Happy Leap Year . . . Day, everyone! This leap year’s February 29 is more rare than you realize. Namely that we have an issue of the Catholic Herald dated February 29.
The thorough and studious Catholic Herald Research Team recently discovered that the last time there was a February 29 issue of the paper was in 1996.
I’ll be nice and not tell you that I was only 12 years old when that occurred.
We thought it would be “fun” to go back 28 years (wow) and see what the world according to the Catholic Herald was like in late February of 1996.
To set the scene Kevin-style (things that are of priority to me), the Packers had come so close, yet so far, and recently lost to the Dallas Cowboys in the 1995 NFC Championship Game; the Bucks were 20-34 and about to get worse, but were a season away from drafting future Bucks legend and trade mistake Ray Allen; Beatles Anthology 2 kept getting pushed back but would eventually be released in March; and (I’m trying to find something more people will care about) . . . seeing as I’m writing this in real-time, I’m actually having difficulty finding another relevant illustration of the time. This doesn’t appear to have been a very pivotal time in current history.
Let’s just proceed to the Catholic Herald, dated February 29, 1996.
Page 1
Where else to start other than Page 1 of Volume 126, Issue 8 with 12 pages.
Oh yeah, we used to number the volumes differently, that whole Milwaukee thing.
The pages of the paper are bigger too. I believe it’s called “broad sheet” versus the “tabloid” we are now.
There are four stories on Page 1. That’s more than the usual one we do now that allows for bigger pictures and more emphasis on the main story.
The headlines this week are, “Pope issues revised rules for future papal elections, “Madison woman concerned about people in Chiapas, Mexico,” “State Senate to hold hearing Feb. 28 on Fetal Homicide Bill,” and “Mass offered for Fr. Raymond Maier”.
That’s quite a cross-section of what was going on locally, state-wide, and internationally at that time.
There are also teasers for the bishop dedicating a new St. Vincent de Paul Center and a memoir about TV newsman David Brinkley.
According to this front page, there was a lot going on in February of 1996.
Do you remember any of these things?
Looking inside
Let’s see what else we can find on February 29, 1996.
We sure use more color now. I’m glad costs and technology allow us to do that.
Oh, how quaint. The Catholic Herald’s email address was an “aol” one.
Does anyone still use theirs yet?
At this time of the year, it was Lent so just like now, there are fish fry event listings and fish fry ads. Those are never going to go away.
Ah, Bishop Bullock is the ordinary at this time. He’s, of course, one of Madison’s most famous personalities originally from Maple Lake, Minn., of which there are a few. In his column, he’s writing about how the Catholic Herald “lives up to its mission”.
Thanks, Bishop. I’d like to think your current successor feels the same.
There is an ad for the TV Mass on WISC-TV. I’m glad to see that tradition continue with the support of the Apostolate for Persons with Disabilities (formerly Apostolate to the Handicapped).
Former editor Msgr. Andrew Breines is still contributing a Scripture column to the paper and my predecessor Mary C. Uhler, in her editorial, is writing about “The great tragedy of hunger”.
What can we learn from this?
It’s a challenge to fully sum up a entire issue on just one page, but we can certainly see that some things have changed and some things are the same.
The next time there will be a Thursday, Feb. 29, will be in 2052.
I’ll be 68 years old. I’ll buy someone a pizza if I’m wrong, but I don’t think I’ll be at the paper anymore at that time.
What a humbling thought. My time here will end someday. Not unlike that of some of the people, places, and things that were read about on February 29 of 1996.
The Church is here, but they are not. In the future, the Church will be here, but someday, I will not.
In the meantime, let’s celebrate our diocese in our beloved publication, do the best we can, and leave something good for 2052 to look at.
And, Happy Birthday to the Leap Year babies out there!
Thank you for reading.
I’m praying for you.