Survivals and new arrivals

IT seems to be a case of "all change" these days within the cosmos of the Catholic press. Even The Times took judicial notice last Saturday. Predictability, in fact, has retired in favour of some adventurous journalistic crossbreeding along neo-Mendefian lines, As in Belloc's day, it is a question of arrivals and survivals.
It would be less than polite
not to mention our distinguished contemporaries before briefly discussing, -as I'd like to further down, the thought behind some of the changes that have been evolving in the pages of the CATHOLIC HERALD. It will be remembered how. only a month ago, Norman St. John-Stevas bade farewell to our -readers after an eventful seven-year innings. For a large part of that period Desmond Albrow had edited the paper, and Norman 'recalled how closely and harmoniously they had worked together. The concomitant disappointment was that neither the Sieves nor the Albrow by-line would any longer be appearing regularly in the HERALD. It is thus very lucky that their many fans can, from now on, read Norman's and Desmond'is columns in the pages, respectively, of the Tablet and the Universe. Which only goes to show how broad-minded everyone has become since a few years ago
— a development which will surely be welcomed warmly by Catholic readers everywhere.
I I ;lying if all unwittingly
— set the pace, the CATHOLIC HERALD has been undergoing its own quiet evolution. stress
the vvoril "e volution" because few if any of the changes were wholly pre-meditated as of the time that 1 took over from Desmond Albrow. When he and I lunched together not long before that happened he remarked that a change of editorship inevitably produces new developments; but he added that -such developments seemed, in a strange way. "to happen" — merely as a general reflection of week-to-week editorialthought. So it has very much turned out in the last six months. The basic aim has been (and indeed remains, since the effects are slow to become obvious) to widen and deepen the news content of the paper; to select and present such -news in
positive and responsible fashion; and to reflect the most serious trends, behind the news, in feature articles of truly catholic, as well as Catholic, content.
No implied criticism of past policy is involved in all this. Rather have times and -tempers changed, and the great yearning within the contemporary Catholic and Christian com.munity seems squarely to be for an end to in-fighting in favour of a dynamic Christianity that progresses on a broad front but all the -time (perhaps paradoxically but quite inescapably) within a traditional framework. Before anyone summarily concludes that this is an attempt to have both ways, let me immediately mention a new series that will shortly be commencing in the -paper. Fr. -Michael Richards, editor of the Clergy Review and Church history professor at St. Edmund's College, Ware, will he writing fortnightly from early November. His theme will he the essential continuity of Church history in the course of which no situation is ever entirely new. if we think we arc now undergoing a wholly unprecedented crisis, we arc in for a big surprise! The most noticeable immediate change in the paper is the strengthening of page four by the acquisition of two, and not just one, new regular columnists. Both Douglas Brown and Paul Johnson are skilled professionals who need no introduction. It is a great privilege to welcome them to the CATHOLIC HERALD. H. R. F. Keating, on page three, has already begun his fortnightly exploration of the "media" with a very wide brief. What he discovers about how people try to persuade each other of things could he a salutary revelation. Next a eek Kevin Mayhew begins his new fortnightly series. also on page three. He will, for the time being, be e investigatin the various "Commissions" which, as subcommittees of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. are playing so important a part — if largely behind the scenes — in our ecclesiastical life at the moment. These Commissions :ire all officially "under -review" with new policies to be hammered out before the end of the year. Freda Bruce Lockhart has meanwhile taken over both films and television. Her weekly article will. l hope, be able to give a more interesting picture than ever of what is happening "on" (and even be hind) "the screens". And the "Wome's View" team of Paula Davies, Rosemary Haughton and Martine Legge is being augmented by the enterprising and lively Cardlyn Scott, the first of whose regular (as opposed to occasional) articles will -be appearing next week. Perhaps the most radical new departure is the provision of space — roughly half a page per week — for news and views front -the world of education, particularly religious instruction. Some would say that no field of Christian activity is more important than this since it so vitally affects the future. It is full of unanswered questions, controversies and conflicting theories. I can only hope that this feature will become a true forum of constructive ideas. Indeed this particular feature is ambitious enough to try and encompass a verita veritable e "theology of education." Similarly Fr. Richards' articles will he thought out within the framework -of a "theology of history." None of this is high-flying jargon but an attempt to show how genuine theology cuts across the whole of human endeavour — theological professors have taught since time immemorial. But the modern — particularly post Conciliar — age has produced an exciting new dimension to the old tradition, wherein human endeavour cuts more and more across the field of tradition-al theology. For, -as we venture to say in our leader this week — with reference to the Synod — "already it is clear that social, political and economic conditions affect theological judgment."