Online Edition
February 2015
Vol. XX, No. 8
Letter to Friends and Benefactors of Adoremus
by The Reverend Jerry J. Pokorsky
Dear Friends and Benefactors of Adoremus:
It is with sorrow that I report that we have decided it would be best for Adoremus to take a hiatus in the months ahead as we continue to work to sustain this important apostolate promoting the liturgical vision of Pope Benedict XVI. This means that this issue of the Adoremus Bulletin will be the last for the foreseeable future — with reasonable hopes for a comeback sometime down the road.
After the death of our editor, Helen Hull Hitchcock, we were hoping we would be able to continue our work with a few administrative tweaks. But after a thorough review of our finances it is clear that we simply cannot sustain continuing costs. It has become evident that we need to move sooner rather than later. We will need our small nest egg of savings to keep Adoremus on life support in the months ahead. It is therefore necessary for us to release our three full- time employees (and one part-time employee, but mostly volunteer) before we exhaust the remainder of our funds. All of us are grateful for their loyal and diligent work over the years and wish them well.
In the meantime, we will do our best to maintain the Adoremus website until a new editor with the same vision and vigor (well, at least some of the same vigor that Helen had) takes the reins. Of course, we have always operated on a shoestring budget so we can promise the new editor — when he or she is found — a great job with low pay and few fringe benefits.
The good news is that we are hoping the months ahead represent merely a transitional period. We will keep a few volunteers and helpers to maintain the website (at, we hope, a minimal cost). Bishops and priests have frequently commended Helen for the value of the site for their pastoral purposes. The Adoremus resources are full of reliable liturgical information and retain their value over time.
And we will do our best to maintain the valuable archives of Adoremus that will provide some future liturgical Ph.D. candidate a wealth of information on the tumultuous history of the liturgy since 1995 — a history that would have been considerably darker without the work of Adoremus. And who is responsible? Helen the editor and her small staff supported by all of you and sustained by God’s grace!
If you have made contributions in the recent past know that your donations did not — and will not — go to waste. We did our best and we think this is the best interim solution. We consider this a “controlled crash,” so that after repairs and with god’s grace this important apostolate may one day take flight again. Thank you for your generous support over your years as members of the Adoremus family. We continue to hope for a trickle of donations to help us work through this difficult period. Please keep our wonderful and faithful employees — Hilary, Sean, Gina, and Susan — in your prayers as they seek new employment. We made a very good run in support of the Church’s authentic, reverent, and beautiful liturgical worship, didn’t we? Please keep us in your prayers as you remain always in ours.
May God reward your generosity and kindness.
Sincerely in Christ,
The Reverend Jerry J. Pokorsky
Member, Executive Committee
Member of the Adoremus Board of Directors
On behalf of the Adoremus Board of Directors
Adoremus, Society for the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy
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