APRIL SAUL / Staff Photographer
"Some of our traditional advertisers scaled back," said Matthew Gambino of the 46,000-circulation Catholic Standard & Times.
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Some religious papers struggle with hard times
They land politely - in mailboxes, not driveways - and deliver their good news gently.
"Relics blessed in advance of tour."
"Young Israelis at Medford Camps."
"Our Lady of Pompeii Church Celebrates 100 Years."
"Local Concert Raises $2,600 for Mitzvah Food Project."
But with advertising revenues in decline, these are challenging times for some local religious newspapers - and perhaps the end times for one.
The Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey is warning that it might soon pull the plug on its 68-year-old newspaper, the Community Voice.
"What if the Voice stopped coming?" asked a headline atop a recent front page.
The biweekly tabloid is mailed to 12,500 households in Burlington, Camden and Gloucester Counties that annually contribute at least $25 to the federation, a coalition of social-service agencies and volunteer programs.
The Jewish population in the three counties is estimated at 45,000 to 50,000, or about 17,000 households.
"We could cease to exist very soon," Benjamin Rosenblum, president of Jewish Federation Publications, wrote in an open letter in early July soliciting donations.
More than a month in, the campaign has been "somewhat disappointing," said editor David A. Portnoe, the only full-time editorial staffer. "We've raised about 60 percent of what we projected." He declined to say how much the paper was seeking.
Averaging 32 pages, the Voice favors news in micro.
The current issue, published Wednesday, features stories on South Jersey teens who competed in the World Maccabiah Games and a boy who used his bar mitzvah money to buy a gazebo for a senior center, a profile of a Haddonfield businessman, a Torah meditation by a local rabbi, and news that the cantor and choir of Temple Beth Sholom in Cherry Hill will sing the national anthem at Thursday's Phillies game.
The back pages brim with births, marriages, and deaths.
"I'm not glued to it, but I usually find stuff of interest," said Jan Gordon, a reader from Cherry Hill.
Marla Wander, also of Cherry Hill, said she was unaware of the Voice's struggle but hopes "it survives. I think it's important."
Besides Portnoe, the Voice has a full-time production director, a part-time administrative assistant, and three independent ad solicitors. In a recent issue, advertisers included cemeteries and funeral homes (six), synagogues (five), nursing homes (four), jewelers (four), and builders (three), plus a stock brokerage, an auto dealer, a furniture store, a caterer, a dance school, and others.
A lot - but not enough to keep the paper in the black, said a former editor.
Harriet Kessler, who retired in May after 24 years at the helm, said that ads in the the Voice once generated upward of $100,000 in annual profits for the federation. But last year, ad revenues declined by 9 percent, she said, and they are down an additional 12 percent so far this year. Jewelers and home builders - pillars of its ad base - have been hard-hit by the recession.
