Hey everybody,
If you’re getting this email, it’s because you know what The Pillar is, and why it matters.
We break news, investigate serious stories, ask hard questions, highlight what’s good and holy, and explain what’s really happening.
We’re a journalism project for people who love the Church — and for people who know that public accountability, rigorous analysis, and careful reporting can help the Church to better live her sacred mission.
If you opened this email, it’s because you believe in that project, and — by your readership, your subscription, your prayers, and your support — you’re a part of it.
And right now, we have the opportunity to do something really cool.
If you’ve been reading The Pillar for a while, you know that our Latin American correspondent Edgar Beltran does the kind of journalism that matters.
He told you about the crisis for the Church in Nicaragua before anyone else — and he keeps breaking news that matters on that front.
He’s courageously covered allegations of Christian persecution from cartels, and the ensuing government cover-ups.
He gets interviews with leading Vatican figures on the important and controversial issues of the day.
And when Edgar’s not doing that, he travels all over, talking to converts, cardinals, movements, and most of Catholic Finland.
Here’s what I’ve learned: Edgar is one of us. He’s a believer — a disciple of Jesus Christ — who believes that serious journalism can seriously serve the Church.
There are very few journalists in the world who do what we do, the way we do it. But Edgar’s one of them.
And here’s the good news. For the last three years, Edgar has done a lot of freelancing work for us, and made a big impact. As he finishes a master’s degree in philosophy, he’s ready to join The Pillar full time.
We want Edgar based in Rome, spending time with Vatican officials and experts every day. We want his brand of journalism — The Pillar’s brand of journalism — in St. Peter’s Square.
We don’t want a journalist spending all his time in the Vatican press office, writing the story-of-the-day headlines that everyone else in the Vatican press corps is writing. We want a smart and tenacious investigator, dedicated to serious work, to serve the Kingdom.
All of us should want The Pillar at the Vatican, day in and day out. But you already know that.
So here’s the deal:
To make it financially viable to bring Edgar aboard full-time, and to pay him justly, we need about 200 more paying subscribers, or we need some of you already paying to upgrade your subscriptions.
If even more of you sign up to support The Pillar —great! We’ve got one or two other reporters we’d like to bring on board, when we have the subscribers for it.
On the other hand, without your subscription, The Pillar won’t grow, or even last. That’s how this works.
If you can’t become a paying subscriber, well, we understand. But if you read emails like this and decide not to subscribe, we’d ask you just to think hard about whether what you get from The Pillar is worth $8 a month. We believe it is.
And when you’re a paying subscriber, you get our daily news round-up, Starting Seven, in your inbox, five days a week. You get TL;DR, our audio version of the news and newsletters we file. You get bonus episodes of The Pillar Podcast.
But you also get me, Ed, Michelle, Luke — and hopefully Edgar — working full-time to serve the Church’s reform and renewal through journalism, along with the work of contributing freelancers doing really cool stuff.
You opened this email.
You know what we’re about.
You believe in our mission.
So let’s do more of it.
Let’s hire Edgar. Today.
Yours in Christ,
JD Flynn
editor-in-chief
The Pillar
