Why the National Catholic Reporter's history matters to everyone

Before I tell you about this incredible new book that recounts the history of The National Catholic Reporter, I feel a need to disclose my several connections to this courageous and resourceful publication.

I wrote a monthly column for NCR's online edition for most of a decade. Today I continue to write occasional book reviews for NCR. Beyond that, I know lots of people who have led this progressive publication and I consider the author of the new book about it a friend. You'll even find one mention of me in the index. Beyond all that, the book's publisher is Front Edge Publishing, the same firm that published my last book.

So you may think I have a conflict of interest in telling you about this new book, National Catholic Reporter: Beacon of Justice, Community and Hope, by Lawrence B. Guillot. But I think my NCR experience adds depth to what I'm about to tell you. And I think that the story Larry Guillot tells is one that reaches well beyond American or world Catholicism.

That's because it's a story about people who believed in the idea that independent journalism is vital in all fields, but especially so when it comes to faith communities whose leaders would prefer to tell their story in a way that those leaders control. (Imagine a newspaper that covers Congress staffed by members of Congress.)

The truth is that NCR has been holding the Catholic Church's feet to the fire since the paper began in 1964 as an outgrowth of a diocesan publication. For instance, NCR was writing detailed stories about priests abusing children and the bishops who protected them years and years before the Boston Globe's "Spotlight" team made that horrendous story much more broadly known.

So in many ways this is a book about doing the right thing against considerable odds. At one point near the end of the book, Guillot offers this one-paragraph summary of NCR's life, leadership and its financial struggles to survive:

"The corporation was born with a (nearly) identical older sibling and had a typical period of early growth (the 1960s), then experienced teen dilemmas of purpose and identity (early '70s). This was followed by periodic financial uncertainty, but it settled down, stabilized and expanded its services dramatically ('80s). It initially prospered but then found itself overextended and in a financial bind as it was trying to expand simultaneously in two directions. It was heavily invested in both but also needed additional resources for both (late '90s) and began rebuilding in an industry having a revolution in technology. Slowly and patiently, it learned the new technology and probed the changed environment in the new millennium. It experienced some unexpected adversity in leadership, but regrouped and restabilized the operation by changing the business model over a decade, becoming more dependent on the philanthropy of the community being reformed around its mission and values. Happily, the venture was consistently recognized for excellence in content, and regarded as a leader of the progressive side in an environment engulfed by a cultural divide."

All of that summary is fleshed out in remarkable detail in more than 700 pages. And, in the independent spirit of NCR itself, Guillot was given the freedom to shape this story the way he thought best.

From its start, NCR, which is based here in Kansas City, has been a fan of the many ecclesiastical reforms that were coming out of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. As Guillot notes, "NCR with its commitment to the spirit of the Vatican II reforms and unhindered by clerical censorship, was acknowledged by commentators on the religious scene to have changed the way the Catholic press and even some of the secular press handled religion news."

In many ways, Pope Francis has dedicated his papacy to completing the reforms that Vatican II launched but that popes between the end of the council and the election of Francis tried to stall in various ways. 

NCR's future is not guaranteed, which is also true of many newspapers around the country that have struggled through this period that is so strongly influenced by the internet and digital publication. But the NCR story is, nonetheless, timeless in the sense that people with good motives and a commitment to free expression of ideas so far have succeeded in producing independent journalism that matters.

May others learn from these scrappy Catholics and make a similar commitment to truth in fields of their own.

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THE MOVE TOWARD EQUAL JUSTICE GROWS

Besides NCR, another faith-based organization interested in justice for all is Equal Justice USA. And as this Good Faith Media story notes, EJUSA is expanding its work "into four new communities to build new restorative justice initiatives." The new organizations joining the “Restorative Justice Diversion Roots Cohort” can be found in the South and Midwest in such locations as Hinds County, Mississippi; Richmond, Virginia; Oakland County, Michigan, and Pulaski County, Arkansas. I've been acquainted with EJUSA because of its good work to abolish the death penalty in the U.S.

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P.S.: I recently wrote here on the blog about a "Guns to Gardens" event at a KC church, the purpose of which was to get guns off the streets and turn them into garden tools. As this KCTV-5 report notes, the event took "more than 70 guns off" the streets. Larger solutions start with small steps. So good for Central Presbyterian Church.