From the President: Messengers of hope

In America’s offices in New York, we have on the wall photos of the first editorial board of the Jesuit magazine. In these photos, 12 unsmiling men gazing down on us as we pass by. Sometimes I think they were placed there to intimidate the staff into staying focused. (None of us want the ghost of John Wynne, S.J., America’s first editor, haunting the office if we procrastinate on our proofreading.)

But I suspect the main reason these photos are on the wall is that they remind us that the work we do today builds on the achievements of our predecessors over the past 116 years. And their work of course built on the work of those who came before them.

America is not unique in this. All of us as Catholic journalists are inspired and encouraged by the efforts of the saints and sinners of our universal church, each of whom in his or her own imperfect way, have tried to build up the Kingdom of God through deeds and, especially in our case, words. Our work today marries the work of our predecessors with our present reality. 

And sometimes the present reality repeats the past. The Catholic press in the United States was pioneered by immigrants seeking a voice in an era of nativism. This included Bishop John England, an Irish immigrant who founded the first diocesan newspaper, the Catholic Miscellany, in Charleston, S.C., in 1822. 

Today, Catholic communicators are again uniquely positioned to raise up the voices and experience of immigrants. This was evident at this year’s Catholic Media Conference in Phoenix. An excellent panel discussion touched on the many challenges surrounding immigration and the stories we tell about it in the United States today. Moderated by my America colleague, J.D. Long-Garcia in conversation with Hilary Chester of JRS/USA, Sister Tracey Horan of the Kino Border Initiative, and Joe Rubio of the Industrial Areas Foundation West/Southwest Region, attendees at the conference heard about the very real dangers many migrants and refugees face today, as well as the dangers of reporting on these issues. But there were also small moments of hope, not least of which was the simple knowledge that Catholics were working on multiple fronts on behalf of migrants of all backgrounds, seemingly against all odds. It was this feeling that Pope Leo XIV highlighted in his message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees this year:

In a world darkened by war and injustice, even when all seems lost, migrants and refugees stand as messengers of hope. Their courage and tenacity bear heroic testimony to a faith that sees beyond what our eyes can see and gives them the strength to defy death on the various contemporary migration routes.

We as Catholic communicators must demonstrate a fraction of this tenacity, and we too bear a responsibility to take on this mantle of “messengers of hope.” During his May 12 address to members of the media, Pope Leo XIV named a way forward:

We are living in times that are both difficult to navigate and to recount. They present a challenge for all of us but it is one that we should not run away from. On the contrary, they demand that each one of us, in our different roles and services, never give in to mediocrity. The Church must face the challenges posed by the times. In the same way, communication and journalism do not exist outside of time and history. Saint Augustine reminds of this when he said, “Let us live well and the times will be good. We are the times” (Discourse 80.8).

In these challenging times, may we strive for excellence in the name of our faith. And may our work lay a strong foundation for the times to come.

Share your thoughts

I am eager to hear from you about your experience reporting and writing about immigration issues in our current political era. I am also eager to hear suggestions for how to best preserve CMA’s own institutional history. Email me at weber@americamedia.org.