From the Editor
By Kathleen Ogle
Reporting the good news as well as the bad
February is Catholic Press Month, a time to not only reflect on the role of the Catholic press in general but an opportunity to consider the function and responsibility of The Catholic Spirit, our diocesan newspaper as well.
We Catholics belong to parishes, but when we talk about our local church it’s important to remember that we are part of a diocese. The Diocese of Metuchen just concluded its celebration of the 25th anniversary of its establishment in 1982. In the Catholic Church, a diocese — headed by a bishop — is considered the local church.
Eleven years ago, Bishop-emeritus Edward T. Hughes saw the need for our local church to have its own weekly newspaper. Since then each bishop of Metuchen has relied on The Catholic Spirit to be his primary form of communication with the people of his church.
What can Catholics in the diocese expect to find when they read The Catholic Spirit? We believe our mission is to inform, educate and inspire the people of God.
• We inform readers about what is happening in the Diocese of Metuchen and its parishes. Most recently we have focused on our first diocesan synod, in which all Catholics had the opportunity to contribute to the future direction of our diocese.
• We educate readers about the teachings of the Catholic Church and the positions the Catholic Church takes on the challenging issues of our day including the various challenges to the value of all human life and the needs of the poor and disadvantaged.
• We inspire readers to live fully their commitment to their faith in Jesus Christ. Our columnists challenge us to live faithfully, and our pages are filled with news of the good work being done by men, women — religious and the laity — and children in our diocese, parishes and schools. The individuals featured in these stories serve as examples to us, and their stories inspire our readers to live faithfully.
In all these ways, we seek to spread the good news.
What about the bad news? Since the sexual abuse scandal, there has been a strong desire among the laity — and some members of the clergy — for the church, at the diocesan and parish levels, to be more transparent and accountable in its operations. When its clergy or its lay ministers are suspected of wrongdoing, there is an expectation that these wrongs will be addressed.
Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski has taken the stance that if criminal acts are alleged to have been committed, they will be brought to the attention of civil prosecutors. The diocese cooperates with the legal system to ensure the victims of those crimes receive justice.
Should those crimes be reported on the pages of The Catholic Spirit? Should news of indictments, trials, plea deals and convictions be found in a diocesan newspaper?
We think so. We believe our job is to report the good news and the bad news: the good news about God’s love for us as well as the bad news about how we sometimes fail to live out our commitment to following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.
It is not our intention to embarrass anyone, especially a priest, religious or lay person who has devoted his or her life to serving the church and people of God. But if we don’t report the bad news, will anyone believe us when we report the good news?
Kathleen Ogle is the managing editor of The Catholic Spirit. She can be reached at kogle@diometuchen.org.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law