Archbishop-Gomez1Today, Ash Wednesday, marks the beginning of Lent — a period during which Catholics and other Christians pray, fast, and engage in acts of penance and self-denial, including giving to charity.  As you begin your Lenten disciplines, we here at CalCatholic ask that you keep us in mind as you consider the sacrifices you will make during this solemn season in the life of the Church.

images-1For some time now, CalCatholic has operated on a shoestring budget, battling from month to month to continue publishing. Without your financial support, CalCatholic would not be able to bring you its unique version of Catholic journalism. That is truer today than ever before — at present, we are barely getting by, and each week is a challenge.

Los-Angeles-Cathedral-of-our-Lady-of-the-Angels-01In addition to our daily menu of provocative and inspiring stories, CalCatholic offers its readers the opportunity to engage in the lively give-and-take of our comments feature. Our classified ads alert readers to job opportunities across California, some of them drawing hundreds of hits. Our calendar section keeps readers apprised of Catholic events from one end of the state to the other. And we now offer CalCatholic readers the opportunity to join us on Facebook or Tweet our stories to friends and family. For a very modest cost, we also offer professionally designed and attractive display advertising  with an audience of thousands every day. We frequently bring you our News from the Trenches feature, which chronicles the activities of those who witness outside abortion clinics. And we periodically bring you another popular feature, our Churches Worth Driving To, which highlights churches and parishes across the state.

brownWhile most of our audience comes from California, our readership spans the globe: coast-to-coast in the U.S., but also in virtually every corner of the globe. CalCatholic has readers in places like Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nigeria and Angola in Africa; Guatemala, Mexico, Belize and Argentina in Latin America; the United Kingdom, the Russian Federation, Switzerland, France and Ireland in Europe; other readers come to CalCatholic from Yemen, Israel, Pakistan, Lithuania, India, China, Algeria and Indonesia. The entire list would take up too much space to list here, but CalCatholic’s readership, like the Church itself, is universal. Wouldn’t it be a shame to lose this worldwide outreach for lack of funds?

BoyScoutsMost of the work done today at CalCatholic is performed by volunteers, but that doesn’t mean there are not substantial expenses. We have telephone and light bills, computer expenses, the cost of keeping our content online, the expense of having a part-time technical expert available for the inevitable program glitches, and about $1000 a month in part-time salaries for essential work we couldn’t get by without. We need your help to pay these expenses — we are, as we note on our homepage, “a reader-supported non-profit organization.”

tacThat means, of course, that our ability to continue publishing is entirely up to our readers’ generosity. Please consider making a contribution today to help us survive during these difficult economic times.

To those of you who have already agreed to make a regular monthly donation, we thank you, and ask that you consider making a special one-time donation today for our Lenten Appeal. For others, some of whom have previously made one-time donations, we ask you again for your help. We suggest a donation of $40 — for the 40 days of Lent — though a donation of any amount would be deeply appreciated, whether $5 or $5000. And it is our hope that many of our thousands of readers who have yet to give will take this opportunity to donate as part of our Lenten Appeal. All donations are tax deductible — California Catholic Daily is a federally and state-recognized non-profit.

cordileoneWe offer you several ways to donate. You can simply click on our “donate” button and make your contribution via PayPal, or you can mail your donation by check or money order to:
California Catholic Daily
1703 India Street
San Diego, CA 92101

Please give today. Our survival depends on you!