Catholic journalists' work a source of joy, cardinal says at Mass

Published: 2004-05-27

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The work of Catholic journalists can be a source of joy, said Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington at a Mass of welcome May 26 for the 94th annual Catholic Press Association convention held in Washington. That joy would fit in well with the life of St. Philip Neri, whose feast is celebrated May 26, said Cardinal McCarrick, who was the principal celebrant of the Mass at St. Matthew Cathedral in Washington. For the CPA Mass, Archbishop John P. Foley, head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications and the former editor of The Catholic Standard & Times, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, was the concelebrant. St. Philip Neri, the cardinal said, lived in 16th-century Rome and was a friend of St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Francis Xavier. "He reached out to change the lives of many of the people of Rome," he said. The saint was not known for his acumen in theology or in canon law, Cardinal McCarrick said, but "by his resounding example of love ... and, more than anything, by his joy," which, he added, "came from the word."

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