From today's Providence Journal:

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.”
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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.
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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

Catholic World News is having a spring sale. You can now sign-up for a year's subscription for only $20 (regular $30, you save $10). When you click to subscribe or renew put the promotion code: SPR2007. It's a worthwhile apostolate to support. The news coverage is pretty good and they will occasionally have stuff you can't find elsewhere. They have daily headlines posted and reasonably good analysis here and there. There are some free things so you might want to bookmark them anyway, but you won't find daily news for $20 anywhere, so seriously consider subscribing. Just stay away from the comboxes though... every lunatic and their biretta hang out there and it's often rather nasty.

Labels: media

Cartoons on the Jesus Tomb

These things are funny... check them out. (h/t Ironic Catholic)

By the way, it's nice to see professional journalists poking fun at this. Funny how these "Lenten Revelations" to discredit Christianity don't even make it to Easter! (Who's reading the Gospel of Judas this year?)

Labels: humor, media

You have to wonder what the outcry would be like if these journalists simulated or misrepresented themselves in a Muslim ritual. From CNA:

Bishop Cristián Contreras Villarroel the Auxilary Bishop of Santiago has firmly condemned a recent article in the Chilean newspaper “Las Ultimas Noticias,” in which a journalist falsely entered the confessional, on a number of occasions. The Bishop said the reporter’s actions, which copied a recent Italian news stunt, desecrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation and are an affront to religious sensitivities.

The journalistic stunt attempted to replicate a story published by the Italian newspaper ‘L' Espresso,’ and sought to manipulate the Sacrament in order to "to reveal" what Chilean Catholic priests teach in the confessionals on topics such as euthanasia, abortion, cohabitation, and in-vitro fertilization. A reporter for ‘Las Ultimas Noticias’ went to several churches in Chile and gave false “confessions” to various priests, a sacrilegious act given the sacred nature of confession.

Labels: confession, media

I found this story from CNS to be very interesting:

Rarely is a general audience talk interrupted by spontaneous applause, and Pope Benedict XVI seemed as surprised as anyone when the clapping began in the Vatican's audience hall.

The pope had been talking about the church's early times, and he set aside his text to drive home a point: The apostles and first disciples weren't perfect, but had their own arguments and controversies.

"This appears very consoling to me, because we see that the saints did not drop as saints from heaven. They were men like us with problems and even with sins," he said Jan. 31.

That's when the applause erupted among the 6,000 people in attendance. The pope paused, looked up and smiled awkwardly, then continued to ad lib about how holiness doesn't mean never making a mistake.

The moment marked a milestone for Pope Benedict as a communicator and demonstrated two important facts: First, the scholarly pontiff is focusing on uncomplicated lessons about the church and the faith. Second, when he talks, people listen.

The simple idea that saints were also sinners resonated with his audience, and journalists were among those eagerly awaiting the Vatican's official text of the pope's remarks. But a funny thing happened on the way to the printing presses.

When the Vatican press office released the text two hours later, gone was the line about the sins of saints. Instead, the official version had the pope saying that the early saints "were men like us with problems that were complicated."

The pope spoke in Italian, and "con peccati" ("with sins") sounds like "complicati" ("complicated"). But a close listening to a tape confirmed that the pope had indeed been speaking about sins. The Vatican spoiled his applause line.

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When Pope Benedict extemporizes, the Vatican press office scrambles to transcribe the talk and put it in the hands of the media. But before that happens, the transcript is sent to an office of the Secretariat of State, where it undergoes a "final polishing in Italian," Father Lombardi said.

The reasoning is that the German pope, although fluent in Italian, might use an awkward or imprecise phrase that could be rendered more elegantly.

Reporters have noticed these changes from the beginning of Pope Benedict's pontificate. Most are minor stylistic modifications. But some are more substantial and seem to suggest the presence of an overly cautious editor.

For example, when the pope learned in 2005 that Brother Roger Schutz of the Taize community had just been stabbed to death, he went out and told a general audience about what he called the "terrifying news." That was changed to "dramatic news" in the official version, which toned down his spoken remarks and drained it of the emotion the pope had expressed so well.

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The problems stem partly from Pope Benedict's less formal style at the Wednesday general audiences.

In Pope John Paul II's later years, general audiences were primarily a mass photo op instead of a catechizing moment for those who attend. Most people came to see the pope, not hear a speech. That explains why reporters seeking reaction to papal remarks at the audience were usually met with blank stares.

But that is changing under Pope Benedict. For one thing, his diction is clear -- in contrast to that of his ailing predecessor.

Another big reason people pay attention is that the pope often puts down his printed text and drives his ideas home in simple asides. He seems to have a keen sense of when he's engaging people and when he risks going over their head.

Labels: media, Pope Benedict, Vatican

Two random stories from CNA:

EWTN will be host to some pro-life programming this month.

A new daily Catholic paper out in California:

The digital newspaper has articulated as its mission “to speak out against the false gods and idols of the day – materialism, hedonism, consumerism, narrow nationalism... holding up for all to see a body of moral truth based on human dignity and rights... and unconditional respect for all human life from conception to natural death.”

Labels: life issues, media, random