The value of Catholic journalism
“The value of Catholic journalism is really about impacting people's lives, helping them see the world through the lens of faith.”
In July I retired from a 39-year career as a journalist in the Catholic press. Those years were spent writing, editing, photographing and laying out pages at five diocesan newspapers.
While recently rummaging through boxes of mementos I acquired over the years (newspaper clippings, workshop notes and correspondence from colleagues and readers), I came across a letter written by a woman I had interviewed long ago.
Anne Borchardt was a choir member at her parish in River Falls, Wis., when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The story, which was published in the Superior Catholic Herald during Holy Week in 1999, recounted her cancer journey and how it strengthened her faith.
After the story was published, Anne sent a card offering thanks.
The cover to a CD, “Light of Life,” recorded by Anne Borchardt in 1999. Borchardt, who died in 2000, witnessed the impact of Catholic journalism in her faith journey.“You have become an important part of my faith journey by helping me to get this story out,” she wrote, “because it was a bold step for me and ever since the article, my faith convictions have increased tremendously – which is the greatest thing that could ever happen to me. … I am eternally grateful.”
Anne died of cancer a year after her story was published. Yet even today, her words resonate clearly to me the important value of Catholic journalism.
Journalists in the Catholic press, both writers and photographers, know the important role they play in helping people in the pews to live out their faith. Telling inspirational stories such as Anne’s cancer journey is just one way Catholic publications help readers not only connect to their faith, but grow in it.
Sadly, Catholic journalism is in crisis, as news outlets — diocesan newspapers and even the domestic offices of the century-old Catholic News Service — face closure. Just in the past seven years, at least 11 diocesan newspapers have been shuttered or converted to online publications.
In today’s world, where Catholic identity has greatly succumbed to secular values, heralding the good news is an epic challenge for the church. To use a nautical term, church leaders need “all hands on deck” to communicate news and information. Yet when the church’s communication structures continue a downward spiral, with diocesan newspapers closing, cutting back on publication schedules or moving to online-only versions, who is left to proclaim the message?
The late Cardinal John Foley (1935-2011), who served 23 years as president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Social Communications, understood the value of Catholic journalism. The Philadelphia native, who once served as editor of his archdiocese’s newspaper, The Catholic Standard and Times, was a vocal proponent of the Catholic press.
“Catholics will always need publications,” he said in a preface to “The Mission and Future of the Catholic Press,” a book published by the Catholic Press Association in 1998.
“We are a people of the book, redeemed by the Word of Jesus Christ,” Cardinal Foley said. “We will continue to need the written word to inform us, to help form our attitudes in a Christian way, to help us to ‘put on’ the Lord Jesus in the modern world, to provide us with ideas and models for putting into practice — in our daily lives and in society — the teaching of Christ and of his church …”
As it was in 1822, when Bishop John England of Charleston, S.C., founded the Catholic Miscellany, the first Catholic publication in the United States, the mission of the Catholic press, according to Cardinal Foley, is “to inform, form, inspire, educate and strengthen the religious identity of Catholics.”
This mission is sacred for Catholic journalists who see their work as a vocation. Yet there is a gap created when fewer Catholic publications are delivered to parishioners’ homes and online publications, while easily accessible, lack the same shelf life.
Can the church count on secular publications to tell the story of local Catholic Charities agencies assisting incoming refugees in our communities or Catholic Relief Services supporting families displaced by the war in Ukraine?
Catholic journalism’s future is at a critical juncture. How can it survive when Catholic newspapers face extinction due to postage and printing costs? How do digital publications reach people in the pews who lack access, loyalty, trust or interest in online news?
Telling the story from a faith perspective is imperative for the church. Whether it’s offering analysis on the latest papal document, updating parishioners on church finances or sharing a catechumen’s story of conversion, journalists in the Catholic press form and inform their readers in a way the secular press cannot.
The value of Catholic journalism is really about impacting people's lives, helping them see the world through the lens of faith. Thanks to Catholic publications, they know that their stories are important and that they are part of a community that is connected.
I believe Anne Borchardt, who witnessed the role of Catholic journalism in her faith journey, would agree with this assessment. It’s up to our church, its leaders and the entire body of Christ, to ensure that future generations of Catholics can tell their stories in Catholic publications.
A visit to St. Josaphat Basilica
The Basilica of St. Josaphat
It’s been a while since I’ve visited the Basilica of St. Josaphat on Milwaukee’s south side. Not since living in Milwaukee from 2002 to 2007 have I had a chance to explore the historic church. For those who haven’t been there, it’s a hidden treasure of religious art and a sacred space that inspires a prayerful mind. The basilica is located right off of I-94.
Here are a few photos taken on Sept. 28.
