Dear Readers,
“How did you end up in Richmond?”
I’ve been asked that question multiple times since I arrived here in August 2017. Although I haven’t worn a cheesehead in more than a decade, my last name and the hints of “Yooper” in my speech are indications that I’m not a native Virginian.
The short answer is I was an unemployed Catholic communicator, and the Diocese of Richmond needed an editor for The Catholic Virginian.
Then there’s the 46-plus-year version which included cobbling together an undergraduate degree heavy on broadcasting, theology and journalism courses because I sensed I had a vocation, a calling, to serve the Church in communications. I didn’t know how or where, but I related to what God spoke through the prophet Joel: “Your old men will have dreams, your young men will see visions” (2:28). I was the latter, enthused about using radio and TV to spread the Good News.
Believing God calls us to where we’re supposed to be, Ruth, my wife of three months, and I left Wisconsin for South Dakota, where eventually I became the communications director and newspaper editor for the Diocese of Rapid City, a mission diocese covering 43,000 square miles. I was blessed to be mentored by a dedicated priest wise in the ways of the Church and by media professionals who patiently taught me how to make my vision a reality — particularly how to use radio advertising as a means of evangelization.
After 10 years, we — which now included five children — answered the call to serve in the Diocese of Gary, Indiana. The bishop entrusted me with starting a new publication. It took several years, but with a stewardship-based approach and dedicated, talented staff, we published a paper that people enjoyed reading and which was also self-supporting.
I also served as communications director, building relationships with local media where there had been none. Our willingness to return calls and to cooperate with reporters and editors in developing their stories resulted in extensive coverage of the diocese.
Eighteen years after arriving in Gary, we received another call. This time it was to be general manager of the Milwaukee Catholic Herald — the paper with which I grew up. Because the paper received no financial support or promotional help from the archdiocese and its parishes, it struggled to build a readership and to pay its bills. My daily prayer became, “Cast your burden upon the Lord and he will sustain you” (Ps 55:22).
In January 2017, without warning, my position was eliminated due to a reorganization. My nearly 41-year ministry in Catholic media had come to an end. However, one evening in March, as I wandered through a variety of online job searches, I landed on www.Catholicjobs.com. Scrolling through the listings, I came across one for “Editor, Diocese of Richmond, VA.”
Reminding myself that God calls us to where we’re supposed to be, I asked my wife, “Should I apply?”
“Why not?” she replied.
The diocese contacted me in June, interviewed me twice in July and offered the position. It was decision time.
The day after receiving the offer, we were flying home from Washington. Waiting in the Atlanta airport, Ruth and I continued the discussion we’d been having: Is this really a call? Couldn’t I just keep the job I have unloading freight at Kohl’s? What about the interview I have scheduled with Goodwill?
“I need to take a walk,” I told Ruth.
A couple of minutes later, making my way through the ever-present Hartsfield-Jackson airport crowd, I saw a woman walking quickly in the opposite direction wearing a red T-shirt with white script lettering. It read: “Thy will be done.”
I turned around, went back to the boarding area, told Ruth what I had seen, and said, “We’re going to Richmond.” She agreed.
This will be the last time my name appears in The Catholic Virginian masthead. After 46 years, six bishops and four dioceses, God has called us to retirement. The path from young man seeing visions to old man dreaming dreams has been an exciting journey filled with a multitude of blessings. I thank God for the opportunities, and I hope in eternal life he will judge me as having been a good steward of what he has given me.
I am grateful that the Diocese of Richmond provided me with the chance to be part of its evolving communications ministry. It can continue to grow with the help of young people seeing visions of what Catholic communications should be.
I’ve enjoyed getting to know many of you through phone calls, letters, emails and meetings. I’m glad you cared enough about the Church and our ministry to contact us. Credit goes to our bishop/publisher for seeing the value of a printed product in every Catholic home, and to my co-workers, correspondents, photographers and columnists who provide The Catholic Virginian with its personality.
And Ruth? Thanks for always agreeing to go where God called us to be.
