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A special goodbye to the Florida Catholic

Published: 10.24.08

This marks the final time that my thoughts and words will appear in the Diocese of St. Petersburg edition of the Florida Catholic. When I first arrived, 13 years younger and much more energetic, I loved writing this weekly column and also the five-minute-each-day program with Mary Jo Murphy on Spirit FM 90.5. Time, the aging process and other priorities have seen my commitment to this mode of communication slip away. I shall always be grateful, however, when as a young bishop, these pages and the radio station gave me access to your homes and hearts.

But today we say goodbye not just to this column, but also to the St. Petersburg edition of the Florida Catholic. This will be the last issue, coinciding with the end of the subscription year. For 40 years, the Florida Catholic has been an important instrument of communication to Catholics in the original Diocese of St. Petersburg spanning the counties between Citrus and Lee and, since 1984, the five counties which now comprise our local church. This paper has been somewhat unique in the history of Catholic journalism in the United States, since from its inception it was a joint project of more than one diocese and until today served every diocese in Florida except St. Augustine.

So why are we abandoning this tried, tested and true method of communication of the faith? For one thing, the readership has significantly reduced in numbers over the years, and for younger Catholics especially, the manner in which they access news is radically different. The printed word is somewhat in decline while the electronic word is in ascendancy. I myself get most of my news of the world, state and local off the Internet. Television, radio, and cable take me places where I used to rely solely on the printed word. Both the St. Petersburg Times and Tampa Tribune are struggling in different ways with this new reality.

Last year, after consultation first with our priests, I asked the newly formed Diocesan Pastoral Council to study in depth the question of how best does a church communicate with its members in this particular moment in history. The current newspaper cost the diocese and its parishes approximately $350,000 per year beyond subscription revenues, and it was reaching only about 30,000 of the approximately 110,000 registered Catholic households. Parishes, forced to pay for more weekly copies than they could even give away, questioned the effectiveness of a weekly journal.

So the same Diocesan Pastoral Council came to the conclusion that new modalities were needed for the present and future, and they recommended a magazine format. In a few months, every registered household will receive at no cost the first of what will eventually be six issues a year in magazine format. Building on our three-year theme of “Living Eucharist,” the new magazine will be called Gathered. I think you will like it a lot and I think read it more attentively, closely, and share it more enthusiastically with others. In addition to Gathered, our Web site will be expanded and enhanced, and I will contribute regularly a “blog” to be in communication with some of you. Finally, our radio station will look at its format in light of new programming which is available.

So that is what starts next week. Today, I wish to say goodbye and thank you to the Florida Catholic as we have known it. I have never interfered with its journalistic independence and in my time it has never abused its freedom. Happily, the same people who worked on our edition of the weekly paper will be editing and laying out our new magazine, so we as a diocese will remain a part of the statewide Florida Catholic family.

To our local editors/writers in my 13 years – Steve Sims, Janet Shelton, Carlos Briceno and Ed Foster Jr. and the many others who at one time or another have written for our edition of the paper – I owe a special debt of gratitude and so do you. Some of these same people will be intimately involved in Gathered and that gives me comfort.

This has been a difficult and challenging moment for the Orlando-based staff of the Florida Catholic. We are the first diocese in the “family” to shift gears. Chris Gunty and his staff have been thoroughly professional throughout our discussions of the future and have stepped up to the plate to help our communications dream become a reality. They are “pros” and dedicated Catholics. They also remain available to any readers of the St. Petersburg edition who wish to access their talent and work through their Web site as well as our own.

Finally, if you feel a strong need for a weekly Catholic newspaper, I recommend that you subscribe to the Orlando or Venice editions of the Florida Catholic. While the local news may be of little interest, most of the paper is regularly dedicated to national, international and catechetical material, which defies geography.

Change is always challenging and usually difficult. What we are soon beginning is a new way of communication – outside the traditional box – using resources that we currently have at less cost to you and to the diocese. It is an experiment at heart and, like most experiments, it may take us in strange and unforeseen directions. I know I will hear from you from time to time and I welcome that. But, you will also begin to hear from me.

With love and thanksgiving for 40 years of stellar Catholic journalism I say goodbye to one form of communication, and hello and welcome to another. I also say to the Florida Catholic in the almost immortal words of Bob Hope: Thanks for the memories.

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