Notre Dame Scouts crèche blessing
December 31, 2017
Remain in Christ, turn tests into testimonies
December 31, 2017

Catholic News – 125 years

FLASHBACK: Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Nicola Girasoli addresses the congregation at a May 6 Mass to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Catholic News.

The Catholic News celebrated its 125th anniversary this year on May 6 and to commemorate this milestone Catholic Media Services Ltd (CAMSEL) hosted a series of activities, including a Mass on the anniversary date.

On July 17 Catholic News Digital Archive launched a redesigned Catholic News website. The National Archive partnered with the Catholic News to conserve and digitise 125 years of news. In a July 23 report on the launch, Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Nicola Girasoli said the project was “an important source of documentation of the life and history” of Catholic and Christian communities in Trinidad and Tobago. Archbishop Harris emphasised that it was extremely important for the Church and nation to preserve its history in digital form. He described the Catholic News as the “best weekly”. CAMSEL’s General Manager Lucille Nathu said the archive was a “historical resource of the Church” providing easy access to the general public and researchers in particular.

She said the Catholic News “embraced the global technological age, to remain relevant and reach more people through digitisation”.

The pursuit of Truth in the Age of Fake News was the title of a symposium hosted at the St Dominic’s Pastoral Centre, Diego Martin on November 17. The keynote speaker was John L Allen Jnr, editor of the online news site Crux and senior Vatican analyst CNN. Allen challenged Catholic media practitioners to learn from the examples and “communications lessons” of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, St Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis. Although there are market pressures for media practitioners, truth should not be sacrificed. Allen said if media practitioners lost credibility “we have nothing”. Professor Emerita Bridget Brereton, Bishop Clyde Harvey, CAMSEL Digital Media Manager Tracy Chimming-Lewis also gave presentations. Panel discussions engaged the audience.

In 2017 the paper carried profiles of staff and contributors to the Catholic News, vendors and others as well as articles based on research from the archdiocesan archive.