Subscription Drive

Friday, Oct. 21, 2016

For the annual Intermountain Catholic subscription drive that started three weeks ago, we tried something different: a subscription card with a self-addressed envelope.

There were a couple of reasons for the change. First of all, in previous years we used an envelope printed with a message from the bishop, and we have no bishop this year. Secondly, because that message was in both English and Spanish, to fit on the envelope the print had to be so small as to be all but unreadable. Third, I felt that after more than seven years we needed to update the look of our subscription appeal.

Those new cards and the weekly subscription renewal ads seemed to have worked, because just days after they went out we received more than 500 subscription renewals. The Intermountain Catholic business manager continues to be overwhelmed with data entry; I am overwhelmed with gratitude. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who have already renewed their subscription! (And if you haven’t yet, then I encourage you to go to use the subscription tab on our landing page at www.icatholic.org, or use the form on p. 16 of the hard copy of the paper.)

With those subscriptions came a couple of comments about the Intermountain Catholic that I’d like to address, because I hear these same concerns quite frequently.

As you probably know, each parish in the diocese is assessed a fee for the Intermountain Catholic. Every paid subscription we receive from parishioners is applied to that fee, so your subscription (or those you give as gifts) helps your parish. Parishes also receive copies of the Intermountain Catholic to place in their vestibule. 

Anyway, sometimes I hear complaints about the parish assessment, but it’s one way to help ensure that all of the parishes help support this ministry. I agree that we need to do a better job of covering the entire diocese, so I try hard to increase coverage of parishes outside the greater Salt Lake area. 

To help do this, I’ll repeat my request, which I’ve made several times, that if there’s an event in your parish, to please let me know. If I or one of my staff can’t get there, I ask that someone send me a photo from the event, with information. It doesn’t have to be great writing – I’m happy to put it in newspaper format – but it will help publicize your parish.

Another oft-repeated complaint is the fact that the Intermountain Catholic has articles in Spanish, and some readers who speak only English object to paying for Spanish content. The fact is that the Spanish pages comprise at most one-quarter of an issue, while at least 80 percent of our diocese is Spanish-speaking. My primary reason for the Spanish articles is to inform Spanish-speaking Catholics about their faith and the Utah Catholic Church. I feel it’s the least we can do to “welcome the stranger,” as Pope Francis (not to mention Jesus) asks us to do.

A related complaint is that some articles that appear in Spanish aren’t printed in English. That’s due to the physical constraints of the paper. I’m limited to an average of 16 pages each week. Those pages have to contain that week’s local, national and international news, obituaries, columns and the calendar section, as well as some Spanish content. There are times when there’s simply no room to reprint in English everything that’s in Spanish, or the other way around, for that matter.

On a final note, I’d like to once again thank everyone who supports the Intermountain Catholic through paid subscriptions, by submitting articles or photos from parish events or by letting me know what’s happening in your parish. I appreciate your support.

Marie Mischel is editor of the Intermountain Catholic.