In the last few weeks you have probably seen the gift subscription order forms wrapped around your friendly NCR. You have been asked to call us at (800) 333-7373 and order a Christmas gift subscription for someone you know. This is a terrific way you can help us grow.

Our circulation is on the rise, up 1,000 over last year, up 2,000 over two years ago. That's good news -- especially when many other Catholic and secular publications are finding their readerships falling.

Not-for-profit publications such as ours rarely can afford reaching a wider audience by advertising on television, radio or other mass media. We build our circulation slowly in two ways. The first is through direct marketing. We send mail to likely prospects. The process, however, is costly. The second is by asking you, our readers, to find other readers. This, by far, is the most affordable and cost-effective route.

So often readers will write or telephone us, expressing gratitude for our work. We appreciate your encouragement. Often you ask what you can do to assure that NCR will survive and grow. Our response is almost always the same: Help spread the work of NCR. Help us find new readers.

The very best way you can help us is by taking a moment or two to think of a family member, a friend or a parish member you think would benefit from NCR. Maybe you know more than one such person. The best way to help us -- and continue to assure our future -- is to call and arrange for a gift subscription. NCR is a yearlong Christmas present.

We think it's also the best thing going to nurture the faith, to recommit to a vision of a compassionate and inclusive Catholicism. We know you share our vision, our mission. Help us, then, pay the bills we need to pay in order to provide you with first-rate reporting and analysis of our church and the moral issues we face as late-20th century Catholics.

Help us continue the journey with soul mates around the world who believe as we do that the Incarnation continues to speak to us, saying, we matter, we are loved, we have responsibilities toward each other, beginning with the neediest among us.

Make a difference with your Christmas money. Consider NCR as a Christmas gift and help us all grow throughout the year. That's (800) 333-7373. Many thanks for your continued support.

-- Tom Fox

National Catholic Reporter, December 13, 1996

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