To comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable:

the role of the Catholic press

Excerpts from a paper Michael Fitzsimons delivered at the Australasian Catholic Press Association conference in Auckland, in October 2007.

In the simplest terms, I believe the role of the Catholic Press is to tell the truth and to inspire! A blend of both is important. By telling the truth and seeking to inspire, you will be comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comfortable.

Journalism’s first obligation is to tell the truth, without fear or favour. It is what sets it apart from other forms of communications. Not spin, not PR, not the Diocesan Centre’s comms machine, but the press – exploring what matters most, critic and conscience of how our actions live up to our ideals – in the church and in society. Of course the overall context for the Catholic press is to build up the Catholic Church, to see it thrive. That is a given. But how best to do that? I believe it’s by being critic and conscience of both church and society.

This involves some kind of sifting of evidence, of verifying. It does not just mean reporting what we are told. It means identifying what is important and what is not, what is progress and what is not, what is in line with the Gospel and what is not. It means exercising independent editorial judgment.

How are we doing in the church? Are we the salt? Are we the leaven? Or is it just words? Answering this question requires some distancing from our masters and those running the show, as any journalism does.

There are many uncomfortable issues – the growing wealth gap in our society with all its consequences, the appalling health and education disparities that we continue to tolerate, our carbon footprint, abortion numbers, affluent lifestyles. And closer to home – the role of women in the church, sex abuse activities and of course the occasional radical theologian on tour.

We are called to be servants of the Gospel, and I believe the way we can best serve the church is by being seekers of the truth. Our first loyalty is to the readers, to citizens. We serve the church and most fundamentally the church is the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers.

At times this may feel uncomfortable, if memory serves me correctly! But in my view it is the essence of good journalism.

Comforting the disturbed
How do we comfort the disturbed? By telling the truth: the truth of the good news about God’s grace and compassion and what astounding things are possible when we are weak and vulnerable and have nothing left but God.

We show this through our news selection and our feature stories, through our reflections and comment pieces, through our interviews with the true heroes among us; by giving voice to the weak and the vulnerable; by telling their stories. This gives the paper coherence and authenticity. It makes it Catholic.

We comfort the disturbed by not buying into a dream, by not genuflecting before power and prestige, by being a countercultural voice, a Gospel voice – full of surprises and instinctively on the side of the underdog.

Have you ever read the book Tuesdays with Morrie, the record of a series of bedside meetings between a professor and his former student? Morrie, the professor, is dying and the student comes to visit him each Tuesday to absorb his wisdom about living and ageing. Always believe the words of a dying man.

Morrie has this to say: “The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they are doing things they think are important. This is because they are choosing wrong things.

The mantra goes: more is good, more is good. More things. More property. More of everything. We’ve got a form of brainwashing going on. People are so hungry for love, they are accepting substitutes. They are embracing material things and expecting a sort of hug back. But it never works. The average person is so fogged up by all this.

And what is Morrie’s answer? You’ve got to build your own little subculture. Obey the little things e.g. stop at the traffic lights and it’s a good idea not to go round naked. But the big things – what we value, how we think – those you must choose yourself. You can’t let anyone, or any society, determine those things for you.

Dennis Horton

Freedom, in the Christian sense, is always more about freedom for than freedom from.

Ideally the freedom of the Catholic editor lies not so much in being free from imposed constraints or forbidden topics as being free to keep the dialogue going – within the community of faith, between the church and the world and – increasingly – between members of different faiths and religious traditions. As Hans Kung has so famously written:

No peace among the nations
without peace among the religions.
No peace among the religions
without dialogue between the religions.


To comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable: the role of the Catholic press Excerpts from a paper Michael Fitzsimons delivered at the Australasian Catholic Press Association conference in Auckland, in October 2007. In the simplest terms, I believe the role of the Catholic Press is to tell the truth and to inspire! A blend of both is important. By telling the truth and seeking to inspire, you will be comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comfortable. Journalism’s first obligation is to tell the truth, without fear or favour. It is what sets it apart from other forms of communications. Not spin, not PR, not the Diocesan Centre’s comms machine, but the press – exploring what matters most, critic and conscience of how our actions live up to our ideals – in the church and in society. Of course the overall context for the Catholic press is to build up the Catholic Church, to see it thrive. That is a given. But how best to do that? I believe it’s by being critic and conscience of both church and society. This involves some kind of sifting of evidence, of verifying. It does not just mean reporting what we are told. It means identifying what is important and what is not, what is progress and what is not, what is in line with the Gospel and what is not. It means exercising independent editorial judgment. How are we doing in the church? Are we the salt? Are we the leaven? Or is it just words? Answering this question requires some distancing from our masters and those running the show, as any journalism does. There are many uncomfortable issues – the growing wealth gap in our society with all its consequences, the appalling health and education disparities that we continue to tolerate, our carbon footprint, abortion numbers, affluent lifestyles. And closer to home – the role of women in the church, sex abuse activities and of course the occasional radical theologian on tour. We are called to be servants of the Gospel, and I believe the way we can best serve the church is by being seekers of the truth. Our first loyalty is to the readers, to citizens. We serve the church and most fundamentally the church is the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers. At times this may feel uncomfortable, if memory serves me correctly! But in my view it is the essence of good journalism. Comforting the disturbed How do we comfort the disturbed? By telling the truth: the truth of the good news about God’s grace and compassion and what astounding things are possible when we are weak and vulnerable and have nothing left but God. We show this through our news selection and our feature stories, through our reflections and comment pieces, through our interviews with the true heroes among us; by giving voice to the weak and the vulnerable; by telling their stories. This gives the paper coherence and authenticity. It makes it Catholic. We comfort the disturbed by not buying into a dream, by not genuflecting before power and prestige, by being a countercultural voice, a Gospel voice – full of surprises and instinctively on the side of the underdog. Have you ever read the book Tuesdays with Morrie, the record of a series of bedside meetings between a professor and his former student? Morrie, the professor, is dying and the student comes to visit him each Tuesday to absorb his wisdom about living and ageing. Always believe the words of a dying man. Morrie has this to say: “The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they are doing things they think are important. This is because they are choosing wrong things. The mantra goes: more is good, more is good. More things. More property. More of everything. We’ve got a form of brainwashing going on. People are so hungry for love, they are accepting substitutes. They are embracing material things and expecting a sort of hug back. But it never works. The average person is so fogged up by all this. And what is Morrie’s answer? You’ve got to build your own little subculture. Obey the little things e.g. stop at the traffic lights and it’s a good idea not to go round naked. But the big things – what we value, how we think – those you must choose yourself. You can’t let anyone, or any society, determine those things for you.	Don’t believe what the culture tells you – that money matters, that power triumphs. You have to work at creating your own culture. Invest in the human family. Invest in people. Ain’t that the truth? I expect to get a countercultural version of reality in the Catholic press. A vision of reality shaped by the Beatitudes, where the attributes of the soul matter most, where kindness is more important than cleverness, an antidote to the deadening materiality of things. “In the evening of life”, says St John of the Cross, “we shall be judged on love alone.” What greater comfort than the promise that ‘all things come together unto good for those that love God’; than the promise of the Beatitudes and God’s commitment to lift up the lowly and cast aside the proud of heart. “Pain is never permanent”, says St Teresa of Avila. “Let nothing disturb thee, let nothing dismay thee, all things pass. God never changes.” Thinking boldly I think this is one of the great missions of the Catholic press: to comfort and encourage with big bold thoughts. And we do it by practising our craft in a Catholic context with all that theology of the cross behind us. This is a message that so many people need to hear. Robert Bly, America writer and sage, says the major emotions in the competitive workplace are “anxiety, tension, loneliness, rivalry and fear.” Another American writer Studs Terkel has this to say: “I think that most of us are looking for a calling, not a job. Most of us have jobs that are too small for our spirit. Jobs are not big enough for people.” Big bold thoughts tell us that there is more to life than getting ahead, about how our highest destiny is to serve rather than to rule, (that was Einstein and he was a smart guy!) about how the best things in life are free. These are crazy thoughts in our culture. I don’t think however that the role of the Catholic press should be just a matter of spiritual consolation. I get worried when I read a Catholic paper and it is full of church activities and official happenings, with little or no reference to the church’s mission or the social realities that are diminishing people: substandard housing, poor health, inadequate wages, under-achievement in education, repressive immigration practices. Comforting the disturbed also means taking up the cudgels on these issues wherever it may lead us, being willing to risk and explore. I don’t think we always have to be right. We are not there to make ex cathedra statements. Many issues are very complex, and we write under deadline pressures with incomplete information. But it is our duty to be part of the public debate. Disturbing the comfortable Telling the truth will at times mean disturbing the comfortable. Who are the comfortable? Our political masters, policy makers, people of power and influence in society, people of wealth and opinion, church administrators, middle-class congregations, ourselves. None of you can be my disciples unless you give up all your possessions (Lk. 14,33) The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried. (GK Chesterton) We need to be shocked out of our complacency by putting the Christian ideal before ourselves and our readers again and again. The terrible temptation is to turn Christianity into a comfortable middle-class club, full of well-intentioned people who enjoy each other’s company. But the Gospel of Jesus is demanding, particularly for those in authority – civic and church. It is a demanding, difficult road so why should we not be disturbed by it? A duty to inspire! It is inspiration more than anything else that will sustain us. What we crave, especially as we get older, is spiritual and emotional regeneration. Enter the poet, the artist, the prophet, the thinker, the holy men and women. This is a great opportunity for the Catholic press. So many treasures to share – yet who knows about them, who knows about the mystics and saints and the rich theology that is our inheritance? One role for the Catholic press then is to cultivate the inner life, to help cultivate wonder and gratitude. Catholic devotional life has changed an awful lot since yesteryear. We urgently need to address the fact that today in the church there are generations of Catholics who are lost spiritually, who do not know how to pray nor where to go to find out. Spiritual reflections are not some soft, feel-good extra. They go to the heart of the matter of what it means to live a Christian life. Christianity is about the love of God in our lives, lavished on us. It’s about God pitching his tent among us and never moving it. Our faith is this big vivid thing we share: a gift and a struggle, a crown and a cross, a journey and a destination. What an exciting field for journalistic practice! ? Michael is a former editor of Zealandia newspaper and New Zealandia magazine.

