Letter from the Editor Alfredo E. Cardenas South Texas Catholic
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s I approach the end of my second year as editor of the South Texas Catholic, I am somewhat surprised with all the change that has occurred in the publication during this time. At times it has seemed as if I was taking readers on a roller coaster ride.
Roller coaster rides, of course, are designed to be fun and exciting. They can, however, be a little scary to some. You will be glad to hear that the roller coaster is slowing down at the loading bay. In March, for our Centennial Jubilee celebration, we produced the South Texas Catholic, as a magazine. We had already moved to a “newsmagazine format” but in March we jumped into the deep water. The magazine was met with widespread acclaim and responding to readers’ comments, the decision was made to continue with this format. At the same time, we moved our publication date to the first of the month instead of the third Friday of the month, which was somewhat of an awkward day to publish. This is now our fourth magazine publication and the rave reviews keep coming in. As you will read on Page 30 of this issue, the Church is being called to embrace the “new media” for the “New Evangelization.” We have recently unveiled a new Web site for the South Texas Catholic, as well as for the diocese. They are both updated daily and are very interactive. We also have a presence in numerous social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and Vimeo. These developments have allowed us to report much more extensively. We can now include every parish and school event in our online calendars. We use many more photos by creating photo albums. We report on every story we receive, whether large or small. Nothing goes
unreported. It will take time for people to get used to getting their news from the Internet, but change—as we all know—happens whether or not we keep up. It is incumbent on all of us to keep up with the times or get left behind. The ability to use the online Web site allows us to report a greater amount of content on a much more timely basis. This allows us to use the print magazine to cover stories and issues about the sacraments, the liturgy, ministries, etc. with much greater depth. The sudden move to the magazine format, however, did not allow us to fully plan this change. Additionally, the costs to print a magazine, while negligible, are more than the newspaper. For these reasons, we will be making one more change. Beginning with our next issue, we will co m b i n e t h e Au g u s t- S e p tember issues into one. That means that there will not be a magazine in September. This change will be an annual change; that is to say that every year we will have an August-September issue or 11 issues annually. This will save money, but just as importantly, it will afford us the time to stand back and look at where we need to go for the following year. We will use that time to plan ahead for the entire year so that the future issues will coincide with the liturgical calendar, with events emanating from the Holy See—such as the upcoming Year of Faith, and with events occurring in the diocese. We thank all our readers for their patience with all the changes and ask for your continued prayers that we may effectively serve the needs of the diocese and the New Evangelization.
>> Beginning with our next
issue, we will combine the August-September issues into one. That means that there will not be a magazine in September.
www.SouthTexasCatholic.com
JULY 2012 | SOUTH TEX AS CATHOLIC
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