February 23, 2021 // Diocese

Navigating the faith news media — Diocesan communications team shares tips for getting the news Catholics should know

Todays Catholic

FORT WAYNE — Too much has arguably been said the last few years about news outlets, whether local, national or international, are truly informative or fair and balanced. 

No matter where a person gets their news, as Catholics the most important way to digest it is through the lens of faith. What should the reaction of a Catholic be to news and events? Which Catholic news outlets cover the news in conformity with the Church?

Today’s Catholic, the newspaper of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, is the place to go for Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades’ direction on matters of faith as they play out in the news of the world today. In honor of Catholic Press Month, a few members of the diocesan Secretariat for Communications and the curia shared the news outlets they trust the most to inform and inspire them. 

There are so many inspiring stories of individual Catholics and dioceses across the country and the world who are doing great things for Christ and His Church. I believe Catholic media has a mission to spread these good news stories so that other Catholics can benefit from the wonderful ideas and be inspired by the spiritual lives of others. It’s important for me to never stop learning, and my knowledge of the Catholic faith is bolstered by articles and columns in such outlets as Catholic News Agency and the National Catholic Register.

I get a lot of my news from Twitter, both Catholic and secular, during the week, because a Tweet is something I can read quickly to gain a general idea of what’s happening. Many bishops, dioceses, diocesan newspapers, national Catholic news outlets and even Pope Francis Tweet, and I click on their links and videos if I want to know more. To complement that I look to Catholic News Service, the wire service of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Today’s Catholic office also reviews some parish bulletins, diocesan publications and national Catholic periodicals from time to time. Along with Bishop Rhoades’ Truth in Charity podcasts on Redeemer Radio, they’re all sources of spiritual enrichment as well.

I prefer to receive the majority of my Catholic news by following specific Catholic news organizations on Facebook and Twitter. In addition to following our own Today’s Catholic online, I also go directly to sources by following individual parishes, priests, bishops, the Indiana Catholic Conference, USCCB, etc., on social media. As a way to personal spiritual growth, I enjoy listening to Catholic podcasts.

I’m a “folder of tabs” sort of guy. I click one button and a dozen or so news websites load so I can quickly see what’s up for the day without getting too pulled in. In this regard I pull up sites like National Catholic Register, USCCB, Vatican News, Catholic Herald, Genuflect.net or Zenit. I also check into specific ministries like Word on Fire, Renewal Ministries and Franciscan Media. Catholic Twitter is an almost-interesting entity that I try not to get involved with: I mostly lurk.

My social media habits changed dramatically after doing Exodus 90.  I used to follow around 100 people on Twitter and Instagram. Now it’s down to about half a dozen, including the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Redeemer Radio, Exodus 90, Word on Fire, Bishop Robert Barron, Vatican News and Pope Francis.   

For sending information “out,” in the good, old days I would occasionally post pictures of my food like so many of us do. Then I realized, no one cares what I eat! So now my posts are strictly mission oriented: activities at the parish, my homilies and other edifying information about our faith.  I never post anything about politics or ideologies as such matters should only be spoken of face-to-face and not mediated via the impersonal, false shield of social media. I try to follow the rule of not posting something I wouldn’t feel fine preaching about from the pulpit.