Beginning
With this issue, we complete the fourth volume of moment. Those of you who have been with us since the beginning know how improbable an anniversary this is for us. So often over the course of these...
...But the task of building sturdy bridges between our two communities can hardly be said to have been completed...
...Very simply, it explains that what moment requires in order to withstand the trials of our early years is more subscribers...
...I urge you to read it, and to act on it...
...The people at Oxfam inform us that the response from moment readers has been generous, and they ask us to pass along their thanks...
...We break with our own precedent in this issue, and publish an article which first appeared elsewhere...
...The most horrendous fantasies possessed me back then whenever I came near a church or saw a priest or nun...
...It didn't just happen...
...We don't have that kind of capital available, so we cannot use the standard method...
...It requires both candor and sensitivity, and a sense of common purpose...
...But the cost of acquiring a new subscriber by that method runs to about $15...
...the work must be accomplished at the local level...
...So often over the course of these years, our future has seemed utterly bleak...
...While on the subject of gratitude, a note on Oxfam America, to whose efforts to relieve the hunger in Cambodia we called attention last month (and whose ad we happily print as a courtesy this month...
...The standard method for enticing people to subscribe to magazines is direct mail, as all of us know...
...Happily, with that help, we have survived, and it appears that the worst is behind us...
...I remember very distinctly my own fears of the Catholic Church back when I was a child in Baltimore...
...I do that with very deep gratitude...
...it was caused to happen by people who cared enough...
...The article, by Ann Crittenden, is an uncommonly clear summary of Israel's economic plight...
...Is all that possible...
...May each of us have abundant cause for thanks come turkey-carving time...
...Much effort at communication has been invested by many organizations and individuals over the course of the years, and now, I think, we feel free to respond to the Church and to the Catholic community as sometime partners, as they are, rather than being blinded by ugly memories and grim fantasies...
...It is human work, involving real relationships rather than formal announcements or elegant statements...
...They can only set the tone...
...It is a pleasant relief to be able to observe that the flap between American Jews and American blacks, occasioned principally by Andrew Young's resignation and by the subsequent antics of Reverends Lowry and Jackson, has now simmered down somewhat, with calmer and more sensible voices coming to be heard...
...it is scarcely begun...
...And to all our readers who would like to share in moment's future, I extend a warm invitation...
...It's a good feeling, for a change...
...And though we should all be grateful to the sensible and sensitive leaders of both communities who have restored a sense of balance, the real bridges cannot be built by spokespeople for either community...
...With neither the cushion of organizational subsidy to fall back on nor the benefit of substantial advertising, we have had to depend on the generosity of those who have shared our vision of what this magazine might come to mean...
...The Pope's recent visit to our shores, and our response to it, suggests that it is...
...You will soon be receiving a letter from us...
...But that was all a very long time ago...
...It first appeared in Foreign Affairs, and it seemed to us deserving of a much wider readership among people who are particularly interested in Israel's situation...
...And it is good to be able to thank all those of you who have helped us to come this far...
...moment remains, for the time being, a deficit operation, and we will still have to weather a few storms before we can breathe easy, but our deficit, despite inflation, is declining, our subscriber rolls are growing, our renewal rate is reassuringly high, and—we like to think—the quality of our product is steadily improving...
...We depend (I really mean that) on our present subscribers, who can—and, I hope, will—make the coming weeks, between now and Chanukah, very special for us...
Vol. 4 • November 1979 • No. 10
