By Verghese V Joseph –
The world of lay Catholic journalism will soon lose another star.
When curtains fall on the New York and Washington DC bureaus of the century-old Catholic News Service (CNS) at the end of the year, it is akin to severing an umbilical cord connecting and uniting Catholics not only in the US but also throughout the world.
Effective January 1, 2023, CNS will cease to charge clients for its coverage. It will make its Rome coverage available to all U.S. dioceses at no charge starting in 2023. Thank God for small mercies!
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) had announced to staff May 4 a dramatic reorganization of its communications department, including the closure of the Washington and New York offices of CNS.
As the world grapples with the fallout of the post-COVID-19 pandemic, the community in the US and elsewhere will be bereft of good Catholic content. This will subsequently lead to ceding ground to unverified content being passed around in today’s digital age. In effect, it’s a blow to lay Catholic journalism. Period!
There’s an unsavory battle brewing in the digital Catholic space. At a time when there’s an urgent need for an earnest digital push, pulling the shutters down on CNS is no way to fight the battle in the digital space. When good and credible Catholic content was just about making its tangible presence in the digital space, this act of one-steps forward, two-step backward act is detrimental to the growth of Catholic journalism across the world. Of course, other media outlets will step into that space, but their credibility and integrity will be always suspect.
CNS closure follows a string of closures of other US-based Catholic publications due to pressures on their financial viability and other factors. It is difficult to imagine how the US Catholic community will be served, going forward.
USCCB Publishing, which holds the rights to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the U.S. Adult Catechism, and many other books, will cease its publishing operations at the end of 2022. It was left to James Rogers, the chief communications officer of the conference, to break the news to the CNS team, sadly without any prior consultation or discussion with them.
To its credit, over the years, CNS did a remarkable job at providing great Catholic content to the local, national, and international Catholic press.
Incidentally, it was only last year that in a meeting with the Rome bureau staff, Pope Francis told them that “over these past hundred years, Catholic News Service has provided an invaluable contribution to the English-speaking world through its coverage of the church’s mission of proclaiming the Gospel and witnessing to the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ.”
As the clock starts ticking for CNS, one hopes wisdom will prevail upon the powers-that-be to keep it afloat because one just can’t put a price to the value CNS brings to the table and in its columns.
Well, it’s time to talk about real synodality!
Thank you for sharing this. Your solidarity means a great deal in this difficult time. And, yes, the Catholic journalists in North America are actively engaged in trying to find a way forward. The Church’s voice for the poor and the marginalized is need now more than ever.