While the print newspaper is the last of 100 years of Catholic publications owned and operated by Bishops of Auckland, it will return.

At least that's the current plan says Auckland's Catholic bishop, Steve Lowe.

It'll be a 21st century digital paper, with Lowe expecting the first edition before the end of the year.

For a nostalgic look back at past editions, follow this link

A print era, that is.

Print edition will be missed

"I liked the NZ Catholic because I could catch up with current news about Catholic NZ ... seminarians, Vinnies, ordinations, school successes, photos and so on. They aren't in mainstream media" Mary told CathNews.

"I hope the new publication will cover the range of news."

"I loved the letters" said Veronica.

These points are backed up by former editor Pat McCarthy who regrets the loss of NZ Catholic.

NZ Catholic was the only consistent source of national news coverage for Catholics. It recorded events, issues, opinions and the highs and lows of Catholic life.

McCarthy is concerned that a potential news vacuum will encourage further fragmentation of the Church

He said NZ Catholic's quality was recognised by over 100 awards from its peers in the Australasian Catholic and interdenominational press.

Communication builds community

McCarthy told CathNews that his understanding of Catholic media's importance developed while he was managing editor.

He elaborated - "Communities come into existence through communication, and the Catholic Church needs Catholic media to hold it together."

David McLoughlin expressed concern. He is journalist who has worked in media for many years and is also a member of the Australasian Catholic Press Association.

He wrote to CathNews - "I find the diminishing and fragmentation of both Catholic and secular media of great concern.

"In a world of rapid change, I believe it is very important that as many people as possible have access to reliable, professional journalism to give them accurate and timely news and other information about what is happening locally, nationally and internationally.

"Professional, curated news can of course be found online, and there are many very good online news services including Catholic ones."

However, he told CathNews that he is worried that surveys in New Zealand and overseas indicate fewer and fewer people trust mainstream professional news services.

He finds it alarming that many people get their news from social media which he describes as "a fragmented, largely uncurated whirlpool".

"I don't think these are good developments" he said.

To allay this vacuum and social media "whirlpool" McCarthy wants to see an online national news service.

However, as well as a visionary he's also a realist.

"The institutional Church is unlikely to provide this in a time of general retrenchment. So it must be done independently - as with major Catholic media outlets in the United Kingdom, North America and Europe.

"Such a service will never pay its way. News is not a commodity but a public good, something essential for a community's life, and its value is not related to whether or not it makes a profit."

McCarthy says he has circulated a proposal for establishing such a service and that expressions of interest have come from around the country.

He notes however that major financial backing will be necessary.

Bishop Lowe upbeat

However the publisher of NZ Catholic, Bishop Steve Lowe, is upbeat about the possibility of the new digital format.

He says the first edition could be expected before the end of the year.

"We intend developing a new monthly digital publication with enhanced use of video" he says.

"This will allow us to continue to share news, comment and reflections to inform, record and inspire our community in the Diocese of Auckland and beyond.

"This role will focus initially on producing videos that include prayer, homilies, event highlights, appeals, teaching, explaining and helping to encourage a healthy dialogue [that] our world so desperately needs."

Farewell and thank you

"At this time, it is right to give thanks for the work of the NZ Catholic staff, past and present" says Lowe.

"They have been amazing.

"They have told the stories of our Church and society. They have published the joys and the sorrows of people's lives.

"They have sincerely used the written word to point to Jesus Christ the Word.

"Thank you also to the contributors from across the country and the promoters in parishes.

"Your stories of people and communities will remain a treasure of the Church's history in New Zealand."

Possible printed version

NZ Catholic understands that people who cannot access the free digital content will be able to receive a printed version of the new digital NZ Catholic.

There is no mention of the cost.

Source

• NZ Catholic
• Interviews

The Catholic Bishop of Auckland, Steve Lowe, confirmed the 27-year old publication's closure and thanked NZ Catholic readers for their faithful support.

Subscribers are offered refunds for their prepaid subscription.

NZ Catholic's closure will bring to an end a 150-year tradition of hardcopy national Catholic news media publications.

Old stalwarts like the NZ Tablet (published by the Dunedin diocese) and the Auckland diocese's Zealandia have long closed.

New publication

NZ Catholic was launched by the Auckland diocese as a new national Catholic newspaper in 1996, after the Zealandia and NZ Tablet closed.

It immediately won the Australasian Catholic Press Association's award for the best Catholic newspaper in Australasia. Over the following 10 years, it gained more than 50 awards for excellence in content and design.

