Special month and year

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

With this issue of The Compass, we bring Catholic Press Month to a close.

While it would be a great time to suggest taking your diocesan newspaper editor to lunch, that would present ethical problems, so never mind.

Besides that, Catholic Press Month is about more than journalists. It's about the publications and their ministry in the church to educate, inform and entertain readers.

This year, we have special reasons to celebrate. November will mark the 50th anniversary of your diocesan newspaper. The Green Bay Diocese newspaper has had several identities, starting in 1956 with The Green Bay Register under the founding editor, Fr. Orville Janssen. In 1970, the name was changed to The Spirit, which in 1977 appeared as a monthly magazine. Then, in 1978, we became The Green Bay Compass, a weekly broadsheet newspaper that switched to a tabloid in 1985. In 1997, we went on the Internet (our website is www.thecompassnews.org). In the coming year we plan to enhance the website to supplement the printed edition.

We'll talk more about the anniversary as November nears. Happy Catholic Press Month from the stewards of your diocesan newspaper.