So, this is what happened. We were out of questions and decided to ask you for more. Then, I asked you for feedback on how we have served you. Wow! We just can’t keep up with the flood of questions, blessings, “thank you” notes, prayers both in email and in response to the “Are we helping” blog post… I remember starting this effort in 2008 and wondering if it would ever help anyone. Since then, the answer has become overwhelmingly clear; the number of readers around the world has reached over 100,000 from more than 180 countries! This past Tuesday we had over 2,200 visits in one day! During that day alone, seeking Catholics spent at least 57 hours absorbing the great truths of our Church! Another aspect of this work that has surprised me is the number of priests and religious who write in with questions, encouragement, or prayer requests. It is absolutely amazing how God can use this technology to enable Catholics to spend thousands of hours every year absorbing the love he has for them through faithful content and guidance on the spiritual life.
This brings me a bit of sadness in the midst of all this blessing… Right now there is one major obstacle hindering our efforts to reach out and serve more people who desire to find the peace and blessings that Christ has for them – capacity. Has the Lord blessed you in a way that you can help us overcome this obstacle? We need a paid full or even part-time position to join our work. This would require somewhere between 35 to 45 thousand dollars in funding to cover the costs for a year (including computer equipment etc). No worries, I am not asking that of you alone unless you are one of those whom God has greatly blessed with unusual resources. However, there are thousands of regular daily, weekly, and monthly readers; if only one quarter of our subscribers would simply commit to $5.00 per month, we could make great progress toward covering these costs and expanding our services. And THANK YOU to those of you who already do this and more to help us to cover the cost of our efforts thus far! Here’s a few ways all of you can help bring spiritual food to hungry hearts (if you are not doing so already):
- Pray for us as we seek to serve you and others. Prayer is a big deal. If this is the only way you can help, please rest assured that this is a great way indeed! In specific, please pray that God would bring others who could help us as indicated below.
- Help us with a one-time donation of any size (don’t underestimate the value of a single gift of even $5.00 goes a long way with our extremely frugal approach). Click here if you can help in this way.
- Become a part of the CSD family and give a regular monthly amount – even if it is only $5 each month it would make a big difference to us. Monthly giving is especially helpful because it allows us a more predictable budget to work with. Click here if you can help in this way.
- Become a CSD foundation society member and make a larger single or recurring gift. If you are able and willing to make a larger one time or multi-year gift to this effort, please send me an email at RCSpiritualDirection@gmail.com and provide me with your contact information so we can talk. We do have non-profit status and all your contributions are tax deductible. As well, I travel monthly for speaking purposes and I would be more than happy to meet with you face to face if warranted. If you don’t want to meet or talk but would like to make a larger gift, simply click here.
What would happen if we could reach our budget goals?:
- We would hire a part-time person to help Dan in managing the site, writers, reader interaction etc.
- We would work harder on our resource development and promotion. Did you know we have multiple publications on iTunes, Kindle, and in print? We don’t have the capacity to get the word out!
- We would probably begin at least quarterly web based live interactive webinars on the spiritual life (depending on how much help you are able to help).
Simply put, we would be able to help more people come to better know and love Christ and his Church!
In the end it is all about helping people to heaven. Thank you for your participation in the increasing part we play in God’s glorious plan for his Church.
Yours in Christ
