ERIC ROGERS| FC
ST. PETERSBURG | For decades, the number “30” was used by journalists at the bottom of stories to indicate the end. It was a tradition with roots in the early days of the telegraph that change has rendered virtually obsolete. Tradition aside, change can be a good thing and so it is with the final Diocese of St. Petersburg edition of the Florida Catholic as the diocese moves forward with plans for new and exciting ways to communicate with the faithful.

Please see Bishop Lynch’s final column, A special goodbye to the Florida Catholic.

—30—

Pregnancy Plus Medical center facing difficult times

Three miles away, the head of a Catholic Charities program that assists women vulnerable to abortions wondered how long her program would survive.

Safety issues had forced the pro-life Pregnancy Plus Medical Center to move from a highly visible Central Avenue office building to inside Catholic Charities’ Jeff Forbes Center headquarters in St. Petersburg. Client numbers were down. The program’s budget was critically short.

“There are no expenditures; nothing at all. There are cutbacks on everything,” then-program coordinator Diane Hale said in September. “It makes me a little sad, a little nervous.” MORE...