On January 15th, Patrick Madrid posted that the "About Us" section of the National Catholic Register was soon to change.
Please don't confuse this with the dissident National Catholic Reporter which is it's own "magisterium" (though it would be nice if EWTN did purchase the N.C. Reporter just to have it duly liquidated). I digress.
Please don't confuse this with the dissident National Catholic Reporter which is it's own "magisterium" (though it would be nice if EWTN did purchase the N.C. Reporter just to have it duly liquidated). I digress.
Yesterday, it happened: EWTN announced it was in the process of acquiring the ailing National Catholic Register, which also has a popular website.
The Register has been run by the Legion of Christ, which saved it back in the 90's. In addition to facing the same economic challenges that all print papers are going through with the emergence of instant web-news and declining subscriptions, there is fallout from the Macial scandal.
Here is the press release by EWTN:
EWTN Acquires National Catholic RegisterWorld’s Largest Catholic Media Network Acquires 83-Year-Old Newspaper
Irondale, AL (EWTN) – EWTN Global Catholic Network has signed a letter of intent to acquire the National Catholic Register, the nation’s leading Catholic newspaper.
“I am very pleased and excited that the Register will now be a part of the EWTN family,” said Michael P. Warsaw, the Network’s president and chief executive officer. “All of us at EWTN have great respect for the Register and the role it has played throughout its history. It’s a tremendous legacy that deserves to not only be preserved, but also to grow and to flourish.”
“I believe that EWTN will be able to provide the stability that the Register needs at this time as well as to give it a platform for its growth in the years ahead. We’re proud to be able to step in and carry on both the Register’s name and its tradition of faithful Catholic reporting on the issues of the day,” noted Warsaw.
Under the terms of the transaction, no cash will be exchanged between the parties. EWTN will take over the ongoing operational expenses of the Register and will assume the paper’s future subscription liabilities.
The acquisition of the Register is the latest in EWTN’s efforts to expand its news presence in the global Catholic digital and multimedia market. At the start of 2010, EWTN entered into a partnership with the Catholic News Agency (CNA), a Denver-based independent Catholic news media outlet with bureaus in North and South America and Europe. Under that agreement, EWTN and CNA are sharing news resources and have created a joint news service found at http://www.ewtnnews.com/. That arrangement was recently expanded to include a new original Spanish-language news service, EWTN Noticias, (http://www.ewtnnoticias.com/) launched in January 2011.
EWTN Global Catholic Network provides multimedia services to more than 140 countries and territories. The Network transmits nine separate television channels in several languages to audiences around the world. It also operates multiple radio services including a network of hundreds of AM and FM stations, a Sirius satellite radio channel, and a global shortwave radio service. EWTN’s main website, www.ewtn.com, draws more than 20 million unique visitors annually.
The National Catholic Register grew out of Denver’s Catholic Register, which began on Aug. 11, 1905. Under the leadership of Msgr. Matthew Smith, the Register System of Newspapers was developed, with the first national edition appearing on Nov. 8, 1927. It was acquired by the Legion of Christ in 1995.
You can also read an entry by Tim Drake at the National Catholic Register. In it, he quotes Archbishop Charles Chaput:
“The service and the history of the paper are too important to simply abandon,” said Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, where the newspaper originated. “The Church needs more tools of faithful communication, not fewer.” [Amen!]
Archbishop Chaput said that he doesn’t feel that the Register’s basic mission of “reporting the news and analyzing trends that are important for Catholics, from a Catholic perspective,” will change. “The means of accomplishing that mission may change quite a lot over time, but the Register’s fidelity to the Church will not.”
Finally, check out the "About Us" page.
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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!
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