By John C. Favalora - The Archdiocese of Miami
My dear friends,
Back on Oct. 24, 1958, the Florida Catholic urged Catholics to renew their subscriptions because, in its columns, �the enemies of the church � your enemies � are unmasked and tirelessly fought.�
I don�t think anyone would use those words today to describe the need for a Catholic newspaper, although we could certainly agree with the sentiment. Today�s �enemies� of the faith are not the �reds� of the Cold War but ignorance, indifference and a secularist mentality that has seeped into our very souls.
How does the Catholic newspaper today still combat those �enemies�? As the editors back then put it, �The Florida Catholic helps you to think, live and pray with the church, the Mystical Body of Christ.�
It is worth noting those words as the newspaper marks its 70th anniversary. For indeed it is the mission of the Catholic press to foster unity in the Body of Christ; to enable a dialogue between the diocesan bishop and the faithful; and to promote the work of salvation by highlighting real stories of people and parishes who are living out the faith in heroic ways.
The bishops and priests who founded diocesan newspapers, such as Miami�s own Msgr. William Barry, founder of the Florida Catholic, saw them as a means of binding Catholics together, especially in far-flung dioceses, as St. Augustine was in the late 1930s, when it covered nearly the entire state of Florida. Today�s bishops still see their diocesan newspapers as teaching tools, as instruments of evangelization, and as a means of instilling a Catholic identity in their people.
Back when the Florida Catholic was founded, newspapers were one of the few means of mass communication, the only way for Catholics in Key West to feel connected to Catholics in St. Augustine. Today, newspapers must compete with the Internet, television and even cell phones, new media that can bring news of far-off events literally into people�s pockets the very instant they occur.
Both secular and Catholic newspapers are struggling to survive in this new environment. Today�s Florida Catholic is not just in print biweekly, it is also available online �all the time� � a sign that the Internet might replace paper, presses and ink as the means of delivering the news in the future. (Secular newspapers such as the Detroit Free Press and the Christian Science Monitor have moved even further in that direction in recent months.)
Whatever shape the Florida Catholic takes in years to come, however, the need for its existence can never be questioned. Today, even more than before, the Catholic Church�s teachings need to be heard amid the din of secularism. Lay Catholics, who are being asked to participate ever more fully in every aspect of church life, need to be able to understand those teachings so they can put them into practice where they live and work.
The words written in the Oct. 31, 1958 edition by Florida Catholic columnist Father James J. Walsh � later a monsignor and also a Miami priest � apply to this day:
�This paper is meant to teach the spiritual significance behind the secular news, to inform where there is ignorance and to correct where there are mistaken ideas. � Perhaps, above all, it is intended to infuse in us the Catholic viewpoint, the spiritual slant so vitally needed by our people in the materialism of our times. �Whoever furthers the cause of the diocesan paper is helping the cause of Christ and the church��
My congratulations to the Florida Catholic, and its staff of devoted Catholic journalists, as you celebrate 70 years of fulfilling that mission in an exemplary way. God bless, and ad multos annos!
Archbishop John C. Favalora,
Archbishop of Miami
January 2, 2009
