Oh, look at that. The “interim” has been taken off my job title and now I’m just plain old “editor”.
Well, “plain” is true. “Old” is all a matter of perspective.
We’re also coming up on one year since I took over the reins of this humble and historical publication.
Time flies when you’re . . .
A lot has changed in a short time.
It wasn’t all that long ago that I was plain young reporter Kevin and taking part in stream hikes with the kids at Camp Gray, following bishops around from one stop to the next, freezing for a reason covering mid-winter pro-life events, conducting interviews with Totus Tuus participants on swing sets, and asking couples married for more than 70 years what their secrets to long wedded bliss were.
OK, most of those things aren’t totally gone from my repertoire, I just have to allot more time in my workdays to do paperwork now before I get to go outside and have fun.
Pause for thanks
Before I continue to ramble on about myself, I want to thank some people.
Thank you, the readers, for your continued support, readership, and positive and negative comments about the Catholic Herald.
Without you, we’d just be here talking to ourselves and what fun would that be?
I hope and pray that those of us who have our bylines in the paper every week can serve as God’s instruments to help everyone be disciples and therefore go out and make disciples.
I want to thank the Diocese of Madison, especially Bishop Donald J. Hying, and the Wisconsin Catholic Media Apostolate for confidence in me and for letting me continue with the greatest career blessing and opportunity of my life.
Thanks for letting the kid play with the big people toys and not make a total mess of things.
Looking back
Last July, when my “editoriate” began, the word “pandemic” was still everywhere.
Thankfully, things are seeming a little more normal now.
It’s nice to have a face again.
As I write this, I’m looking forward to seeing a bigger crowd at this year’s priesthood ordinations on June 25 (don’t forget to pray for the newly-ordained Fr. Luke Powers and Fr. Michael Wanta).
Last July, dealing with the pandemic had become a normal thing. I daresay we got good at it. Not that one necessarily wants to be good at pandemic-dealing, but we did what we had to do.
Many things were “virtual” and still are, but we came to appreciate that our faith is anything but “virtual”.
We learned we are a people of the real: Real faith, real love, real hope, the real presence of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in our lives.
God’s love and mercy are not virtual. They are real.
We learned that we can make it through anything put in front of us, although we have a long way to go and a lot of work to do in many areas.
Pandemic or not, Jesus still rose from the dead. That didn’t change, that didn’t go away, that is not virtual.
Over this past year, some new challenges developed and old ones took on new faces — questions over the necessity of Mass attendance; confusion over the worthiness to receive Communion; the role of the Church in political, racial, and social issues; the meaning and look of religious freedom in the midst of a pandemic; and the continued battle against abortion.
If God is allowing this time of trial, we need to look to Him for inspiration to make it past this time and stronger than ever.
What’s next?
Reeling things in a bit, once the logistics of my title change have passed, things will pretty much be business as usual.
Myself, and the rest of the Catholic Herald staff (shout-out to Steve Hefty and Angela Curio who have been rock stars these past 12 months), will continue to come to work every day and do our best and let God take care of the rest.
With our diocese deep into the Go Make Disciples evangelization initiative, we’ll be striving to make disciples or inspire others to make disciples.
There is a lot going on in this diocese. I wish we could share every story that evangelical, catechetical, inspiring, and informative.
Limits on time and space prevent us from sharing everything, but we do the best we can.
We want to hear from you also.
If you have a story to share, never hesitate to contact us.
We want to be a continued source of good news about the Good News (I’m sure I’m accidentally stealing that from someone, sorry).
We’re here for you.
YOU are the Diocese of Madison, this is YOUR paper.
My prayers to you all as we continue on this journey to Heaven together.
I try to remain, as always, obediently yours.