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Through modern
technology, we have grown accustomed to instant information. Through the
touch of a keyboard or the flick of a channel, we have 24-hour access to
news about politics, weather, stocks, sports, religion, and even the
personal lives of people in the news.
The secular media
carries some news about our faith and about the Church. But how often and
what kind of news is featured? Our faith must be primarily concerned about
our relationship with Jesus and His desire for us to live our faith in
community, in the Church.
We develop our
relationship with the Lord through prayer, faithful reading of the
Scriptures, and very regular participation at Sunday
Mass.
We also learn about Jesus’ Gospel values and about the Church He established
through homilies at Mass, religious education classes, and adult formation
programs.
One other very
valuable tool for learning about our Catholic faith and its ongoing mission
in our diocese and throughout the world is the Northwest Indiana Catholic.
For more than 20 years, the Northwest Indiana Catholic has provided readers
with articles intended to enrich our faith and news of important Catholic
activities at the parish, diocesan, and international level reported
professionally and in depth.
Each week the
Northwest Indiana Catholic contains news, photos, and columns that help us
appreciate the depth of God’s love for us and examples of how our brothers
and sisters in the faith respond to God’s love and share it with others,
especially those in need.
Our diocesan
newspaper has taken readers from moving stories of our priests and deacons
at Indiana State Prison’s death row and St. Dismas Catholic faith community
to the farm fields of
LaPorte County, where
farmers rely on faith as well as a good harvest. It has helped us come to
know Indiana’s first canonized saint, St. Theodora Guerin, and has inspired
us with volunteers from our parishes who have served in Appalachia, New
Orleans, Iowa, and our own local parishioners who have struggled to re-build
after damaging storms and flooding.
The Northwest
Indiana Catholic uses modern technology to spread the good news about our
Catholic faith. Since 2004, its Web site,
www.nwicatholic.com,
supplements the print edition and provides additional information for
families, including movie and book reviews and a study guide for religious
education students with questions based on stories from that particular
week’s edition.
I have written
770 columns for this newspaper because these columns afford me an
opportunity, as your bishop, to communicate with you about our treasured
faith in the Lord Jesus, the challenges of discipleship, and the way to
develop a greater love for the Church which Jesus founded as He breathed His
last upon the cross.
February is
Catholic Press Month – a time to renew your subscription to our diocesan
newspaper. Please renew your subscription. If you know someone who cannot
afford the paper but would like to receive it, please consider a gift
subscription. If you are not a subscriber or your subscription has lapsed,
please consider rejoining our community of believers who deepen their faith
through the Northwest Indiana Catholic. |