Its first website won the Australasian Religious Press Association's top online award for "reinventing the concept of a website for a print publication".

At its peak the paper had a circulation of over 7000, with six full-time staff as well as part-timers and volunteers.

Currently it has fewer than 1000 subscribers and a staff of four, not all full-timers.

Not sustainable

Lowe - the NZ Catholic publisher - says it is no longer sustainable to publish a printed paper.

A new monthly digital publication with "enhanced use of video" would be developed.

In an article for NZ Catholic's 20th anniversary, founding editor Pat McCarthy recalled that some predicted it would be a short-lived publication.

He said gloomy predictions about its future were underscored by the deep south's "Can anything good come out of Auckland?" wariness.

North-South divide

The Dunedin-based Tablet and the Auckland-based Zealandia had been negotiating a possible merger back in the mid-1990s

Talks were underway when the Tablet board decided to cease publication.

Yet the word down south was that the Tablet was forced to fold because the Aucklanders had broken off discussions.

When Auckland closed Zealandia and launched NZ Catholic, McCarthy said many influential Catholics would have agreed with archdiocesan paper Wel-com's assessment - Auckland diocese had "jumped the gun".

The NZ Catholic's first issue stoked the Dunedin-Auckland friction when its lead story reported the decision to move the national seminary, Holy Cross College, from Mosgiel to Auckland.

Dunedin Bishop Len Boyle said that was a blow worse than losing the Ranfurly Shield.

Not surprised

"I believe NZ Catholic has been on borrowed time" McCarthy told CathNews.

"But even with its reduced circulation, it has still been the only regular source of national news coverage within the Church. No one else covers many of its stories.

"The question is: What will replace it — or will Catholics in New Zealand be left without any national source of news about what is happening in their Church?

"To me the solution is to establish a comprehensive online Catholic news service to keep the Catholic community informed."

McCarthy said he could see two possibilities, but both would require a large amount of capital.

Source

• NZ Catholic

The ACPA conference saw over 50 Catholic media and communications professionals in attendance from across Australasia.

This year's conference was built on the theme 'Speaking with the Heart: The Truth in Love (Ephesians 4:15)', borrowing from Pope Francis' 2023 World Communications Day message.

Francis' message encourages Catholic media professionals to communicate with an "open heart and arms." The conference set out to enable participants to listen, speak and communicate creatively while suggesting rather than imposing their views.

New Zealanders received multiple commendations at the awards ceremony. Among them,

• Michael Otto, editor NZ Catholic, Auckland - Highly Commended in the Best Editorial Column/Blog (Pictured left)
• Anne Rose, designer, NZ Catholic, Auckland - Highly Commended Best Layout and Design, Print (Pictured middle)
• Annette Scullion, editor, WelCom, Wellington - Best Layout and Design, Print (Pictured right)
• Tui Motu magazine, Dunedin - Winner in the Best Front Page
• Geremy Hema, Tui Motu magazine, Dunedin - Winner Best Content Ecumenical and Interfaith
• Lisa Beech, The Nathaniel Report, Wellington - Winner, Best Content; Faith Formation

However the top honour, the Bishop Kennedy Award for Overall Excellence, went to the Archdiocese of Hobart's publication, The Catholic Standard.

The 12-page monthly newspaper earned glowing comments from the judges who said "The Catholic Standard eminently reflects the uniqueness and richness of the Catholic community of Australia's only island state."

The paper was applauded for its balanced coverage of local, national and international news, commentary and feature stories.

Other notable ACPA award mentions include CathNews Australia's Neil Helmore, who was awarded for the best use of digital media for his Australian Plenary Council video highlights for CathNews Australia, the Diocese of Parramatta's Catholic Outlook magazine named the 'most improved publication,' and Melbourne Catholic won for best online layout and design.

Founded in 1955, ACPA aims to foster professionalism and cooperation among Catholic press members and other religious media outlets.

The organisation strives to advance religious media's development, coverage and relevance in contemporary society.

Sources

• Supplied
• ACPA
• Catholic Outlook

The APCA awards are an opportunity for Catholic media to celebrate the outstanding contribution organisations make to the Church in Australia.

ACPA President Neil Helmore said, "Catholic media in Australia continues to strive to lift up the Church and celebrate the diversity and mission through dedicated and talented journalists, photographers and designers that make up the Catholic Press."

NZ Catholic editor Dr Michael Otto said the recognition at both the ACPA and ARPA awards shows the consistent and ongoing quality of NZ Catholic's writing, design and production.