The ceiling of St. Josaphat Basilica. (Sam Lucero photo)
A scene from above the sanctuary inside the basilica. (Sam Lucero photo)
A bronze statue of St. Francis of Assisi outside of the basilica. (Sam Lucero photo)
An angelic statue welcomes guests with a bowl of holy water. (Sam Lucero photo)
One of the many stained glass images inside of the basilica. This window depicts St. Dominic receiving the rosary from the Blessed Mother. (Sam Lucero photo)
This window depicts the Nativity or birth of Jesus. (Sam Lucero photo)
More than a news service
I know the shuttering of CNS is a professional loss to so many publications. But it is also a personal loss to folks like me who have worked in Catholic media.
Last month the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced it would close the New York and Washington offices of Catholic News Service (CNS). While the CNS Rome bureau will remain open and continue to offer news from the Vatican and around the world, the U.S. offices are set to close at the end of 2022.
Since the announcement on May 4, many journalists who work in the Catholic press have offered their opinions about the decision. Uniformly, the move has been panned as short-sighted, stunning and regrettable.
After joining the Catholic press in 1983, I quickly learned the importance of having a wire service that provided national and international content to fill the pages of diocesan newspapers at which I worked. What I also learned over the years was the quality of journalism (writing and photography) and the professionalism that made up the Catholic News Service team.
Established in 1920, its first editor, Justin McGrath, “brought in a team of editors and reporters from leading U.S. dailies to cover the turbulent news of the 1920s,” according to CNS. News such as “the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan, the candidacy of Al Smith as the first major-party Catholic nominee for president, the story of communist persecution in Russia, the civil strife over British rule in Northern Ireland and the work of the American church in helping Europe recover from the ravages of World War I.”
Like my colleagues around the country, I lament the decision to shutter a news service that has served the church for more than a century. Besides the fact that CNS’s demise will create a void that will probably not be filled (at least not to the same measure of journalistic excellence), I have other reasons to regret its closure.
As a young staff writer at the Intermountain Catholic in Salt Lake City, I filed my first story with CNS (at the time known as National Catholic News Service) after major flooding in northern Utah caused some $200 million in damage. What a thrill to see my story and photos distributed to Catholic newspapers around the United States and beyond. Since that story ran in June 1983, I’ve submitted countless photos and stories to CNS over these 30-plus years.
Above, two photos taken in 1983 were picked up by Catholic News Service. They accompanied a story about flooding in Utah.Providing news and feature stories from diocesan newspapers has been one of the services CNS offers to its clients. It has allowed an international network of Catholic publications to share information in a timely fashion. Soon this service will all disappear.
It is unfortunate that the bishops who made the decision to shutter CNS do not understand how important news in their own backyards will no longer have the reach it had thanks to CNS.
On several occasions I have been told by co-workers in the Diocese of Green Bay that they saw a story I had written or or a photo I had taken in another diocesan newspaper or a national publication like America, Our Sunday Visitor or National Catholic Reporter. It was a badge of honor for them to know that their diocese was receiving national attention.
Catholic publications aren’t the only place my photos have appeared. Even the USCCB has used photos picked up by CNS on their website.
There are other ways the roots of CNS branched out across Wisconsin.
One of the wire service’s previous editors, Floyd Anderson, was born in Superior, home of the Superior Catholic Herald, where I served as editor for 14 years. Floyd was editor at CNS from 1963 to 1969.
Jim Alt, one of my predecessors at The Compass (actually an earlier diocesan publication called The Spirit), served at CNS in the early 1970s. He oversaw a faith education series called “Know Your Faith,” today known as “Faith Alive.”
The other Wisconsin connection to CNS is Marquette University. Its journalism program trained many Catholic journalists who worked for CNS, including Tom Lorsung, Jim Lackey and Laurie Hansen Cardona.
Tom is a Milwaukee native and a MU journalism grad. He joined NC News in 1972 as photo editor and retired in 2003 after 15 years as director. Jim was a staff writer at The Catholic Messenger in Davenport, Iowa, before joining CNS in 1979. Laurie began her career at the Milwaukee Catholic Herald before joining CNS as a staff writer, then returning to Milwaukee to serve as managing editor at the Catholic Herald.
I know the shuttering of CNS is a professional loss to so many publications. But it is also a personal loss to folks like me who have worked in Catholic media. I’ve met a lot of people and made a lot of good friends at CNS. It won’t surprise me when church leaders regret the decision to close CNS. Perhaps during the next presidential election or even sooner, they will see how thoughtful backgrounders and analyses on important issues written by CNS staffers will be replaced by tweets, memes and biased reports from content creators with a personal agenda.
Retirement
It’s been a good ride.
After accepting my first job out of college in 1983 as staff writer at the Intermountain Catholic newspaper in Salt Lake City, I continued my journalism career in the Catholic press for more than three decades. In July, I’m retiring as News & Information Manager at The Compass in Green Bay. I announced it in an editorial May 20, and a story appeared in The Compass.
The transition will allow me to focus on my longtime hobby: photography. My desire is to spend more time exploring — my backyard, my city, my state, my country, looking for new images to add to my collection of photos. I hope to continue religious journalism, possibly freelance work for parishes and other religious organizations. Time will tell.
It’s been a good ride. I have met countless people from many backgrounds and life experiences. In the coming years, I hope to share some of the stories of these people — as well as other anecdotes and images captured during what was a splendid vocation: journalism in the Catholic press. Below is a slideshow of photos shared with me — mostly featuring me at work.
Finding God in all things
Have you ever considered photography as a spiritual practice?
Have you ever considered photography as a spiritual practice? This was a topic I was asked to address a few years ago at the Norbertine Center for Spirituality in De Pere, Wis. It took me several months to put the presentation together. In addition to researching the topic, I contacted a few fellow photographers in the religious press and asked them to share their thoughts.
As fate would have it, the COVID-19 pandemic forced cancellation of my presentation. Instead, it sat inside my laptop for a year – until I decided to use the pandemic’s favorite tool (Zoom) and offer it as a video, which I posted to YouTube.
Here is a quick summary of the points I make in this video:
What does photography as a spiritual practice mean?
Is it limited to religious ceremonies? In my experience, photography as a spiritual practice entails much more than photographing religious services.
The saints and Scripture.
Next, I turned to the saints and to Scripture to help describe what photography as a spiritual practice can mean. First up was St. Ignatius of Loyola, who gave members of his religious order, the Society of Jesus, the directive: Find God in all things. Isn’t that what photographers do?
Other views of photography as spiritual practice.
In this segment, I share insights by Catholic press photographers Michael Alexander, Rick Mussachio, Fr. Don Doll, Jaclyn Lippelmann and Paul Haring. The most inspiring quote came from Michael, who has since retired as photographer for the Georgia Bulletin in Atlanta:
“I’ve always said I have never taken a photograph that God didn’t see first.”
Ways to find God in all things
The presentation concludes with tips on learning to find God in all things through photography, as well as a video of my favorite macro photography model: the jumping spider.
Jumping spider (Sam Lucero photo)The presentation (below) takes about 20 minutes. I have also attached a downloadable PDF of composition tips I planned to share at my presentation. I hope the tips and the video inspire you to pick up a camera and “find God in all things.”
UPDATE: I will be offering my presentation at the Norbertine Center for Spirituality on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022.
When a minister calls out wedding photographers
“A photographer’s first task is to meet with the minister, ideally at the wedding rehearsal, and discuss limitations or concerns for taking photos.”
A while back, I came across a video on YouTube and decided to write about it here because it relates to photography in a religious setting.
In the video, a minister is leading an outdoor wedding ceremony. As he speaks, one can hear the sound of a camera shutter firing away. The minister abruptly turns his attention to the wedding photographer and videographer standing behind him. He tells them, “Please, sirs, leave. … This is a solemn assembly. Not a photography session. Please move.”
The expressions on the bride and groom’s faces are of sheer horror, probably thinking about that huge check they wrote to have their special day recorded and photographed.
As the camera is removed from its tripod and the video loses its focus, the minister is heard ending his sermon to the photographers: “This is not about photography. This is about God.”
What a terrible ending to what should have been a magnificent, memorable day.
Who is to blame for this incident and how could it have been avoided? First, both the photographers and the minister share the blame.
As a Catholic press photographer, I have covered religious ceremonies and witnessed other photographers who seemed to operate with complete disregard for the sacred environment in which they were working. They see no difference between shooting a prayer service or a sporting event. Whether it is the attire worn inside a church (T-shirts, blue jeans and tennis shoes or sandals) or the way he or she distracts the congregation by moving around at inappropriate times, unprofessional photographers can give their colleagues a bad reputation.
At the same time, some church officials (whether it’s a priest, sacristan or master of ceremony) need to understand the importance of capturing the moment for posterity. While covering the ordination of several priests at Milwaukee’s St. John the Evangelist Cathedral many years ago, I received an unpleasant look from the master of ceremonies. Apparently another photographer got on his bad side and he restricted my movement at the liturgy.
I’ve photographed weddings at churches and know that each priest or minister has his or her own opinions about wedding photographers. A photographer’s first task is to meet with the minister, ideally at the wedding rehearsal, and discuss limitations or concerns for taking photos. Priests are usually fine with photographers moving around the church to get the right shot, but some don’t allow flash photography. The use of a motor-driven camera, which sounds like a muffled machine gun, can also be a distraction and should be avoided in churches.
Today, mirrorless cameras, like the Nikon Z6 and Z7II that I use, are able to operate on silent mode. This allows the photographer to be seen, but not heard.
