Megan Peterson, our award-winning multimedia editor and I were able to attend the Catholic Media Conference for the United States and Canada put on annually by the Catholic Media Association. I am happy to report that we did not come home empty handed. Our Office of Communication again was the happy recipient of national awards. (Read more about this on page 11)
Not only is the Catholic Media Conference a place where awards for excellence in Catholic media and journalism are given, it is a time for continuing education for Catholic journalists. It is a time of making connections with other diocesan professionals across the country, a time to make connections with vendors who make our jobs easier, on budget and more successful, along with sprouting new ideas and
new friendships.
This year Megan was the recipient of a full scholarship to the conference, and it was her first time attending in person. Heretofore she has attended virtually when it was offered. I was excited to have her connect with over 125 other first-time attendees at the conference.
And something our readers may not know is that there is no member of The Observer or El Observador staff who has not earned an award from the Catholic Media Association — that includes our freelancers Lynne Conner and Patricia Szpekowski, and Bishop David Malloy who has received awards for his column, his ordination supplement and for his Top of the Morning messages! I share this because it illustrates the quality we work to maintain in all that we write and design. We remain committed to bringing our readers the best we can deliver as we fulfill the mission to bring the Catholic faith to your home and into your hearts.
Something else you may not know … many of our staff, both past and present, have been active in the Catholic Media Association, which was once two organizations — the Catholic Press Association and the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals.
Dr. Owen Phelps, my predecessor, was very active in the Catholic Academy and was honored with its highest award. Now retired multi-media editor Sharon Boehlefeld is active on the CMA awards committee still today. As for me, I served several terms on the board of directors and went on to become vice-president then president. Both during and since my term there have been many, many great changes in the association. One in particular I want to share with readers and parishes. Parish communication experts and editors of parish newsletters and magazines are now joining the association. I was so happy to meet some of these folks during our recent meeting.
This new population of our membership indicates that parishes value professionalism, forward thinking and seek to make their parishes excellent heralds of the Good News of our Catholic faith and of Christ Himself.
In this context, I am issuing an invitation for parish communicators of this diocese to consider membership. It would be wonderful to see our diocesan parishes share their best practices with others across the country and to learn new and affordable ways of communicating their parish information and that of the Church itself.
Something else you may not know … we talked a lot about Artificial Intelligence and Pope Leo XIV’s recent document on the subject, ‘Magnifica humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.’ And I want to assure all of our readers that all of the content provided to you in The Observer and El Observador is created by humans.
And all of us humans here at The Observer and El Observador are very honored to continue to learn for you, to create solid, truthful and trustworthy content for you and the Church we all seek to serve.
Thank you for your support, readership and for providing all these opportunities for communicating the Good News.
And now you know.