"We were recognised as the publication of the year by ARPA last year, and these awards show the continuing high regard of our peers in Christian and Catholic media for NZ Catholic," Dr Otto said.

NZ Catholic received the awards for:

• Best Feature Content - Multiple Content Producers
• Best News Content - Multiple Content Producers
• Best Content - Climate and Environment (runner up)

The Best News Content reported on the resignation of Charles Drennan, the former Bishop of Palmerston North in 2019. The judge's noted that the coverage was sensitive and comprehensive, while also demonstrating balance and courage.

The Best Feature Content covered the episcopal ordination of Michael Gielen last year. The judge's comment praised the broad range of articles and photos that captured the occasion's joy and significance.

The Best Content was for an article by Southland correspondent Peter Owens about an "urban forest" in Lumsden.

NZ Catholic also received two awards at the Australasian Religious Press Association (ARPA) awards. These awards recognise publications from many different denominations.

The ARPA awards recognised NZ Catholic's ongoing coverage of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rowena Orejana's article on the pandemic and conspiracy theories gained a silver award for Best News Story.

A front-page by Anne Rose won a gold award for Best Cover Newspaper. The headline was "light in the darkness" over a photo of a silhouette of Pope Francis holding a candle at the Easter vigil Mass at St Peter's Basilica last year.

Other New Zealand publications to received ARPA awards were: Kete Korero (Hamilton):

• Bronze award - Best Regional Publication (Kete Korero, Hamilton)
• Silver award - Best Original Photography (Kete Korero, Hamilton)
• Bronze award - Best Feature, Multiple Authors (Tui Motu Interislands)

At the ACPA awards, Kete Korero also received runner up awards for its education coverage and artwork.

This year, the celebration was held via ZOOM after the ACPA Conference was cancelled for the second year due to COVID-19 state lockdowns.

Sources

• NZ Catholic
• Catholic Diocese of Wollongong

As the Catholic community gains an accelerated experience of digital consumption, the question becomes particularly relevant for our Catholic media. I believe it is time to launch a comprehensive online news and information service for New Zealand Catholics, accessible on a range of devices and platforms.

Worldwide, the news industry is disrupted. Catholic newspapers are closing, the trend hastened as Covid-19 halts church-door sales. It's an unavoidable fact that most Kiwis now get their news and information online.

The high point of Catholic newspaper circulation in New Zealand was in the mid-1960s when Zealandia and NZ Tablet between them each week published one paper for every 10 census Catholics.

Today NZ Catholic each fortnight prints one paper for every 170 census Catholics.

The other New Zealand-based Catholic news service is the twice-weekly CathNews New Zealand, published by Church Resources Ltd.

Primarily an online aggregator of material already published elsewhere, often by secular sources, it offers little original reporting.

NZ Catholic, published by the Bishop of Auckland, holds a valid place as our national newspaper for two strong reasons: No one else is reporting many of the stories and issues it covers, and many Catholics either still prefer print or are not online.

There are diocesan publications — WelCom, Kete Korero, Tablet and Inform — but their monthly or quarterly frequency makes news reporting difficult.

If NZ Catholic ceased publication, the Catholic community nationally would be in a "news desert" — the term used overseas for the increasingly common situation of a community bereft of local reporting.

Catholics would depend on secular news services, whose reporting of church affairs is generally superficial, and whose increasingly opinionated content is often antagonistic to the Catholic Church and its beliefs.

Catholics relying on two major secular news services, Stuff and the New Zealand Herald, would never have learnt of the appointment of Bishop Michael Gielen last January.

We can also access overseas Catholic news services, but most focus on the United States and some have a distinct conservative or liberal bias.

The Church consistently proclaims the need for Catholic media. The basic theology behind this is the understanding that a community (such as the Church) comes into existence through communication. Without that communication — top to bottom, bottom to top, and between members — a community cannot be sustained.

Catholic media are part of the glue holding the Church together. If they are lost, the Church community suffers.

The Church's key statement on Catholic media, issued nearly 50 years ago, is still relevant:

"Since the development of public opinion within the Church is essential, individual Catholics have the right to all the information they need to play their active role in the life of the Church. In practice, this means that communications media must be available for the task.

"These should not only exist in sufficient number but also reach all the People of God. Where necessary, they may even be owned by the Church as long as they truly fulfil their purpose." (Communio et Progressio, 1971)

As the last sentence suggests, the norm is for Catholic media to be owned outside the institutional Church, such as with major Catholic media outlets in the United Kingdom, North America and Europe.

