March 3, 2010

Join our mission to serve the Gospel

By Roxanne King

Born as the Denver Catholic on March 17, 1900—with the cover printed in green ink in honor of St. Patrick’s Day—this month the Denver Catholic Register will turn 110.

Over the past two weeks through this column we’ve introduced you to our staffers. We invite you to meet us in person at an open house from 3 p.m.-5 p.m., March 17 at the John Paul II Center, 1300 S. Steele St., to celebrate our birthday.

Our mission is to inform, evangelize and catechize. We inform people about what’s happening in the Church and in the secular community, we evangelize by sharing the Gospel and how it is and isn’t being lived out, and we catechize by explaining Church teaching and making it relevant for your life.

At the Register we get to tell the good news of God’s people today. It’s meaningful work that matters. Let me share just one example. 

 I was sent an e-mail last week from Geoffrey Bennett, director of Catholic Charities’ Samaritan House. He wanted to let me know that as the result of the cover story in the Feb. 3 Register about a grant-funded, back-to-work program at the shelter, four homeless people received jobs with benefits. For those four—three men and a woman—the jobs mean hope and a second chance. Now that they are earning money, they will soon be able to move from Samaritan House into a place of their own in a critical step toward rebuilding their lives.

“Thanks for all you have done,” Bennett wrote. “With your assistance we have four residents working who would not be if it wasn’t for you and your readers.” 

My heart soared. Our work had made a profound difference for four homeless people. It literally meant a new life for them. Those kinds of results are just one reason I thank God every day for the privilege of being editor of this venerable newspaper with its century-plus legacy of serving the Gospel.

It’s no secret that the newspaper business is in transition due to a poor economy and a changing media landscape. Thankfully, the Register is not in danger of closing. We proudly remain the flagship communication tool of the Denver Archdiocese and will continue to be delivered for free to homes of registered, contributing parishioners. But the costs of producing a newspaper have skyrocketed the last few years and we decided last year to start an annual JOIN the MISSION drive at the time of our anniversary, inviting our readers to voluntarily contribute the $25 a year subscription cost if they value the newspaper.

It costs about $1.6 million a year to produce the Register. Our terrific advertisers cover 57 percent of that cost; the archdiocese covers the bulk of the remainder. The JOIN the MISSION campaign seeks to reduce the burden on the archdiocese through our readers’ voluntary donations. Last year our readers generously gave $10,000 to the campaign. We aim to exceed that this year. 

If you joined our mission last year, thank you, we hope you’ll consider contributing again. If you didn’t join last year, please do so now! If you cannot help us by purchasing a subscription, we ask that you support us with your prayers. Know that our prayer each day is that our work will bless your life and bring God greater glory and honor. We invite you to drop us a line letting us know how the Register touches your life and to send us your prayer intentions to be offered during a Mass in thanksgiving for our 110 years (see box this page).

A decade into the third millennium, we at the Register believe the good news is needed now more than ever. We hope you’ll agree and will join our mission to help the Register serve the Gospel far into the future.

Roxanne King is editor of the Denver Catholic Register.