Years ago, Catholics were told that it is their duty to support "the Catholic press"—that is, newspapers, magazines, and publishing houses that printed Catholic material. Every diocese of any size had its own diocesan newspaper, to which Catholics in the diocese were expected to subscribe, and national Catholic weekly newspapers, such as The Wanderer and Our Sunday Visitor, were widely distributed in local parishes. Publishing houses such as Sheed & Ward were so successful that even mainstream secular publishers such as Doubleday started Catholic imprints.
Today, the Catholic press still exists, and it has taken on different forms as well, including internet sites such as the About.com Catholicism GuideSite and radio and TV networks such as EWTN. But it lacks the popular support of the past.
Angela Hammond's story of leaving the Catholic Faith in high school and returning to the Catholic Church at age 50 reminds us just how important it is to support the Catholic press. Check out her story, and if you ever left the Church and returned, share your own story with your fellow readers!
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