Freedom of the Catholic press Dennis Horton Freedom, in the Christian sense, is always more about freedom for than freedom from. Ideally the freedom of the Catholic editor lies not so much in being free from imposed constraints or forbidden topics as being free to keep the dialogue going – within the community of faith, between the church and the world and – increasingly – between members of different faiths and religious traditions. As Hans Kung has so famously written: No peace among the nations without peace among the religions. No peace among the religions without dialogue between the religions.	In Paul’s ecclesiology, not all are apostles; some are prophets, others are pastors and teachers; all help to build up the body of Christ. In our own church, the magisterium teaches with authority, but to be authentic it needs to hear what the prophets are saying and to read the signs of the times. A Catholic editor is in a unique position to keep teachers and prophets in touch, to remind all of us of questions that cry for answers, of the elephant in the room which church leaders especially have difficulty in seeing. There is a sense in which a Catholic editor is called to be part of a loyal opposition – helping those at the centre to be aware of those who work with courage to break new ground at the edges. Because it’s there that God’s transforming love is most likely to be at work. Dennis Horton is a former editor of Zealandia newspaper

To comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable:

the role of the Catholic press Excerpts from a paper Michael Fitzsimons delivered at the Australasian Catholic Press Association conference in Auckland, in October 2007.

Freedom of the Catholic press

Dennis Horton

the role of the Catholic press

Excerpts from a paper Michael Fitzsimons delivered at the Australasian Catholic Press Association conference in Auckland, in October 2007.