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ANNUAL APPEAL

Collection aids Catholic media

The Catholic Communications Campaign has been working with the Roman Catholic Diocese since 1979, linking the Church and media for numerous religious-based programs.

On the weekend of June 20-21, the Albany Diocese will be taking up the annual Catholic Communications Campaign collection.

Bishop Howard J. Hubbard explained the importance of this collection in a pulpit letter, stating that "the Catholic Communications Campaign, in partnership with our diocesan Communications Office, has been the Church's voice in the media: educating, entertaining, inspiring and informing the public about Gospel values."

Fifty percent of donations are used for local programming. The remainder supports the Catholic Communication Campaign's national activities, from information on the internet to movie reviews, Catholic radio and television.

Media has played a significant role within the Albany Diocese in projects such as each week's "Table of the Lord" televised Mass (see the calendar, page 15).

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops noted examples of the campaign at work:

• Around 1.2 million visitors each month who listened to the New American Bible daily readings online from January through June 2008;

• 602,000 visitors to www.us papalvisit.org from the site's launch through May 2008 because of Pope Benedict XVI's U.S. visit last year;

• a documentary by the Sisters of St. Joseph titled "Sister Sur-vivors: Religious Life under Eastern European Communism;"

• the "For Your Marriage" campaign's public service announcements on radio, television and billboards, which draw people seeking ideas on how to strengthen their marriage to visit the campaign's website; and

• numerous audio programs that reach hundreds of thousands of listeners around the world in multiple languages.

"It's very important that we have the Church involved in media," said Sister Mary Ann Walsh, RSM, director of media relations for the USCCB. "This [collection] is a way of facilitating that."

Bishop Hubbard told Catholics in the Albany Diocese: "With your assistance, the Catholic Communication Campaign will continue to proclaim the Good News each and every day."

(06/18/09) [[In-content Ad]]

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