Since February, our daily readership here at the Catholic Astronomer site has doubled. That’s the good news. However, the number of folks who are subscribers or member/supporters hasn’t doubled.
A lot of people read this site via the Vatican Observatory Foundation Facebook page, which is great. But you may not realize that we depend on paying supporters of the blog to keep this site operating.
We pay each of our bloggers – not much, but enough to maintain the principle that writers deserve an income, the laborer is worthy of a wage. (1 Timothy 5:18, for those Catholics in the audience who don’t know their scripture!) And there are other technical support costs. Only your donations can keep this operation moving.
Of course, what I am hoping is that any donations above our costs (which, thankfully, we do have) can grow to become a major support for the work of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. It takes a lot of money to run a telescope on a regular basis, not to mention all the outreach and other programs that we engage in.
I am glad to accept “a lot of money” from those who can give it; we wouldn’t have a telescope (or indeed a foundation) without their generous support. But to be honest, it feels even better to get a little bit of money from a lot of people, because that ensures that we really are doing something that a lot of people can appreciate. The purpose of the Vatican Observatory is to Show The World that the church supports astronomy. The world is more than just a few wealthy donors.
So, for $10 a month (you probably spend that much on coffee in a day) you could be one of that cloud of witnesses (that’s another Bible quote) who believe as we do that the heavens proclaim the glory of God, and we can do our part by proclaiming the heavens. To learn how to donate, please click HERE
And by being a member, and only by being a member, you can access the comment section and add your thoughts to our blogs.
Thank you for your attention. Attached is some eye-candy from the Vatican Observatory Advanced Technology Telescope:
The galaxy NGC 2683. imaged at the VATT in 2012