Burying the dead. One of the corporal works of mercy.

That is the other side of the church’s story that we tell that doesn’t always get trumpeted. You will find plenty of stories like that, stories that inspire, here on NCR as well. To keep those stories coming your way, you have to give now.

Please donate now.

Please help us today. If you have already given, please send this appeal to your family, your friends, other people you know in the church you attend. Send the appeal to your prayer group, your discussion group. Pass the plate for a "loaves and fishes" moment.