Starting with today’s issue, The Providence Visitor will be the Rhode Island Catholic. Graphically, the new paper has a cleaner, more contemporary look with larger type, better use of photographs, and superior organization that makes for easier reading. The new paper’s motto is “Faith, Family & Life Since 1875.”
...

The new paper has a new Web site, which is still under development. Bishop Tobin has also ordered a redesign of the diocese’s Web site to bring it to a contemporary standard. That project is not completed yet, either.

“The changing spiritual and pastoral challenges of our times require us to be open to new approaches and strategies,” Bishop Tobin said. “Upon my arrival in Providence, it became apparent to me that our newspaper could be even more effective and attractive than it already was.”

The bishop spoke during a news conference in the basement of Providence’s Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul, built by the diocese’s first bishop, the Most Rev. Thomas F. Hendricken, who was born in Ireland. Having been transferred from Youngstown, Ohio, Bishop Tobin was installed in the cathedral in an elaborate Mass two years ago today.
...

Bishop Tobin hopes that the Rhode Island Catholic will reflect the diocese’s willingness to participate in the public discourse. But as publisher, one of many hats he wears, he has no intention of moving the paper away from what he describes as its core responsibility: to the teachings of Jesus and the Roman Catholic Church. “The essential mission of a Catholic newspaper is found in the words of Jesus Christ who commissioned his apostles to ‘go forth and teach,’ ” Bishop Tobin said.

An editorial in today’s paper states: “We will not print opinions that are in contradiction of church teaching — any more than a newspaper for, say, Greenpeace would print a letter in support of the slaughter of whales.”

With his first-year agenda filled with more immediate matters, the bishop began to move in earnest toward a new paper several months ago. He had his staff seek advice from the Catholic Press Association, and then he hired Providence’s Creative Circle Media Consulting to help redesign the paper. He hired a new editor and general manager, Marcia Grann O’Brien, a convert from the Lutheran Church to Roman Catholicism. Bishop Tobin kept a hand in the redesign, and chose the new name; “Visitor,” he has quipped, sounded more like a tourist guide than a Catholic publication.

Diocese communications director Michael K. Guilfoyle, a Tobin appointee, began yesterday’s news conference noting the coincidence of “two historical events”: the launch of the new paper, and the second anniversary of Bishop Tobin’s installation.

When the bishop took the podium, he joked about the timing of the news conference, which was scheduled several weeks ago.

“When Michael mentioned the two great events we are observing today,” the bishop said, “along with the launching of the new paper, I thought he was referring to the return of Buddy Cianci to New England!”

The audience laughed. The bishop makes a habit of bringing humor to his public appearances, and many of his sermons.

Labels: local, media

permalink posted by Rob @ 8:26 AM