Catholic press faces struggle in spreading news after hurricane

Published: 2005-09-15

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- For most Catholic newspapers, deadline day is Monday or Tuesday -- whichever day of the week works best to assemble the timeliest news, get the papers printed and shipped to the U.S. Postal Service for home delivery before that weekend's Masses, and get them to the churches themselves for distribution to parishioners. But in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, deadlines for some diocesan papers affected by the storm have become a moot point. Their offices are unreachable. The printing plants they contract with to print the newspaper might also have been shuttered since the storm. Even if they weren't, the Postal Service is still not delivering mail to hundreds of ZIP codes in the Gulf Coast region. And dozens of churches were destroyed by the hurricane. Still, Catholic newspaper editors are doing everything within their power -- albeit a somewhat limited power -- to spread what news they can through whatever means possible.

Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .