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Isn't it a treat to have Sr. Joan Chittister speaking to you first thing in the morning? Sr. Joan was the video endorsement on the website this morning. If you missed it, I embedded the video in this page below. Joan's words still ring in my ears: "Why NCR?...Remember NCR exists for you. That is why you need it."
Other news outlets this week have been covering the anniversary of the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Do you remember what NCR was covering one year ago?
This is the one year anniversary of the sacking of Australian Bishop William Morris of the Toowoomba diocese. He was removed by the Vatican after an apostolic investigation, which came in the wake of comments Morris made some years back suggesting the church be open to married and women priests.
This year NCR is deep into reporting the results of a Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith investigation of the U.S. Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Later today John Allen will be filing a story from Rome about the American fingerprints that are all over this "Vatican" investigation.
No where else will you read the depth of coverage, analysis and commentary about these stories than in NCR.
But we will only have the means of getting these stories if you donate now.
Later today we will also have a report from Platteville, Wis., where a small, but close knit parish is being threatened with a loss of sacraments because they refuse to passively accept the dismantling of their community by new priests who come not to serve the community but with their own agenda.
This week we also have a report from Amras, Austria, where parishioners staged a Communion strike, a last resort action.
These are stories of people who are -- to paraphrase Sr. Joan's message today -- making up their own minds about the decisions and questions of the day.
You won't these stories anywhere else but NCR. That is why we need your help.
It costs NCR a lot of money to get reports from Rome, Austria and, yes, even Plattesville, Wis. Those are the boots on the ground reporting stores I have mentioned several times this week already. The kind of reports NCR has built its reputation on.
It's Wednesday, the halfway mark of our webathon and we are a far from where we would like to be. Our goal is to surpass the $80,000 we raised last year. If you have made your donation already, thank you very much. If you haven't donated yet, please donate today.
We face a huge challenge together. Your challenge is to be among those who donate this week to help keep the NCR mission alive: providing independent Catholic journalism, the kind of journalism that can serve as a watchdog for our church.