Catholic weddings, especially ceremonies that take place within the celebration of Mass, are indeed sacred, sacramental events. But this should not prohibit capturing the event on camera.
The outcome captured in this video should never have happened. The photographers and the minister could have prevented it if some preplanning had taken place. The obvious losers were the bride and groom.
What are your thoughts? Have you witnessed a similar situation at a wedding?
A photographer’s take on the sign of peace
I think I speak for most Catholic photojournalists when I say, “We need gestures at Mass!”
Back in 2014, a letter from the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, written to Latin-rite bishops around the world, focused on the sign of peace. After years of study and consultation, the congregation decided that the sign of peace would continue to be part of the liturgy. Local bishops, however, would have the authority to omit it if “it is foreseen that it will not take place properly.”
The letter also said that bishops should do what they can to end “abuses” of the greeting and study whether it’s time to find “more appropriate gestures” to replace it.
A worshipper shares the sign of peace with a young man during Mass in Green Bay, Wis. (Sam Lucero photo)Discussion on the practice of greeting fellow Mass-goers, shaking hands with them and saying, “Peace be with you” came more than two years after the revised Roman Missal was introduced. The revised missal also ushered in changes during the celebration of the Mass, including the laity no longer praying with hands extended (known as the orans position) during the Our Father. Instead, that gesture is reserved to the priest or leader of prayer. Folks in the pews are asked to pray with folded hands or hands at their side.
A lot of thought and discussion have been given to these decisions, both at the local level and on the universal church level. If the Vatican (or a diocesan bishop) decides to put an end to the sign of peace, people in the pews — reluctantly or not — will have to acquiesce. (We did see this happen during the COVID-19 pandemic, although for health and not liturgical reasons.)
While input from church liturgists, historians and theologians is considered when implementing rules on the use of gestures at Mass, the views of Catholic photojournalists are nowhere to be found.
Until now.
I think I speak for most Catholic photojournalists when I say, “We need gestures at Mass!”
I remember the days, during priestly ordinations, when the newly ordained would exit the sanctuary at the sign of peace and give a loving handshake, hug or kiss to his mother and father. Now that was a Kodak moment. This practice is no longer allowed, although I’m not sure when it ended — or how licit it was in the eyes of liturgists.
Holding hands or extending hands during the Our Father was also an opportunity for powerful images during Mass. Hands to the side? Not so much.
Worshippers hold hands while reciting the Our Father during Mass. (Sam Lucero photo)If we wanted stoic expressions to photograph, most Catholic photojournalists would head to the nearest traditional Latin Mass.
All kidding aside, church leaders know the importance of signs and symbols in religion and the liturgy. As a photographer — and thus a very visually oriented observer — I’d like to beg them to not eliminate the outward signs we use to express our love for Christ and his church.
Would you like to ride with the risen Christ?
This 80-foot-tall hot air balloon has the familiar image of a smiling Jesus.
Did you know that a hot air balloon created by Sky Sail Balloons Inc., commemorates the risen Christ? In cooperation with The Joyful Noiseletter, an 80-foot-tall hot air balloon has the familiar image of a smiling Jesus, titled “The Risen Christ by the Sea.”
On its website, www.skysail.org/risen, Sky Sail Balloons explained that rights to the portrait of Christ, painted by Jack Jewell, are owned by The Joyful Noiseletter. Sky Sail secured the rights to the image to use the art on a hot air balloon.
Sky Sail owner and chief pilot Geoff Turner is now offering the hot air balloon to Christian groups for their festivals. From the website:
“The balloon ride business offers the opportunity to share a totally unique perspective of God's creation. The extension of using a balloon to introduce to, and remind people of, the Good News was a step that made a lot of sense, not to mention the obvious comical irony of having a resurrection themed balloon named ‘RISEN!’ … Hire us to come help you celebrate the Good News."
According to Sky Sail, with the challenges facing Christians around the world, having the Risen Balloon, as it is called, flying in the sky is one way to express the joyful message of Easter that Christ has indeed risen.
windows depict life of St. Therese
These 16 stained-glass windows depict the life of the saint known as the “Little Flower.”
Several years ago, I had an opportunity to visit the Basilica of Holy Hill, National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians, in Hubertus. I was asked by the Carmelite Friars to photograph all of the stained glass windows on the property. This not only included the upper Basilica, but the lower chapel, known as the St. Therese Chapel, the monastery and another prayer room.
The project required the use of hydraulic lifts to get close to eye level with the windows in the upper and lower churches. It was quite a rush ascending above the pews in the basilica — a view few people have experienced.
One of the recent additions at Holy Hill are new stained glass windows inside the St. Therese Chapel, which is dedicated to St. Therese of Lisieux. The 16 windows, created by Conrad Schmitt Studios of Milwaukee, depict the life of the saint known as the “Little Flower.” I have included a slideshow of the windows here for viewing.