Catholic Press Collection to be taken up Feb. 3

Many parishes recover as much as '70 per cent' of distribution cost

Bishop Joseph Dang Duc Ngan of Lang Son – Cao Bang, Vietnam, (left) proudly displays The B.C. Catholic's supplement on his home diocese alongside Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, Jan. 16.

The annual Catholic press collection at every parish in the Archdiocese of Vancouver is taken up the first Sunday every February. The purpose of this collection is to help support the parishes as they continue to deliver The B.C. Catholic to parishioners throughout the archdiocese.

"Every parish takes it up, and unlike most collections, this collection stays within the parish," said Paul Schratz, the archdiocese's director of communications. "It doesn't go anywhere else."

Schratz noted that the press collection is becoming even more important because of Archbishop Miller's plan to get the paper out to half of the households in the Archdiocese of Vancouver, or about 38,000 homes.

"Now that we are on this increased circulation program, where the archbishop eventually wants all parishioners to be receiving the paper," Schratz explained, "we're trying to help the pastors to recover more and more expenses."

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