With this issue marking the end of The Catholic Times as a print medium, past editors of the newspaper were asked what they remembered about their experiences. Here are their responses:
Father W. Thomas Kessler, editor from 1995 to 1998
There was a time when every Catholic diocese was supposed to have – or to start – a Catholic newspaper.
When Father James Hartley became bishop of Columbus in 1904, he showed how deeply he cared about the Catholic press and had such a dedication to St. Francis de Sales, the patron of Catholic journalism and journalists, that he called on St. Francis as patron saint for his young diocese.
I learned that from two various priests. Father George Fulcher, a brand-new priest when he baptized me, before long would become the editor of our diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Times. He succeeded Msgr. Herman Mattingly, who was to become pastor of my home parish, St Francis de Sales in Newark, serving there for 10 years when I was growing up.
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Fast forward to the end of the last century, and I was appointed editor of the Times for three years. One thing I learned from both of these priests was an awareness that the Catholic press performed a vital ministry in the Church: getting the word out about what the Catholic Church is and what her teaching means to the people in the local church … and to their neighbors!
Technological advances and economic shifts – as well as strategic perspectives – have changed the ways of getting that word out. And many church and secular newspapers are in steep decline or closing. I hate to see any good newspaper close. But I haven’t bought one in a long time.
When I was a young priest, nobody spoke of a “new evangelization,” and social media didn’t include the vast (and sometimes troublesome!) electronic media. The printing press may not disappear, but media change. Sometimes changes seem like the end of the world. But they’re not.
Sometimes finances exert an unwanted pressure. Some of these changes may be mistaken. Electronic devices didn’t end newspapers or radio, just as the printing press didn’t end handwritten manuscripts. (Nearly) universal literacy didn’t abolish the need to listen or the need to proclaim the Word of God. But the methods by which the Word is disseminated are changing in astonishing ways.
St. Francis de Sales became the patron of the Catholic “press” because in a time of totally unexpected cultural upheaval, he was one churchman who, forthrightly and courteously, advocated the Catholic perspective about the Word of God and about how he dwells among us.
I pray that the heavenly Father will continue to bless those involved in this vital ministry and that his Spirit will continue to guide everyone involved in spreading Good News.
David Garick, editor from 2007 to 2017
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
The Gospel depicts Christ as the word of God, good news to be shared to all mankind. That is what the apostles and evangelists did. That is what all Christians are called to do. That is what we call the Good News, the news that sets us free.
Across the centuries, that news has been manifested not only verbally but by word in ink on paper. Locally, that has been a task taken on by The Catholic Times. This has been a journal of how the Gospel is lived and shared in the diocese since the first bishop of Columbus, Sylvester Rosecrans, edited the first diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Columbian.
I was privileged to serve as editor of this newspaper from 2007 until my retirement in 2017. During those years, my staff and I tried to bring the Word to life on paper in a lively way relating the amazing things being done in our parishes, schools, ministries and the daily lives of our clergy, teachers and parishioners.
We took many steps to help spread that word more effectively through redesigning the newspaper format, layout and composition. We brought in new columnists, much more news from the parishes, lots more color and photographs.
I am very proud of how well our newspaper was received by our readers and how well my successor continued to spread the Gospel message in the Diocese of Columbus.
But even in my early years as editor, it was apparent that the days of ink on paper as a means of delivering our message were coming to an end. Few people are turning to newspapers as a source of news these days. New and more effective tools are now available to get our message to the people we need to reach.
During my tenure, we began to explore the possibilities of electronic news delivery. The current leadership has brought that to fruition. I am excited by the beautiful and easy to use The Catholic Times website. This is a wonderful step which will spread our message much more widely, in a timelier manner and with great new tools that were impossible with ink on paper.
I could not say this any better than one of our newest saints and Doctor of the Church, St. John Henry Newman, “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.”