A Precious Means of Gospel Penetration

by Fr. Roger J. Landry - April 13, 2007

This week we celebrate with great joy the fiftieth anniversary of The Anchor.

Since April 11, 1957, this newspaper has been a welcome weekly visitor to the homes of tens of thousands of Catholics throughout southeastern Massachusetts. It has accompanied the faithful of our diocese through an ecumenical council, six pontificates, four episcopacies, and ten presidencies. It has presented the good news and chronicled the building and growth of dozens of parishes and schools. It has also covered the bad news of wars, assassinations, fires, closings, and scandals. Throughout the waves of years, in tranquil and tumultuous seas, it has sought to be true to its name, a "steadfast anchor of the soul," providing readers with the hope and security that comes from viewing events with the eyes of faith in Christ (Heb 6:19).

It is natural in celebrating a golden jubilee that we look back with deep appreciation for the accomplishments of the past five decades. So many characters and people of character, with sacrifice, skill, and style, have given this paper a rich history. That history was also made possible by the constant support of tens of thousands of Catholic faithful, who have never been merely subscribers, but conscious stewards of what is and remains one of the most visible signs of the unity and vitality of their local Church.

To celebrate this anniversary well, however, we must do more than note the accomplishments of a half-century elenchus of publishers, editors, writers, staffers, and readers. As we rejoice, with thanks to God, over one of the most conspicuous fruits from the family tree of the faithful of our diocese, we are also called —scribes, staffers and stewards all — to focus our attention anew on the value of a Catholic newspaper and rededicate ourselves to its mission.

In November, Pope Benedict described how important a diocesan newspaper is in the overall evangelizing work of the Church. In a meeting with the editors of all Italian diocesan newspapers, he suggested that, as anti-Christian secularism has been become more widespread and aggressive, the role of the diocesan newspaper to leaven private and public opinion might be even more important today than ever before:

"In the face of a multifaceted action that endeavors to tear up the Christian roots of Western civilization," the Pope stated on November 25, "instruments of social communication with a Catholic slant have a special role: to educate the mind and form public opinion in accordance with the Gospel spirit. Their task is to serve the truth courageously, helping public opinion to look at, interpret and live the situation with God's eyes."

To see and respond to current events from God's perspective is what makes Catholic newspapers real bearers of the good news in the midst of so much headline-grabbing bad news. This is one of the great services of Catholic newspapers, Benedict continued. "The objective of the diocesan paper is to offer to all a message of truth and hope, emphasizing the events and situations in which the Gospel is lived, in which good and truth triumph and in which, with hard work and creativity, people weave and repair the human fabric of small community realities."

Diocesan newspapers are a chronicle of that ultimate victory of good, truth and hope. "Leafing through your weeklies of the past decades, we can retrace the life of the Church and society." There, the pontiff said in words that could be predicated of the pages of The Anchor, events are "punctually recorded" and commented upon in the light of the Gospel, "with special attention paid to the daily life of the parishes and diocesan communities."

Benedict noted that some commentators are warning that newspapers as a whole are an endangered species, as more people are turning to the Internet and to twenty-four hour news channels as their preferred means to receive information and formation. He said these developments, which also affect the Catholic press, have simultaneously and paradoxically made diocesan newspapers all the more important, since cost-cutting at secular dailies have made it increasingly difficult for the Church to be covered accurately.

"The rapid development of the means of social communication and the arrival of many and advanced technologies in the media sector have not rendered your role useless. Indeed, in some ways, it has become even more significant and important, because it gives a voice to the local communities that are not properly represented in the major newspapers. The pages of your publications, recounting and fostering the vitality and apostolic zeal of individual communities, constitute a precious vehicle of information and a means of Gospel penetration."

The Pope said diocesan newspapers are also an essential means of fostering multiple levels of genuine communion among Catholics within a local church, which he urged them to continue to foster.

"Your weeklies," he commented, "are rightly described as the 'people's papers,' for they keep in touch with the events and life of local persons and pass on the popular traditions and rich cultural and religious patrimony of your towns and cities. In recounting daily events, you make known that quiet reality woven of faith and goodness that constitutes the genuine fabric of society. Continue, dear friends, to make your papers a network of connections that facilitates relations and encounters with individual citizens and institutions, as well as among associations, the various social groups, parishes and ecclesial movements. Continue to be 'papers of the people and among the people,' training grounds for comparison and loyal discussion among different opinions so as to encourage authentic dialogue, indispensable for the growth of both civil and ecclesial communities."

He focused specifically on how Catholic papers can and should form lay faithful to act with integrity in the public sphere. "Your weeklies can represent certain significant 'meeting places' for attentive discernment destined for the lay faithful involved in the social and political arenas, to initiate dialogue and find shared convergences and objectives in serving the Gospel and the common good."

The Holy Father concluded by encouraging those involved in Catholic weekly newspapers to recognize their vital role in the spreading the Gospel. "As editors, editorial staff and administrators of Catholic weeklies, rest assured, you do not carry out just 'any kind of job'; rather, you are 'co-workers' in the great evangelizing mission of the Church."

For fifty years, anchored deeply in the hope that comes from faith in Christ, so many writers and readers, editors and educators, administrators and advertisers, priests and parishioners, have worked together on this newspaper to "make — new and better — disciples" of the people of the diocese of Fall River.

As we now look ahead with hope to the next fifty years, we ask the Lord to bless all associated with this "precious vehicle of information and means of Gospel penetration," so that we might remain ever faithful and fruitful collaborators in the great evangelizing mission in which it shares.

Father Roger J. Landry is pastor of St. Anthony of Padua in New Bedford, MA and Executive Editor of The Anchor, the weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River.