As a former pastor of three parishes, I know first hand that change is inevitable. Each time I was transferred, I stepped into the shoes of the pastor before me, yet I did not always walk in those shoes. I had my own and I made my own path. As a result, this change from one pastor to another results in the parish having to adapt. Some parishioners liked the changes I made and told me so. Others did not and told the bishop. Still others were willing to give me time and see what the end result of these changes would be. It was my experience that, with time and patience, both the parish and I adjusted to each other, and I would like to think that I left each parish better than how I found it.
“The Catholic Spirit,” this past year has been full of staff changes. In March, we lost our advertising representative Nan Kubian, who had been with the paper for 23 years. It was Nan who brought in much revenue by reaching out to pastors, school principals and privately owned businesses asking them to take ads and thereby support “The Catholic Spirit.” Since Nan’s retirement, we only have a part-time advertising representative, Tiffany Workman. Tiffany is doing a great job but it’s not her only job. She also works for the diocesan Office of Communications and is the person who keeps us abreast about the great work of Catholic Charities.
In April, after 28 years, Judy Leviton retired. Judy was the business manager since the inception of “The Catholic Spirit” under then Bishop Edward T. Hughes, the second bishop of Metuchen. Judy’s acuity was seen not only in her ability to develop the yearly budget and keep track of both expenditures and requisitions, she also was gifted at assisting other staff members with layouts and ads. It was Judy who led the effort to compose and publish the diocesan directory, and one year it even received an award from the Catholic Media Association. Her vacancy has been filled by Ann Pilato, who comes to us with a wealth of experience, including three years with “The Monitor,” the Catholic newspaper of the Diocese of Trenton.
In October, our graphic designer, Jill Gray, left to take another position which allowed her to work remotely from home and thereby permitted her to be with her young sons fulltime. Jill was with the paper for 10 years and had a knack for all things “computer.” In her stead, Peter Nguyen has been doing a terrific job with “The Catholic Spirit” and has a style of his own.
At the end of the calendar year, Chris Donahue, the paper’s associate editor since 2013, decided to retire. For all intents and purposes, Chris could have been called editor-in-chief during my tenure as managing editor. His professional experience as well as his degree in journalism from the University of Delaware has transformed “The Catholic Spirit” into an award-winning paper. Over the years, Chris has received several awards from the Catholic Media Association for articles that he has written for us and this recognition has certainly endowed “The Catholic Spirit” with a reputation for being an effective vehicle of evangelization and communication not only in New Jersey but, through the lens of The Catholic News Service, nationwide. While Chris retired in the beginning of January, he has agreed to stay on staff for three months until an editor-in-chief can take the helm. This act of self-donation by Donahue has allowed us who work for the paper to have a sense of continuity and congruity.
So far, I have spoken about people who have left the paper and have been replaced by others. Well, we also are blessed to have a new associate publisher, Adam Carlisle, who joined the Diocese of Metuchen in September as the Secretary of the Secretariat of Evangelization and Communication. Since his arrival, Adam has been very involved in the life of “The Catholic Spirit.” Carlisle has endeavored to make a good paper even better. His background in education and theology have certainly been responsible for his perspicacity in improving the quality of articles as well as graphics and outreach in interfacing with other departments of the bishop’s curia.
I would be remiss if I did not mention my predecessor, Joanne Ward, who, technically, retired in 2017, but truthfully has been not only a mentor to me but an advisor to the paper and an active editor as she edits the articles and assists with both layout and production of “The Catholic Spirit.” While she is only paid for seven hours per week, Joanne has donated much of her time as a service to the Church and to the paper she loves. I am deeply indebted to Joanne’s steadfast presence and all that she has taught me about journalism. I succeeded Joanne in 2017 as advisor and later as managing editor. I have been responsible for the day to day operations of the paper and overseeing the work of the staff. It is a position that has taught me much about collegiality, collaboration, and the importance of faith in the workplace.
All of the aforementioned changes have resulted in a newspaper that looks similar to the past yet different. Some of the changes have been well received and others have required growing pains on the part of the staff, myself included. Still, “The Catholic Spirit” continues to appear in your homes and the back of the churches month after month. I believe it is and has been an excellent source of knowledge, evangelization and a means of educating the Catholics who comprise the four counties of our diocese about what is happening both here at the diocesan center and in parishes, schools and facilities under the watchful eye of Bishop James F. Checchio, Bishop of Metuchen, without whose support “The Catholic Spirit” would not exist.
February is Catholic Press Month. On behalf of those staff members who left and those who replaced them, I wish to thank each and every one of you for supporting “The Catholic Spirit.” Your subscriptions and feedback have continued to fuel the enthusiasm of the staff who endeavor to bring you the news, both international, national and here in the Diocese of Metuchen. It is my hope that despite the changes you have noticed, both in staff names in the masthead, and in the content of the paper, you will continue to support our efforts to publish and distribute a medium of evangelization, communication and education that will make you proud and a little wiser. May God reward your past support and may his grace propel you to affirm the work of countless individuals who seek to deliver quality journalism and a publication that yields a response of faith and maybe even a smile.