WASHINGTON, D.C. — Only pack rats would save copies of old newspapers. Or so you would think.
But a consortium of librarians and archivists are preserving the Catholic news from the last century.
As newspapers age, their pages get more brittle and fragile. And outdated technologies such as microfilm and microfiche keep those newspapers from being readily accessible unless you live near a big downtown library or a university that still has the machines needed to read that data.
Many Catholic newspapers, unlike their secular daily brethren, were not kept, maintained and preserved with the same level of passion, save for some diocesan archives.
To correct this situation, the Catholic Research Resources Alliance has undertaken a project to digitize nearly a dozen of the United States’ top Catholic newspapers of regional and national importance – the print runs of which, for some of them, go back for more than a century.
“Creating a Catholic news archive and digital aggregation for Catholic newspapers is something that scholars are very interested in,” said Jennifer Younger, executive director of the alliance, known as CRRA.
“We mark the beginning (of the project) in 2011, when we brought together a newspaper committee: ‘If we’re going to digitize something, what would be most useful?’ Newspapers rose right to the top. Which newspapers? We had to figure out which newspapers existed, which ones were being held (by libraries), which ones weren’t being held,” she said.
The committee came up with a list of more than 800 Catholic publications from the United States alone, and another 200-plus in Canada.
Eleven newspapers the digitization project has begun with represent some of the largest dioceses in the nation: Catholic New York of the Archdiocese of New York; the Catholic Standard and Times of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia; Catholic San Francisco; the Clarion Herald of the Archdiocese of New Orleans; the Florida Catholic of the Archdiocese of Miami; the St. Louis Review; the Pittsburgh Catholic; and the Catholic Transcript of the Archdiocese of Hartford, Conn.
A 12th newspaper recently added to the list is the Catholic Worker, which since its founding in the 1930s is still a penny a copy, as the front-page banner says.
For a national perspective, the National Catholic Reporter and 65 years’ worth of newsfeeds starting in 1920 from what is now called Catholic News Service will be digitized. CNS’ predecessor was NCWC, for National Catholic Welfare Council. In addition, an NCWC/CNS feature called “Catholic World in Pictures” will be digitized too.
The digitized material will be made freely available through the CRRA-developed Catholic News Archive, www.thecatholicnewsarchive.org.
Digitization is the new normal, according to Tim Meagher, an associate professor of history at The Catholic University of America, Washington, and an archivist who runs the Center for American Catholic History.
“Everything is, as much as possible, going into digital format,” Meagher said. “In some ways, even if the paper exists in print, its use will be less if it is not digitized.”
Some of the largest U.S. dailies, including the New York Times, Washington Post and Chicago Tribune, have been digitized, he said. “It’s a tremendous asset,” Meagher added. “Suddenly you’re on the radar screen, easy to access, easy to get to.”
Of Catholic papers, he said, “We would love to be able to digitize every one. We may not be able to digitize all of them, we may not be able to digitize all years. But to begin is an important thing.”
“We have set very high standards. When we do our digitization, we never have to do it again,” said Patricia Lawton, CRRA’s director of digital initiatives. “We’re getting the best imaging we possibly can. Microfilm or print, you want a good image. That is the basis of everything that you’re going to do,” allowing the user to employ more robust search capabilities. “We based all our research on the Library of Congress (standards) and even upped the standards a bit,” Lawton noted.
Archivists also are working with those libraries and diocesan archives holding newspaper collections to preserve them, and to provide multiple backups for the digital information being created.
— Mark Pattison, Catholic News Service
More online
Check out the complete digital archives of the Catholic News Herald, from its founding in 1991 to present
CHARLOTTE — What started as a way for Brian Kennelly to share his thoughts on the Catholic classic "True Devotion to Mary" has turned into a script for a powerful, short film and aspirations of challenging millions of people to pray the rosary.
Kennelly, a parishioner of St. Ann Church in Charlotte and author of several Catholic novels ("Two Statues," "To the Heights"), has co-written a script and teamed up with Catholic filmmakers in Hollywood to make a short film titled "Eyes of Mercy."
It will take audiences inside the soul of a man struggling through a crisis of faith, and show what happens within his soul when someone prays the rosary for him, Kennelly said.
"Eyes of Mercy" will be put out by the non-profit Vox Dei Productions and will be released for free online so that millions around the world can have easy access to it.
Kennelly read the St. Louis de Montfort book about two years ago, and like many books about faith, he wanted to pass it along to his friends and family. But since it's a "big, heavy book" he wasn't sure that many would read it all the way through.
Instead, he said he created some notes to pass along to his friends. From that he wrote a parable, an allegorical novella entitled "The Parable of the Lady in Blue: A Tale of Marian Apology," then turned that into an audio drama. After meeting a Catholic movie director, Kennelly said, he sent him the audio drama.
"From there, it spiraled out of control in a good way," he said. "We hope that this film will be unlike anything anyone's ever seen in the faith-based market."
Kennelly has teamed up with fellow Catholic filmmakers Dennis Crow, Roberto Girault and Paul Hertel. The film will have a unique style, with little dialogue and a powerful musical score, to appeal to a global audience. The script has also changed a bit from his parable.
"It will be a very mystical film that shows us how God's grace comes to us through Mary – it will give a very powerful visual to something that is otherwise unseen by our eyes," Kennelly said.
The character is seen as a young child traveling through a dark, wintry forest. With only the light from his virtues to protect him, the child is hunted by ravenous wolves.
There is a spiritual battle at play within each of us, and through this film millions of people will see this battle in a whole new light and be reminded of how God sees us as one of His children, he said. They will discover the power of the rosary and the effect it has on the people who pray it, and those for whom they pray.
"The film brings the viewer into a 'mystical reality.' People will actually see what happens within a lost soul when someone prays the rosary for him," said Girault, the director. "With state-of-the-art CGI and an international cast, we are presenting a quality, faith-affirming film that will challenge and inspire the audience."
But in order to produce the movie, they need to raise about $300,000. So they have launched a Kickstarter campaign and are searching for small donations. After about a week, the project has raised more than $50,000 with donations from all over the world.
The project is dependent on a grassroots campaign and use of social media, for awareness as well as fundraising. A short promotional video on their Facebook page has already been viewed more than 240,000 times in just the first week.
"We want this to be an apostolic thing that people can use to evangelize," Kennelly said.
"We want millions of people around the world to have easy access to it. But in order to take this route, and not go through a studio and eventually have DVD sales, we need the people to help get it done. It's tough to get films like this made in Hollywood... we need the help of good Catholics," he said.
Kennelly said he hopes people in his home diocese can provide a starting point for helping generate the funds needed for production. The online fundraising campaign runs through Aug. 4.
If the fundraising campaign is successful, Kennelly said, they hope to start filming in October and release the movie on Jan. 1, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.
— Kimberly Bender, online reporter
How you can help
To donate to the making of "Eyes of Mercy," click here.
You can also e-mail Brian Kennelly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Go to Facebook and search "Eyes of Mercy" to see a short video and learn more.