by Sr. Diana Rawlings

When I was a girl, I always looked forward to the first and third Friday of the month; I knew “The Catholic Voice” would hit our doorstep. Buried amidst boring bills and long letters, Omaha’s archdiocesan newspaper seemed to come for me. Pictures. Large print. My kind of mailing.

I turned to the paper long before I had developed a real interest in news. It started as an attraction to the compelling faces I found printed on the pages. I didn’t know the people, but I saw the signs that many were religious: Roman collars, habits, robes. Sometimes their heads were bowed in solemn prayer. Other times they were smiling, speaking, singing or sitting with kids. The pictures evoked awe in me, and they conveyed a clear message: clergy are happy people.

By upper elementary, I started to recognize people I knew pictured in “The Catholic Voice.” Priests who visited our church, sisters that taught me, and families I saw at football games or dance recitals.

I couldn’t have articulated it at the time, but I was beginning to learn that the Catholic Church extended far beyond my family and our home parish. It was exciting to me – mainly, then, because getting your picture in the paper was exciting. Fame! Looking back, I understand the key role the Catholic press played in my faith formation. It illustrated in a memorable way that the Catholic Church was alive and exciting.

It’s hard to overestimate the impact of the Catholic press. As a sister and Vocations director, I’m particularly impressed by its powerful role in promoting vocations. The Catholic press sheds an understanding on religious life. With pictures and personality profiles, interviews and quotes, it paints clergy as both admirable and accessible. It portrays the religious life as an honorable, fulfilling vocation.

On a broader level, the Catholic press illustrates the church’s fullness and vitality. It reports on the body of Christ and its many parts in action, building the Kingdom of God. It maintains church teachings and doctrine while rendering an old church relevant today.

And so, a thank you to all of you working for the Catholic press. You may never hear applause or earn a byline, but that picture you cropped and adjusted made me smile as a girl. And it planted a seed that helped bring me to a rewarding life as a Sister.

I challenge you, faithful reader, to live your life in a way that could land you a corner in next week’s issue. Live a life that reflects well on the church, that would make a person proud to claim Catholicism and compel her to even consider religious life. Then there’ll always be a new story to report – and inspire.

To learn more about the Adorers Vocation Program click here.