Paper strives to exemplify Gospel spirit

Christ’s power in us does immeasurably more than we ask or can imagine

I never thought I would grow old in this job. Honestly, I didn’t.

When I became editor of the Western Catholic Reporter in April 1981, I thought I would do my best for a few years to make the WCR a good Catholic newspaper and then resume my career in secular journalism.

After four years at the WCR, I did leave and for nearly six years had various jobs in the secular press. Jobs where I learned a few things and perhaps made a contribution. But circumstances brought me back to Edmonton and then the WCR again at the beginning of 1991.

Daily Eucharist

Many things keep me here, not the least of which is the opportunity to begin every working day with the celebration of the Eucharist.

My driving passion is that the Church should be the leaven which inspires the renewal of society in the light of the Gospel. Starting the day with the Eucharist is the best first step one can take in making that renewal real.

The Second Vatican Council described the liturgy as the source and the summit of Christian life. Our strength comes from Christ “whose power at work in us can do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20) and that strength finds its glory in this world in the celebration of the Eucharist.

My passion is that the laity be the instruments of the renewal of society. Another council teaching is that the laity, through their secular activity, toil “so that the world may be filled with the spirit of Christ and may more effectively attain its destiny in justice, in love and in peace.”

Spirit of the Gospel

What better place for a journalist to live out a passion to permeate society with the spirit of the Gospel than at a Catholic newspaper? What better place to live out Vatican II’s teaching on the laity than at the Western Catholic Reporter, which was founded to breathe the council’s teachings into the hearts of the people?

The opportunities to convey that message in the pages of the WCR have never stopped coming. Earlier this month, we published a special supplement on how the Church helped to build the province of Alberta, imbuing it with a special concern for the sick, poor and forgotten.

And now I have the privilege of writing a lengthy series of articles on the Catholic Church’s social doctrine. It’s an opportunity that would not have been there had I been working for any secular newspaper.

These opportunities to write about the Church’s role as the leaven are not something come about only once in awhile. Every week, the WCR features stories which, I hope, might inspire or persuade Catholics to live the Gospel.

Last week’s WCR told of how Edmonton’s Anne Fitzgerald School has drastically cut down on bullying. It told of how troubled marriages are being turned around through the Retrouvaille program. It told of the Church’s response to Hurricane Katrina. It told how, even today, some women are joining religious orders.

I never planned to grow old in this job. But it’s been fulfilling to be able to build one’s career on the conviction that the laity can, should and are striving to have the spirit of the Gospel permeate and improve our troubled society.

- Glen Argan
Editor & General Manager

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