Lost My Part-Time Job (The Economy Strikes Again); I Need Your Support

December seems to always be the time that these events occur in my life. The stereotypical "hardship before Christmas" thing or something . . . December 1, 2001 was my last day on my old delivery job that I had all through the 90s. The company was going out of business. It was two weeks after my daughter and fourth child was born. I announced it on my website and inquired as to whether folks thought I should enter into apologetics full-time. and were willing to support me in that endeavor. They did (with generous donations), and so I did! It's been exactly nine years now. I had just published my first book on my own. Two years later it was picked up by Sophia Institute Press.

The rest is history. Now I have 23 published books: six with "official" publishers,(Sophia: four, Our Sunday Visitor: one, and Saint Benedict Press / TAN Books: one), and my name is fairly well-known in the Catholic apologetics world and the Christian blogosphere. But it's a small book market and it's very difficult for anyone to live off of Catholic apologetics writing alone, without the supplemental aspects of TV and radio and lecture tours and other talks (maybe Scott Hahn could, but he is a professor anyway and has a stable income). I've managed to do it somehow, by God's ultimate grace and provision, but have needed supplemental part-time work to make it possible at all.

Today, on December 2, 2010, I just found out that I will lose my part-time job as Internet Forum Coordinator and Moderator at The Coming Home Network at the end of the month: one that I have had since November 2007. As with the other loss of employment in 2001, it had nothing whatever to do with my job performance. CHNI, as a non-profit organization (for the purpose of assisting those who wish to enter the Catholic Church: especially clergy) is experiencing a great decrease in donations. They're forced to make difficult cuts (more than just my own job). The economy is affecting all sales. The entire country is reaping the benefits of (without getting political here) the foolish financial and budgetary choices that we have made.

This was my dependable, regular income every other week. It had already been cut by 57% last year. Beyond that, I rely on e-book sales and paperback sales and generous donations from readers like you. Almost all of the royalties from my paperback books come just twice a year. I have a wife and four children to support. They are all home-schooled, and two of them have special needs (one of them being autistic).

I'm trying to make this as brief as I can and am simply telling my story and making the need known. Millions who are suffering due to the bad economy. But I am also (as a missionary of sorts) partially reliant on donations from people who believe in the value of the apologetic / evangelistic work that I do: have been for nine years. I don't make a big deal of it, and try to trust God and let my work speak for itself, but I have always needed donations in addition to book sales in order to get by.

I never ask for a donation unless it is from a person who totally believes in this work and/or has been helped by it themselves. Many many people have used my website for free and have never given any donation at all. I haven't pressured anyone to do so. I rarely talk about it at all. But it took thousands of hours of time to produce everything that you see here. Time is money. I've had to sacrifice a lot to create this body of work that is my writing. It's a labor of love. I've been writing Christian and specifically Catholic apologetics now for almost literally thirty years (since early 1981). I wouldn't trade my life for anything. I love it. At the same time, I have to make a living like everyone else. Gotta bring home the bacon to my family of six; have to pay my mortgage like every other home owner . . .

I ask for your prayerful consideration in supporting this apostolate. The work I have done is evident: over 2600 posts on this blog; the books . . . And it is evidently fruitful, with hundreds of personal testimonies received from people being helped in faith or assisted in becoming convinced of Catholicism, and entering the Church. I also have done a considerable amount of interaction with atheists and have been emphasizing that in recent months. My blog just passed the 1.5 million visitors mark.

I'll be looking for a new part-time job of some sort to fill in the gap, but I will keep doing what I do (i.e., apologetics, writing, outreach), no matter how much work is required (there are only so many hours in a day), and will still need support from donations to do so (as I always have). I'm a lifer. I have total commitment to my vocation. The Lord will provide. He does so, however, not by sending dollars from heaven like manna, but by speaking to the hearts of people like you: many of whom have been helped in some fashion through my writing, by God's grace (all glory to God for that). God does provide, and He does so through people. Apologetic outreach is very much a group, team effort. Both prayer and financial support are very necessary for it to be possible on a devoted, trained, full-time level.

Please prayerfully consider a generous tax-deductible donation or a purchase of my paperback books, or my 15-for-$25 or (newly-added) 5-for-$15 e-book package deals. Thank you so much for your support and for reading, and I wish you all a very blessed Advent and Christmas.