The Evangelist to raise priceá

The Evangelist to raise price
First time in 20 years

Thank you for making this newspaper possible. To keep it going, we must make a long-overdue change.

In July, the price of a parish-based subscription for The Evangelist will increase by $3 to $18.

For nearly two decades, this fee has remained constant at $15, despite a 56-percent increase in the cost of living over that span and the similar jump in our production costs.

Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, the publisher, announced the increase, which was proposed to and approved by the board of the Albany Catholic Press Association, the corporate body for the paper.

"The Evangelist is our primary means of faith formation," Bishop Hubbard said recently. "The policy of the Albany Dio-cese is, as it has been since 1969, that The Evangelist is sent to every registered household in each parish."

We have fallen behind financially. The cost of a subscription remained fixed while other prices and incomes have climbed.

In 1991, for instance, a new home cost $147,000 and median household income was $30,000, compared to $216,000 and about $50,000 today. Similarly, in 1991 you spent 25 cents to buy a stamp and $1.14 for a gallon of gas. Today, those items cost 44 cents and $2.86 respectively.

Every week, the paper tells the story of our Catholic faith, what we believe and how we live that out. But it only works if people receive it.

Subscriptions cover two-thirds of our expenses and advertising covers the rest. We are not otherwise subsidized by the Diocese. A small portion of readers have direct subscriptions; the cost for these will increase from $20 to $25.

Almost all subscriptions come through parishes. Please donate toward the cost of your own copy as well as the total parish bill. It's an easy way to help spread the faith.

Each parish likely subscribes some less-active Catholics, a worthwhile and cost-effective means of keeping all God's people connected to the Church. For active members, the newspaper provides news, information and inspiration. For inactive Catholics, it is a connection to the Church that could re-ignite their faith.

For all Catholics, the paper provides a vital connection with our faith 48 times a year - still at a cost of only 37 cents per issue. There is no cheaper, better method to educate and evangelize. It is a mission we can all support, just as we do various good works and charities.

"Where the subscription is not cared for by the parishioner, it becomes the responsibility of the parish community to subsidize this expenditure," Bishop Hub-bard wrote in his pastoral letter, "We Are God's Priestly People."

At $18, the new price for parish-based subscriptions will still be well below that charged by comparable Catholic weekly papers in dioceses across the country, generally in the $20-25 range. (The costs of their direct subscriptions are correspondingly higher.)

The diocesan parish consolidations, painful as these have been, appear to have rejuvenated many parishes and stabilized their finances.

For our part, The Evangelist has trimmed expenses, eliminated positions and consolidated others. We have added features to boost the paper's value to readers and advertisers and improved outreach to faith formation programs, schools, parishes and colleges.

Each week and as a service to Catholic schools and religious education programs, we prepare a "Newspapers in Educa-tion" lesson plan based on the current issue of the paper. We send that out by email free of charge and post it on our website, www.evangelist.org. We also donate bundles of newspapers to participating schools.

The Newspapers in Educa-tion program spreads the faith, engages students in their religion and current events, and trains a new generation of informed believers and citizens.

Keep The Evangelist and its mission in your prayers and call or write with any questions. Please know that we consider it a privilege to produce it. Most of all, thank you for your support of this critical ministry.

(05/27/10)