Bishop Robert Barron, who founded Word on Fire media ministry in the United States, has said: "Word on Fire succeeded largely because it operated outside of the Church bureaucracy . . . . The bureaucratic element of the Church exists to serve the charismatic, but the trouble, and it happens very often in the Church, is that the charismatic element gets smothered by the bureaucratic."

The Catholic Church in New Zealand has been slow to use modern communications technology, lagging well behind our Protestant brothers and sisters. We had to go to a Protestant television channel to get Masses screened during Covid-19. (All three of our free-to-air Christian TV channels are Protestant.)

Evangelical Protestants, whose numbers are much smaller than the Catholic population, fund and operate multimillion-dollar media operations such as Rhema Media and the Christian Broadcasting Association (which produces award-winning Christian programmes for secular radio stations).

I believe an online national Catholic news and information service should be established, to reach those who do not read newspapers. It could:

• Keep online Catholics informed on what is happening in the Church and community, so they can "play their active role in the life of the Church".
• Share Catholic perspectives on issues of the day. • Show we have good news stories to share, even while we face up to issues like abuse cases.
• Build up the identity and confidence of Catholics, and counter the trend to marginalise Christianity.
• Reach youth, inactive Catholics and ethnic communities (through a translation facility) in ways that would be impossible in print.
• Such a project would require the skills of IT people (those I have consulted are enthusiastic), journalists, marketers and managers.

And it would need money. I estimate an adequately resourced news service accessed daily by thousands of Catholics would cost around $500,000 a year — roughly half the cost of a Catholic primary school with 100 students.

Seeking income by paywall would probably be counterproductive. Advertising prospects would be limited. Sponsorship would be problematic, as sponsors might feel entitled to influence content.

Endowment and donations from users would be the most promising sources of funding. The Tablet (London) offers an endowment example: It formed a charitable trust in 1976 after several wealthy backers made donations. The trust invested the money and makes annual grants to the publishing operation.

And, as Pope Francis told members of the Vatican's communications department last year, "No investment is too great for spreading the Word of God".

What I propose may seem a bold leap from a chrysalis, but it would be modest compared to what the smaller evangelical Protestant community has been doing for years. To achieve it would require the Catholic community to provide the will, the talent and the resources.

• Pat McCarthy (pictured) was founding editor of NZ Catholic. He has also worked for Zealandia and CathNews New Zealand.
• This article ran on October 18, 2020, as a feature in NZ Catholic's 600th edition.

Dr Otto has been acting editor at NZ Catholic since early July.

A former student of St Patrick's School in Panmure, in 1981 Otto was Dux of St Peter's College, Epsom, and went on to study electrical engineering at the University of Auckland, graduating with a PhD.

He worked in electrical engineering research and development for the best part of a decade and also studied for the priesthood at Holy Cross College, Mosgiel.

He earned a degree in theology from the University of Otago and won an Otago University Bookshop prize in theology.

From 2008 until 2014, Otto worked as at NZ Catholic, eventually being appointed associate editor.

He won several Australasian Catholic Press Association awards for his news reporting.

In 2014, Otto changed to freelance journalism, and also worked as a port chaplain in Auckland.

"Having lived for several years in Hawke's Bay and in the seminary at Mosgiel, I appreciate that New Zealand is much more than Auckland", Otto says.

"And I would hope that NZ Catholic's reporting will continue to reflect that."

"And just as New Zealand is not one city, so the universal Church is much broader than one country so I would hope NZ Catholic's readers will continue to receive excellent coverage of global Catholic news.

"Of course, we live in an extraordinary era in the Church under the leadership of Pope Francis, with a strong emphasis on concepts like mercy, synodality and inclusion. "

"There's plenty of debate in Catholic circles as the breadth and depth of these emphases are
further explored, and I would like that to be reflected in NZ Catholic's opinion sections."

Source

• nzcatholic.org.nz

At the Australasian Catholic Press Association (ACPA) awards held in Sydney earlier this month, NZ Catholic received a highly commended award in the best newspaper category.

An article on the altar bread market heating up, written by NZ Catholic's Rowena Orejana, won the Best Feature Story award at ACPA.

The judge noted the "quirky angle" and "clever approach" taken in the article, as well as the "surprising, interesting information" relayed.

At the Australasian Religious Press Association (ARPA) awards, also held in Sydney, NZ Catholic won silver awards for its special feature on the naming of Cardinal John Dew as a cardinal last year, and for its front cover depicting reaction to the visit of Pope Francis to the United States in 2015. Continue Reading

The citation for the award states: "This is the best local newspaper. It seeks to cover the activities of the district from a Catholic perspective and yet is accessible to those who are not part of the district, or of the Faith. However it needs to cover stories from all points of view. That said - the paper is engaging and gives a clear presentation of community views and how the Catholic community responds to local needs and issues."

