A Letter From the Director

Dear Friends,

With hundreds of worthy causes you could support, I know we have to earn your respect and confidence. Hopefully, the value and success of our activities, programs and website should help us do just that. Please consider joining us by making a tax-deductible gift today.

The Catholic Information Center supplements and supports the work of local parishes. My predecessors here over the last fifty years have done an extraordinary job of creating a spiritual oasis in the heart of our nation’s capital. Its three functions—sacramental attention through the sacrifice of the Holy Mass and the sacrament of Reconciliation, as well as spiritual direction; a compact bookstore with a thoughtfully, very carefully chosen collection of titles (a visitor from the Southwest called it the best bookstore in the country), and a quality collection of devotional material and religious art; a forum for lectures and discussion groups, whose reach is well beyond the Beltway, via podcasts on our website—are all well served.

Currently, we are trying to rise to the challenge tendered recently by our Holy Father on the South Lawn of the White House at the Welcoming Ceremony, just a few blocks from the CIC: “As the nation faces the increasingly complex political and ethical issues of our time, I am confident that the American people will find in ther religious beliefs a precious source of insight and an inspiration to pursue reasoned, responsible and respectful dialogue in the effort to build a more humane and free society.” He rephrased that challenge the following day in his Homily at Nationals’ Stadium: “The challenges confronting us require a comprehensive and sound instruction in the truths of the faith. But they also call for cultivating a mindset, an intellectual ‘culture,’ which is genuinely Catholic, confident in the profound harmony of faith and reason, and prepared to bring the richness of faith’s vision to bear on the urgent issues which affect the future of American society.”

Your every visit to the CIC will help you appreciate what your support makes possible and the thousands of resources made available to you.

I want you to know what the CIC does, because the more you know, the more you’ll understand how important and effective are the dollars you contribute to the CIC. If you click here, you can make your tax-deductible contribution today! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our Development Coordinator, Sarah Moss at sarahmoss@cicdc.org.

Sincerely Yours in Christ,

Rev. Arne A. Panula

Director

Why does the Catholic Information Center need my support?

The Catholic Information Center is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. It is with the generous support of contributors like you, making both small and large gifts that CIC is able to sustain and expand its programs and services.

At the Catholic Information Center, we strive to bring the Good News and Sacraments to the heart of downtown Washington.

Today, bookstore sales only cover only 1/6 th of our $600,000 operating budget. A modest subsidy of $10,000 from the Archdiocese helps us to maintain our location and presence on K Street , but we need the consistent, yearly, quarterly, even monthly help of generous individuals like you to cover the remaining 5/6 th of our budget.

What will my contribution help to support?

Your contributions support our lecture series, book signings, discussion groups, maintenance, and providing the downtown DC population with spiritual direction and access to the Sacraments. Recently, the CIC:

• Held over 60 lectures
• Launched a unique intellectual and faith forming program series for the young professionals in Washington
• Hosted guest speakers including: Mary Ann Glendon, Robert P. George, Christopher Tollefsen, Arthur Brooks, Michael Novak, George Weigel, Donald Cardinal Wuerl, Robert Sokolowski, and Rev. James Schall, SJ
• Launched a new monthly music and movie series, featuring some of the best authors, filmmakers, and musicians in the Christian world today
• Guided over a dozen individuals to full communion with the Church
• Gave hundreds of weekly visitors the opportunity to attend Mass, receive spiritual direction, or purchase books

But we cannot host such events without your consistent financial support. Without people like you, our programs would cease to exist. Please consider contributing today—help us not to have to hold back on a single program, but instead have dozens more.