Now that Labor Day has come and gone, it is time for new beginnings, full of challenges and full of opportunities. This is also a special time for us at The Pilot, as on Sept. 5 we marked 185 years of striving to bring you, our readers, the Catholic perspective on current events, so you can be fully informed.

While we celebrate our past, we are also working to better establish our foundations for the future. For instance, in recent months we have completely revamped our award-winning website. Among the many improvements we made were allowing reader comments for the first time and optimizing our site for viewing on mobile devices. More recently, we have been implementing improvements to make it easier for readers to share stories with friends and relatives through social media.

Our vocation is to present news and thoughtful commentary that will help inform readers on all matters of interest to Catholics, regardless of whether it appears in The Pilot newspaper; TheBostonPilot.com; our new online opinion section, Echoes; Facebook; or Twitter. The medium may vary, but our mission remains the same.

All these efforts are carried out by a very small team of dedicated professionals who passionately give their best each day so readers can in turn get the best information available.

Yet, even as we renew our commitment to serve you, we would also like to ask for your help. The Pilot receives no direct financial support from the archdiocese or the yearly communications collections. We rely solely on revenue from subscriptions and advertising revenue as well as occasional contributions from generous readers. But, there are many different ways to support us. Below are some we would like you to consider:

1. Be a faithful reader. Those who read The Pilot are better informed and better equipped to deal with the challenges to faith and morals presented by everyday life.

2. Renew your subscription. September has been designated by the archdiocese as the month in which parishes are asked to offer their parishioners envelopes to subscribe or renew their subscriptions. Please take advantage of this moment to help us continue serving you.

3. Use the services of our advertisers and make sure you let them know that you heard about them in The Pilot. Now more than ever, we need their continued support and a word from you can make all the difference.

4. Spread the word. Talk to your friends and parishioners about stories you have read in The Pilot, and encourage them to pick up a copy or read it online.

5. Visit TheBostonPilot.com and share articles of interest to you via email or through the social media tools available there.

6. Subscribe. If you are one of the thousands who pick up The Pilot regularly at your church, we thank you. However, please consider a home subscription to ensure you receive a copy each Friday while, at the same time, you support our efforts to keep you informed.

7. Donate. If you read The Pilot primarily online, please consider a yearly contribution of $20 or more. We make our content available free of charge online trusting that our readers will support us.

8. Consider a gift subscription to The Pilot for a friend, a child, a parent, a loved one. There is no easier way to continue our education as adult Catholics than reading The Pilot every week.

9. Consider us in your will. Your bequest can help ensure that The Pilot will be able to spread the Good News of the Church for at least another 185 years.

10. Last, but not least, please pray for us. In this moment in which we are called to the New Evangelization, it is more important than ever to have a faithful news organization providing news and perspective from a Catholic standpoint.