Committing to the best in Catholic journalism

A few weeks ago, my wife and I buckled our four children into the family car, took one last look at the Southern California surroundings we'd called home for years, and steered into the morning sunshine as we headed East.

Two days and 2,248 miles later, we pulled into the driveway of our new home in Fort Wayne, Ind.

As if to welcome us, a snowstorm rolled in three hours later.

Our new neighbors have proven very friendly and have never remarked on the fact that our kids, who had never seen snowfall, were out in the backyard that first night until 10:30 p.m., shouting with glee, arms thrashing and heads thrown back to catch snowflakes on their tongues.

We've seen another foot or so of snow since then but the excitement has yet to fade. Hoosiers are a bit more jaded about the weather and just shake their heads. That's OK. We're having fun.

And though we didn't plan it this way, it turned out we left California on the First Sunday of Advent, New Year's Day in the liturgical calendar. It marked a new beginning for our family and a new beginning for me professionally at Our Sunday Visitor newsweekly.

I'm honored to be the successor to talented editors stretching back nearly 100 years to Father -- later Archbishop -- John F. Noll, a pioneer in Catholic communications in this country.

In these pages this past summer, U.S. Archbishop -- now Cardinal -- John P. Foley, then the head of the Vatican's social communications office, rated today's Catholic public relations and communication as "mediocre."

"We have an obligation not only to be orthodox, but also to be interesting and professional," he said.

I could not agree more. And I am committed to working with my team and writers on making this paper -- the country's oldest and most widely read -- the hands-down best Catholic newsweekly in the country.

Improvement is a continual process. We're going to adhere to the highest professional journalistic standards. We're going to dig deeper on the important stories. Where there's room for faithful Catholics to disagree, we're going to present the best arguments for both sides.

We are going to be THE newsweekly you need to read every week for the best news analysis, commentary, inspiration and continuing education.

One way I'll know I've succeeded is if we engage our readers. And the only way I can measure that is if I hear from you. Please tell me what you like about our newsweekly, and what you'd like to see done differently.

Write me at feedback@osv.com.

-- John Norton