Behind the scenes at CalCatholic

What’s involved in bringing you the news

Late on the night of Feb. 16, California Catholic Daily’s lone full-time employee waited at his computer as the hour approached midnight for a story to be filed by a volunteer correspondent in the Bay Area about a protest by Catholics of President Obama’s visit earlier that evening to San Francisco.

The dedication of the correspondent — who is not compensated for his work — and the willingness of our editor to stay up late paid off: CalCatholic was able to post a story just minutes after midnight on Feb. 17 providing our readers with details of the protest they were unlikely to find anywhere else: “Around 150 Catholics prayed the rosary, sang the Ave Maria and We Shall Overcome, waved Vatican flags, and stood for religious freedom and the Constitution in San Francisco last night, a city that cast more than 85% of its votes for President Obama in 2008. One young man climbed a tree and waved an American flag surmounted by a banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe,” the story began.

That story is just one example of the behind-the-scenes work we do here at CalCatholic to provide our readers with hard-hitting news of interest to Catholics. On Feb. 21, we reported on a state-funded program to provide teenagers between the ages of 12 and 19 with free condoms and sexual lubricants by mail. The next day, we reported on the appearance of Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a longtime foe of the Church and homosexual activist, at San Francisco’s Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, where, according to the homosexual press, he “shared the stage” with Archbishop George Niederauer.

In our ongoing coverage of the intense national debate of the Obama Administration’s HHS contraception mandate, CalCatholic brought you news of the Army’s muzzling of the Archbishop for Military Services of the U.S. The news came to us “straight from the horse’s mouth” — in the form of a statement provided by the military archdiocese itself, with no editorial changes or interpretation on our part.

And that’s just a small sample of our work over the last few weeks. Day in and day out, you can rely on CalCatholic to bring you news of interest to serious Catholics across the world. We do not shy away from tough or controversial topics, and the range of subjects we write about is wide: from public scandal within the Church, to liturgical abuses, to statements from our bishops on matters of importance, to the clash between politics and Catholic values. You can read about all of it here. And, if you are so moved, you can provide your own feedback in our lively comments section.

About a year ago — on Feb. 22, 2011 — we let you know that CalCatholic was facing closure without the financial backing of its readers. In the ensuing months, we took several steps in an effort to win your support. We became a California non-profit religious corporation, and we filed for — and later received — status as a 501(c) (3) public charity from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, which means your donations to CalCatholic are tax deductible.

Thanks to you, CalCatholic has survived another year — but we are again swimming in treacherous and uncertain financial waters. Right now, we don’t even have enough money to cover our upcoming monthly payroll — which amounts to only about $5000. In fact, our total annual budget is just $60,000 — an amount we have kept low by being very frugal with your contributions.

So today we turn to you once more for help. In order to continue bringing you our unique brand of Catholic journalism, CalCatholic needs for you to make a tax-deductible contribution today. Even if you are already among our regular monthly contributors, we ask you to consider sending us a little extra now. And for most of our many thousands of daily readers who have not chosen to contribute something toward our work each month, we ask that you take the time now to send in what you can. Our survival depends on it.

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