There are two major ACPA Bishop Philip Kennedy Memorial Prizes. One for a Magazine, one for a Newspaper.

Wel-com has won the award for the Best Editorial.

The citation states that Cecily McNeil's editorial, "Living with the Least" which was published in February, "This well written, concise editorial made a claim about the treatment of workers in New Zealand under the John Key led government, backed it up with apt quotation, related this claim to a then current union-led Living Wage campaign, and applied the topic to Catholic social teaching as articulated in a 2010 NZ Catholic Bishops Conference statement, Working for Life.

"It integrated appropriately, some telling remarks from a couple of interestingly relevant union leaders.

"The editorial was bold enough to come to a strong conclusion underwritten by a clear moral purpose and designed unabashedly to influence its readership."

Other New Zealand Publications to receive awards were:

New Zealand Catholic
Highly Commended: Best Editoral Feature - Peter Grace

Marist Messenger
Highly Commended: Best Editorial - Brian O'Connell
Highly Commended: Best Feature Story - Brian O'Connell

Tui Motu
Winner: Best Article on Catechesis
Highly Commended: Best Original Photograph - Paul Sorrell
Highly Commended: Best Front Cover - Magazine - Donald Moorhead

Tui Motu and The Marist Messenger also each received an award from the Australiasian Religious Press Association, whose conference preceded the ACPA one.

Full list of Awards click here

Source

• Cathnews.com
• Image: Screenshot CathNews.com

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a hotel room in Perth working on my six-weekly (or so) column for NZ Catholic, the newspaper I worked at for five years until 2010. It was not long after my friend James Bergin had given a stellar performance on national television talking about the election of Pope Francis, and I'd also been observing the work of a group of young Catholics in Australia also being asked to comment on the conclave, the papal election, the choice of Pope Francis and so on.

And so I wrote this column:

Did anyone else catch James Bergin on Q&A a few weeks back, talking about the election of Pope Francis?

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, James Bergin is a good friend of mine and someone I work with on a regular basis on Church projects, so I am biased. But I thought he did an outstanding job when being interrogated by a woman who would now be considered one of New Zealand's leading interviewers.

Internationally, this phenomenon of young Catholic professionals speaking about the Church in the media is taking off. My first observation of this effort was during World Youth Day in Sydney, when a small group of young Catholics were part of the Sky News coverage of the event. Rather than having professional reporters trying to explain something they knew nothing about, young Catholics were part of the massive crowds, shared their experiences and, when necessary, explained what was happening during Mass or the Stations of the Cross. Continue reading

Sources

• Gavin Abraham in The Catholic Soapbox
• See also Pat McCarthy in CathNews NZ Pacific
• Image: Planet Blog

Gavin Abraham, a journalist for more than a dozen years, has spent most of the last six years working in Catholic media.

Australian Catholics won the Bishop Philip Kennedy Memorial prize for Magazines and Electronic Publications. Tui Motu was Highly Commended.

The Southern Cross won the Bishop Philip Kennedy Memorial prize for the best newspaper. NZ Catholic was Highly commended.

The Conference was attended by 53 journalists who work in Catholic Media in Australia and New Zealand. On Thursday, the Archbishop of Wellington, Archbishop John Dew, celebrated the Conference Mass in the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart and later presented the 2012 Awards for Excellence.

The theme of this year's conference was "Voices from the Margins: How the Catholic press can speak for the disenfranchised and marginalised people."

The Keynote speaker was Dame Claudia Orange who spoke on the Treaty of Waitangi.

Other guest speakers were well-known columnist Rosemary McLeod and Kitty McKinley (Founder Youth Charity Challenge 2000) who spoke on Marginalised Youth and the Church.

Other awards received by New Zealand publications were

Marist Messenger

• Best: Editorial - Brian O'Connell
• Best: Article on Catechesis - Mervyn Duffy
• Best: Magazine Layout and Design - Glen McCullough

Tui Motu Interislands

• Best: Ecumenical /Inter-faith Story - Danny Kettoola
• Best: Editorial Feature -Various
• Highly Commended: Social Justice Coverage - Nicky Chapman
• Highly Commended: Devotional Article Applying Faith to Life - Anonymous

NZ Catholic

• Best: News Story - Michael Otto
• Highly Commended: Newspaper Layout and Design -Peter Grace, Anne Rose