The Catholic Times is dead, requiescat in pace

From the editor

The Catholic Times will be replaced by a magazine called  Catholic Life. Produced in  partnership with the Diocese  of Lansing (Mich.), it is believed that an attractive and  well-produced magazine will  have a readability that newspapers don’t. And, in keeping  with the times, Catholic Life  will be heavily augmented  by electronic media, such as  email, and social media: Facebook, Twitter and websites.

Bishop Callahan, in his  “Bishop’s Corner” published in the Oct. 1 issue of The Catholic Times, said that members  of the diocese do not need to  subscribe, “your registration  at your parish will guarantee  that you will receive the new  magazine, even if you do not  currently subscribe to the  newspaper.”

It is common knowledge  that experiencing change  can be difficult. Rather than  mourn the loss of the paper, is  it not better to embrace Catholic Life and its associated  electronic and social media?

Also in full:

Fostering the Truth and the Word in the truth of words
A look back at the Catholic Times
By Joseph O'Brien
Staff Writer

The towering oak and maple trees outside my window have been all but stripped bare; a leaden sky hangs low over La Crosse this early evening as it rains intermittently.

La Crosse diocesan newspaper "The Catholic Times" to disband in October

Although there's been no official announcement, The Catholic Times is shutting its doors in November.  Hey, we're a blog here so we post what we know.  I haven't seen the official announcement but it's been in the plan for some time.

Franz posts his thoughts here:

To be fair, the Diocese of La Crosse is not abandoning print evangelization entirely. The plan is to publish a monthly/semi-monthly magazine called Catholic Life, which will be mailed to all registered households. I'm actually excited by the potential of the glossy magazine as a journalistic template. But with the transition, La Crosse is abandoning its proud history of independent, local journalism.

I was talking with a friend, and we were listing some of the papers which appear to be working quite well, The Catholic Key - Kansas City, The Catholic Spirit - St. Paul & Minn., The Compass - Green Bay.  You have to think a web presence or a digital consumption model is necessary to be successful in the modern media age.

Franz also says "It's sad to see the Church shrink and contract rather than grow and expand."  Certainly true, but maybe it just means it's up to the laity to create something new and independent to fill this void.   The trick is to find the business model to make it work, even secular newspapers have felt the crunch.