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Merry Christmas 2011[2011-12-21][Engleză]Dear friends,Merry Christmas! A year ago in Rome, at a synod of bishops in the presence of Pope Benedict, there was intense discussion on the challenges facing the faith in our time. The assembled Church leaders came to a conclusion: that the Church needs to find a way to survive for another 20 years, as one cardinal who was present told me. Why 20 years? Because the elites who think they can construct a world without God, without Christ, without the Church, without religion and faith, without the idea of the holy and the transcendent, are still persuaded that their project for a world order without Christ can succeed. But in 20 years, the grave problems besetting Western culture and mankind in general, from low birth rates and demographic collapse to the corruption of civil, financial and governmental structures, will become so evident that the elites will be forced to turn again to the Church for help, for a message of hope, of justice, of life. So I am writing to my online subscribers to ask for your help to buy 20 years of time time to keep Inside the Vatican magazine in print through the coming period of crisis, in order to fight this cultural and spiritual battle and to come out on the other side, still strong, still independent, and still in print. I believe there is a great value in print publications, even though we are currently building a new web presence to include a digital version of Inside the Vatican magazine. Despite the tremendous advances in the worldwide web, many people, especially older people or those in some other countries, still do not have easy access to the internet. Then, many people who do have ready internet access simply do not want to have to rely on the internet alone for their news. For them, a printed publication is a valued alternative. Also, frankly, there is a concern that internet costs may increase in the future. What is virtually free today may become much more expensive, perhaps so expensive that people will wish to return to printed publications. But it will be quite difficult to resurrect printed publications after having closed them down. Finally, there are scenarios, including interruption of electric service due to storms or acts of terror, in which the internet could actually go down; web sites in such circumstances would simply become inaccessible. At that point, having a print publication which still reaches tens of thousands of people becomes quite important for readers and for the Church. Besides all this, the simple fact is that a printed publication is a different, very durable, very traditional medium; it can be handed from one person to another, it can be a physical point of reference for several people sitting around a table in a family or in a parish center. It can be stored in a basement for future reference. It is just something of considerable value for human communities. For all these reasons, I am committed to keeping Inside the Vatican in print. But to do this, I need your help. Recent trends are worrisome. Many smaller publications are dropping their paper editions, switching to the web to the exclusion of print publications. And the trend seems to be accelerating. Inside the Vatican magazine will go online in 2012. We will offer all online subscribers, for a limited time, a free subscription to our print publication. We are headed for a world where there are few or no magazines in print, and very few of them will be Catholic publications able to defend the Church in an ever more secular age. Do we want that world? Do we want all Catholic magazines to go out of print? No! Inside the Vatican currently goes to more than 100 countries. Small governments subscribe, the US State Department itself subscribes, embassies in Rome and around the world subscribe. We need to keep this publication in the hands of important decision makers, in the hands of important thinkers, in the hands of priests in Third World countries who dont have easy access to the internet. (I get letters monthly from religious around the world thanking us for keeping them connected to the Pope and his vision and to the Curia in Rome.) And that is why I am writing to you, my on-line subscribers, some of you previous donors, all of you thoughtful observers of our present culture and world, to ask you one simple question: Will you help me keep Inside the Vatican in print by taking out a gift subscription or donating to a good cause? This could be a perfect last-minute gift: a 1-year gift subscription to Inside the Vatican magazine for $33. Will you participate with me in keeping Inside the Vatican available to these people around the world? I am appealing to you in this letter to stand with me against the trend of our time, and help me to keep this small publication alive. The plain fact is that Inside the Vatican is more important than ever. The Church is facing one of the great crises of her history. And so is humanity as a whole, with attempts to bio-engineer new human beings and political plans to forge a new world order one without Christianity. Inside the Vatican intends to remain one of the last, best sources for news about the Church and the great moral and spiritual issues of our time, and to remain in print, even if the rest of the world goes solely to the internet. So please consider your resources and the needs of our mission, and then please join us, with a donation or by giving one or more gift subscriptions. Merry Christmas! Robert Moynihan Editor Inside the Vatican magazine (1993-present), first editor of Catholic World Report (1991-1993), first editor of 30 Days (1988-1990) P.S. Become a supporter of Inside the Vatican by sending a gift of any amount, and I will send you a free DVD of the Christmas Oratorio ($20 value). On December 17, 2007, a leading Russian orchestra performed an exceptional world premiere concert of glorious Russian Christmas music at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. The music was a completely new composition by a young Russian Orthodox archbishop, Hilarion Alfeyev, then 42 and the Russian Orthodox bishop for central Europe, based in Vienna, Austria. The music tells the Christmas story in the deep, rich tradition of Russian ecclesial music, using the Russian language with English subtitles. Sursa: www.InsideTheVatican.com Contor Accesări: 1335, Ultimul acces: 2026-01-05 01:31:42
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