Inside
NCR Is
bishop ubiquitous in your Catholic paper?
Among the many Jesuit institutions
of academic excellence, Rockhurst College in Kansas City, Mo., though not the
best known, has a distinguished history and projects a gracious presence in
this part of the Midwest.
You can tell something about a college from those it chooses for
annual honors. This year, on May 18, Rockhurst conferred a doctorate of humane
letters, honoris causa, on recently retired NCR publisher William L.
McSweeney, as well as a doctorate of fine arts, honoris causa, on
William McGlaughlin, director of the Kansas City Symphony.
Earlier recipients of honorary doctorates at Rockhurst include
Cardinal Francis Spellman (1953), John F. Kennedy (1956) and artist Thomas Hart
Benton (1969).
At NCR, in the Catholic community and in numerous local
groups, the citation said, Dr. McSweeney "has been a person for others ...
committed to the service of justice, especially justice for the poor and
oppressed."
We at NCR join with Rockhurst in saluting McSweeney, sixth
publisher in NCR history, who, on coming into office, welcomed "the
opportunity ... for NCR to be even more of a force in helping determine
the direction of the church in the pivotal decade ahead."
Spoken like a doctor of the church.
Last week, on this page, we
mentioned the Penny Lernoux Award, offered by the University of Southern
California. This provoked a response from John Allen in California. While
teaching at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, he persuaded the
authorities to offer an award for journalism. They asked what he wanted to call
it. The Penny Lernoux Award, he told them, and so it was and is. Last year the
winner was Kathy Wang, editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, The
Knight.
Penny, still prophetic, still making her mark.
We were supposed to stay
interactive, remember? Some of you are doing better than others -- though you
would probably say the same about me.
Here's something. Over the years people have suggested that
NCR should conduct a survey or competition to determine which U.S.
diocesan newspaper carries the most photos of its local (arch)bishop in a
single issue.
Lest anyone say this is a trivial pursuit, think again. Such
statistics could tell us a lot about the quality of Catholic journalism. If
your paper has, say, half-a-dozen pictures of the bishop, on average -- there's
nothing wrong with it. It's just a different kind of journalism, that's
all.
The survey would say even more about the (arch)bishop. The man who
regularly wishes (and make no mistake, if it's in there he wishes it) for
half-a-dozen pictures -- well, even then you can't be sure: It might mean he
was the busiest and most interesting person in the diocese by far.
Episcopal head counts, by the way, should not include those
special supplements that bring in a lot of ads when new bishops come in or old
bishops go out.
And spare a thought for the editors and other workers in the
trenches who in most cases are doing the best they can.
-- Michael Farrell
National Catholic Reporter, May 30,
1997
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