'God's paper boys' reminisce about changes

When The Evangelist interviewed two of its former editors, Revs. William Jillisky and Kenneth Doyle, the latter recalled the day in 1967 when Bishop Edward Maginn asked him to become assistant editor of the diocesan newspaper.

"It would be hard to leave what I'm doing," replied the priest, who was then an associate pastor and teacher.

"But wouldn't you be proud to be God's paper boy?" persuaded the Bishop.

Years of change

In 1962, when Father Jillisky joined The Evangelist's staff as an assistant editor, he called it "a transition time." The first thing his predecessors, Msgr. Gerald Kirwin and Rev. Joseph Varden, told him was to uphold the principle of "sentire ecclesiae" -- to "sense and feel" the tenor of the Church.

"They said that it was not `my' paper to speak my mind," Father Jillisky explained. "The mind of the Church was very important to them. If the Bishop told me to print [the paper] upside down, I was to print it upside down."

He described Msgr. Kirwin as a "scholarly guy" who was "very practical in his approach to life and the paper." When Msgr. Kirwin was editor, he said, "there wasn't [yet] the explosion of Vatican Council II; the Church kind of ran smoothly."

Vatican II

"There was a lot of upheaval" in the Albany Diocese over civil rights, Father Jillisky recalled. For example, he noted the "sobering influence" of Rev. Peter Young's work to peacefully promote civil rights in Albany's South End.

The Vietnam War was a struggle for the editor. "I was very often, during the war, undecided about what direction we would take" in editorials, Father Jillisky stated.

After the My Lai massacre, when a Vietnamese village was destroyed and civilians were killed, he told his assistant editor, "I can never write another editorial on the war." Eventually, the U.S. bishops issued a statement that the U.S. should not continue its involvement in Vietnam.

Opinions

But the paper "became more of a journal of opinion," he said, as Vatican II brought up the issues of collegiality, collaboration, the role of the laity in the Church and liturgies in the vernacular.

Much of The Evangelist's coverage became dedicated to explaining the major themes of the Council. Father Jillisky noted wryly that the paper's editorial staff were often called "radicals" in letters to the editor, simply because they covered the changes.

Turning point

Bishop Edwin Broderick decided that the newspaper would be sent to every Catholic home automatically, since he considered it crucial to keep all Catholics up-to-date on Church teaching. Overnight, The Evangelist's circulation jumped from about 30,000 to more than 100,000. Children in the Diocese's Catholic schools were offered prizes for selling subscriptions, and more staff were hired. By the following year, a U.S./Canadian Catholic press convention brought The Evangelist more awards than any other Catholic paper in the two countries.

"It became a tool for the Diocese for adult religious education," said Father Doyle, who became editor in 1973.

Major issues

In 1972, "quite soon after The Evangelist went `full coverage,'" Father Doyle added, "we devoted a whole issue to the death penalty. That very week, the New York State Legislature was debating it, and the newspapers were delivered to each legislator's office."

Father Doyle said that Bishop Broderick gave him great leeway in editorial decisions. "We were editors of the paper and the Bishop was the publisher, but I don't know of any secular editors that had more freedom," he said. "There was no prior approval or pre-reading of articles; [there was] extraordinary confidence of the Bishop in the paper."

Technology

As a result, Father Jillisky said, the paper tried things like a year-long series on "10 years after Vatican II," analyzing every aspect of how the Council had affected the Church.

"It was staggering," he said, "but it put us on the map."

War and peace

"I attribute that to the Catholic press," the priest stated.

BY the time Father Doyle left The Evangelist in 1981 to become the Catholic News Service's bureau chief in Rome, the staff included an editor, two assistant editors and two reporters. He said he considered the staff "skeletal," although it was actually larger than it is today.

Some things haven't changed. He mused: "Thirty years ago, I remember being told, `In 10 years, you won't print The Evangelist, because people will turn on their televisions at home and the pages will appear on their screen. It will all be delivered electronically."

Today, he noted, The Evangelist is still being printed on paper and mailed to people's homes -- "but it is supplemented by a website."

Same purpose

"The goal, in my mind, is to keep Catholics current with what's going on in the Church, and their understanding of spirituality and Church teaching," said Father Doyle. "It's always been a vehicle through which Church teaching could reach the people in the pews."

Looking back on his days at The Evangelist, Father Jillisky said, "They were exciting times -- and demanding times for any editor. There was a tremendous challenge as we tried to bring Vatican II into the present focus of the Catholic mind...and we had a lot of fun."

"It was such a watershed event that it couldn't have been [covered] without the Catholic press," Father Doyle agreed. He added: "The staff was wonderful. I used to love going to work every day."

(03-15-01) [[In-content Ad]]