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Dear Mark,
I've not yet had the pleasure of meeting you, but wanted to say thanks for your work at Catholic Exchange and particularly for your courageously blunt 19th Century Thinking and Lay Catholic Apostolates which I read today. I've often said much the same thing but not nearly as eloquently or publicly. You've nailed it.
Though I am one of those lay ministry folks with a bunch of kids and am dealing with low contribution levels, I'm sending my “widow's mite” contribution to Catholic Exchange today.
Thanks for persevering despite all the hardships and disappointments entailed in serving the Lord in a country of 19th century thinkers!
Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.
***
Dear Mr. Shea:
I think your “historic message” is full of baloney. If such a large portion our donations did not get sent to the VERY rich Vatican we would not be in such bad shape.
Sally Schulte
Dear Ms. Schulte:
I'm dubious that the Vatican is all that rich myself. Yeah, it's got a lot of architecture and artwork that it has to dust (and which is free and open to the public, not a private holding). But compared to any other bureaucratic structure in the world, it's an amazingly lean and efficient operation and its staff work for peanuts compared to, say, the elephantine US Federal goverment.
But in any case, who is holding a gun to your head and saying “You must enrich the Vatican and withhold your money from lay Catholic apostolates or other worthy charities that don't get a dime from the Church”?
Nope. American Catholics are stinkin' rich compared to the rest of the world and amazingly chintzy. If you really feel that the ointment is a waste to pour on Jesus' feet then don't gripe at Rome. Take the money you are fretting about, stop complaining about rich Rome, and give it to some lay Catholic apostolate or other charity you think worthy, unconnected to Rome. But don't withhold your gift to God on the threadbare excuse that Rome has too much money.
Mark Shea
Senior Content Editor
Catholic Exchange
***
Dear Mark:
What you say about growing up makes perfect sense.
However, perhaps another issue is that Catholics aren't really ready to sign up for serious support of a web-based endeavour like CatholicExchange.com. And I can't blame them, given the apparent unreality of all things Internet.
Seems to me that the enterprises which are thriving are involved in physical objects (tapes, books, etc.), like the Mary Foundation, St. Joseph Communications, etc.
So maybe that'll remain a constant.
Who knows? Blessings on all your work, in the meantime.
Cheers!
Chris Ryland
Dear Chris:
Thanks for your note. We do offer “real” things too, such as world-class Catholic Bible Studies, bestselling books and unique Catholic store items. In fact, we'll soon be publishing two timely Catholic booklets and unveiling a state-of-the-art “Catholic Phone” which will allow subscribers to access our proprietary content on their cell phones and wireless devices. So we're very much in the tangible world, though perhaps we've been remiss in making this sufficiently clear. You're probably right that it's harder for people to relate to something as ethereal as cyberspace.
Thanks for your kind word of encouragement for our work!
Mark Shea
Senior Content Editor
Catholic Exchange
