We recently got a call from another publication asking us how we are handling the postal rate increase.

You’ve noticed the cost of your stamps rising steadily. So have publications. One Catholic publication that will now only publish online cites increased postal rates as a factor. So does another — a weekly — that will now publish every two weeks.

Some call the postal rates unfair and seek to curb them. It isn’t right, they say, to go after the little guys — the non-profit publications — for new postal increases. That may be the case. But it may also be the case that all the new letter and package carriers have done such an effective job at winning the business of the “big guys” that we little guys are all the postal services have left.

Whatever the reason, though, the postal rate increase is real, and it is difficult.

Our answer to the question what we will change because of it is: nothing, yet. We are holding on. We are still reaching you weekly with the Catholic Church’s wisdom on the cutting edge issues of our time, and we are still providing you that weekly connection to exactly what Pope Benedict XVI is doing in Rome.

But interiorly, I have noticed a few changes. For one, we are praying for the apostolate with a new intensity. I can really relate to what Mother Angelica always talks about: taking a step out in faith and trust. The Church has been calling for our kind of apostolate for years, and so we know it’s something God wants. So we pray for the graces to do it.

A second change you have probably noticed already. We are asking for your financial support more than we ever did before. And many readers are responding.

Thank you for participating in the great task we have — and please keep us in your prayer book and your checkbook as we continue to step out in faith.