“News is what a chap who doesn’t care much about anything wants to read. And it’s only news until he’s read it. After that it’s dead.” So says the irreverent and shrewd mentor Corker in Evelyn Waugh’s novel “Scoop.” Waugh’s acerbic and satirical novel on journalism succeeds not only because of Waugh’s hilarity and ingenious plot, but because the novel forces an examination of conscience on everyone who reads the news.
“I never read the papers,” C.S. Lewis once wrote to a friend. “They’re nearly all lies, and one has to wade thru’ such reams of verbiage and ‘write up’ to find out what they’re saying.” But Lewis’ scorn for the press isn’t actually scorn for the press as such. That’s a common enough but equally mistaken read. Elsewhere, the great Christian apologist explicitly condemns “wicked journalists” decrying the men and women who “disseminate for money falsehoods calculated to produce envy, hatred, suspicion and confusion.”
Whether we’re stuck on Waugh’s observation that people are often looking for content to consume just to quiet the mind until we move on to the next thing or Lewis’ condemnation of media moguls churning out deceptions for profit, we should take refuge in the fact that the Catholic press is another thing altogether, or at least aims to be at its best.
Catholic media has one mission: to bear the light of Christ to the world. The charge of Catholic news is to embolden the sworn duty of every disciple, to make Jesus better known and loved.
The cornerstone of Our Sunday Visitor’s headquarters in Huntington, Indiana, boldly declares, “You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free” (Jn 8:32). To proclaim the truth is a promise that was made to our readers since the first issue of the newspaper, distributed May 5, 1912, by our founder, Archbishop John Francis Noll. And it’s a promise Our Sunday Visitor has labored to keep steadfastly these 110 years.
But it’s not enough simply to tell the truth. The truth has to be said in a way that convicts. A way that captures minds. A way that touches hearts. While Catholic journalists should have no fear of the truth — all truth leads to God — we should, with fear and trembling, consider what we say. Tabloids run on scandal. The Catholic press cannot. And while we have to bring light to the darkness of the grave evils of clerical abuse, financial scandals and whatever future paltry plans of the devil come our way, we face them confident that against the Church, the gates of hell shall not prevail (Mt 16:18).
Pope Francis told journalists on the flight back to Rome at the conclusion of his 2021 trip to Iraq, “Charity, love and fraternity are the way forward.” Charity is the way forward for war-torn nations. But it is our way forward, too. Insisting on Christian charity, steadfast in the fundamentals of faith, will prevent religious media from becoming one more platform to amplify the twin evils of polarization and politicization sweeping our country. Confidence in charity gives to our words the healing balm absent from the secular press, the very medicine the world needs to be healed.
As Our Sunday Visitor newspaper celebrates 110 years, it is our esteemed privilege to simultaneously fete a new OSV initiative. Beginning Jan. 1, OSV News will provide Catholic national and international news, commentary, features and more. Readers of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper will directly benefit from the collegial spirit and renewed zeal that the OSV News team has already shared with our very fine newspaper staff. Moreover, OSV News stories will be published on our website, OurSundayVisitor.com, for your reading pleasure.
This launch of OSV News is particularly welcome because now is not the time to surrender even one millimeter in the public square. Trained journalists and editors help form better Catholics, equipping believers with the tools they need to renew their parishes and their Catholic schools. Armed with the greatest Gospel weapons, truth and charity, together we will champion our beloved Church!
Father Patrick Briscoe, OP, is editor of Our Sunday Visitor. Follow him on Twitter @PatrickMaryOP.
