Changing our design for you
Redesign of Catholic Herald offers benefits for readers

For the past three weeks, the Catholic Herald has featured "teaser" ads saying things like, "Change is in the air."

	Editor's View Mary C. Uhler

Savvy readers have been curious. Some have asked, "What's this all about?"

As the weeks have gone by, more information has been revealed. You may have noticed the new "flag" emerging - this is what goes at the top of our front page. You may have been intrigued by teasers about better use of space, larger type, larger photos, more color, and more in-depth local news.

Updated look

Yes, the Catholic Herald has a new, updated look. We've redesigned our flag as well as all our pages with new typefaces and a fresh appearance.

I like to compare it to a new wardrobe. We wouldn't wear the same clothes for eight years, would we? (Well, some favorite pieces we might keep - but not everything!)

It has been eight years since we redesigned our paper. So it is time for a new look. We hope you like it.

Of course, appearance is part of the redesign. We want the Catholic Herald to look appealing. After all, if it didn't look good, you wouldn't be as likely to pick it up and read it.

So what have we done with our redesign?

We have larger type. Our body type used to be 10 pt. type. Now it's 10.5 pt. type. It's slightly bigger and hopefully easier to read.

We've selected two basic type faces with lots of variety of fonts: Minion for the body type and Berthold for the headlines. This is kind of technical, but we wanted to pick some new typefaces to add some pizazz to our pages.

We will have more color pages. Besides the front, back, and center pages, our inside front and back covers will also be in color. This allows us to use more color photos.

Our Inside Cover will usually include a feature story, most often about a diocesan or parish event.

The back inside page will be a Nation/World news briefs page including a color photo. We will highlight the main national and international news affecting the church and society.

Larger photos. We know that a picture is worth a thousand words. Our redesign will include larger photos on most of our pages. We will try to select great action photos as much as possible.

What's inside the paper?

Besides the redesign, we also evaluated what's inside the Catholic Herald. Our readers tell us they like news from around the Diocese of Madison. That's what sets us apart from other Catholic and secular publications.

Our readers also want to enrich and update their Catholic faith. They want to understand their faith better.

To fulfill these goals, we have made a few changes. I would consider them enhancements to what we had offered in the Catholic Herald.

More indepth local news. We will be offering longer, more indepth stories about what is happening at the diocesan and parish levels. We will give more space to news from the parishes, schools, and institutions in our 11-county Diocese of Madison.

Profiles of active Catholics. We will include profiles of active Catholics living their faith. These could include people in professional/paid and volunteer positions. (Please nominate people for these profiles - see Page 4 for details [online here]).

Where were you reading the Catholic Herald? Back by popular demand is a feature each week with a picture of a person or group reading the Catholic Herald at some place in the nation or world. We started a contest in 2004 and people are still sending in their pictures. Now it will be a weekly feature.

Enrichment and education in your faith. We will be publishing a special series and features to help enrich our readers' faith and educate them about what's happening in the Catholic Church.

This week we start a seven-part series on the Mass by a priest from the Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis. See Page 15 [online here]. Other articles on apologetics and catechetics will also be featured in the future.

Let us know what you think

These are just a few of the changes you will notice this week. Please let us know how you like the redesign. Give us your compliments and your constructive criticism by e-mailing: info@madisoncatholicherald.org

We encourage you to read the Catholic Herald cover to cover every week and use it every day. We offer regular features such as the bishop's column and schedule, diocesan calendar, TV and radio highlights, movie reviews, and national and international news articles.

It's all inside the Catholic Herald!

Mailbag

	Mailbag policy We reserve the right to edit or reject letters. Limit letters to 200 words or less. All letters must be signed. Please include your city or town of residence. Send letters to: Mailbag The Catholic Herald 702 S. High Point Rd. Madison, WI 53719-3522 Fax: 608-821-3071 E-mail: info@madisoncatholicherald.org

Healthy Wisconsin covers 'therapeutic abortions'

To the editor:

It is really quite disturbing that Barbara Lyons, executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life, continues to disseminate inaccurate and incendiary misrepresentations of the "Healthy Wisconsin" proposal (Mailbag, Catholic Herald, November 22, 2007).

"Healthy Wisconsin" would ensure that everyone in Wisconsin who is not covered by a federal health care program would be covered by a comprehensive and affordable health care plan. In fact, it would be the same excellent coverage which the governor and all our elected legislators currently receive.

Barbara Lyons asserts that "Healthy Wisconsin" "would require that taxpayers pay for every Wisconsin abortion, as many times as a woman wants one, at any time during pregnancy."

Absolutely untrue. In the Uniform Benefits Certificate of Coverage which enumerates the benefits in the current State Plan (which is replicated in "Healthy Wisconsin") it is stated precisely that the plan covers only "therapeutic abortions" - not so-called "abortion on demand" as Ms. Lyons asserts. If you want to check the exact language, go to: http://etf.wi.gov/publications/dc_content/dc_2008/State_ET2107/complete_book.pdf, page D 17.

Health care for all is a moral imperative. We need an honest, lively, energetic debate in Wisconsin on how to solve our health care crisis and ensure that everyone in our state has the health care they need. But that debate must be based on fact, not distortion or misrepresentation.

David Newby, Milwaukee,
President, Wisconsin State AFL-CIO

Editor's note: Because of Doe vs. Bolton, "therapeutic abortions" may include abortions for emotional, social, and psychological reasons.

Place local photos on cover

To the editor:

I have seen and read with enthusiasm over the last few years the wonderful enhancements to the content of the Catholic Herald.

I would like to suggest an additional change - that of only placing locally submitted photos on your cover. With all of the schools and churches within our own diocese, you should not be wanting for them. Thank you.

Jean Marie McKearn, Beloit