Parishioners in the Diocese of Madison are dealing with a lot of changes. Come July 1, there will be a lot of new priests in the churches, some new Mass times, and new fellow parishioners.
The Catholic Herald is going through a lot of changes as well.
Kris Kranenburg has started as the new director of communications for the diocese. Amanda McConnell is on board as our new outreach consultant and will be filling the role left by the retiring Advertising Consultant Steve Hefty.
Steve got his name in the newspaper for only a few reasons over the past 22 years. He’s been listed as a staff member on Page 2, his name appeared in advertising promotions, his name appeared when he won the occasional well-deserved award from the Catholic Media Association (formerly the Catholic Press Association), and his name was seen on holiday greetings.
Unless you dealt with him directly over matters related to advertising or were one of his numerous relatives in the diocese, you might not have known he was even here, but he was.
We, who work for the Church, like to pride ourselves on mission and doing God’s work, but the reality is, it takes resources, many of which are monetary, with which to do that.
The lights need to stay on and the building needs to stay heated. A lot of Steve’s hard and good work over the past two decades-plus helped us with those necessities and others.
It takes a team to make this all happen and Steve was very valued for all that he did here. I hope he knows that. I hope he knows that his work did not go unnoticed.
Steve, this isn’t a gold watch, but it’s a thank you from the entirety of my heart. It’s one of the most valuable things I can give anyone.
End of an era?
As reality is beginning to set in of all the changes that are taking place, I’m realizing that the Catholic Herald is turning a big corner.
When I started here in 2013, three staff people were here who had a combined more than 90 years of experience — Editor Mary C. Uhler, Associate Editor Pam Payne, and Steve.
They were the three mainstays of both the newspaper and the Diocese of Madison for a long time.
I was just the former TV news producer who had to learn the “print” industry. Now, I’m whatever I am now, but I had a lot I needed to learn, and I learned a lot from Mary, Pam, and Steve.
Mary and Pam both retired in 2020 which made for a very interesting year on top of whatever else was going on that year.
Very shortly, I will be the most tenured staff member of the Catholic Herald. I’m pausing a bit as I type this because I don’t think I thought that would happen when I started here in March of 2013. This sort of thing happens all the time.
Before being traded to the New York Jets, earlier this year Aaron Rodgers was the longest-tenured Green Bay Packer after starting his career as a 21-year-old rookie in 2005.
Every grandfather or grandmother was once a baby. My fellow “young” people, let’s remember that the next time we see someone older as just “old”. They were our age once and probably way more cool than we ever were.
To quote Marx [Groucho], “Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough.”
Time will always pass. Those who we learn from and admire will always pass on or move on.
We have to be ready to take their places or have enough humility to step aside when someone younger or smarter than us can take over better than we can.
Time to step up
To my fellow millennials and all the -ennials that were born after us, sooner or later, it’s our time to be leaders, if it’s not that time already.
We’re allowed to have skills, hopes, experience, talents, dreams, and ambitions. Let’s use them for good.
Let us have the confidence with which to say “We’ve seen what isn’t good and what doesn’t work. Let’s do better than that.”
Let’s find the voices to say “We matter. We have ideas too. We want to be a part of this. We’re listening to you. We’re learning from you. Let’s join you.”
Are we going to make mistakes? Absolutely. Are we going to learn from them? I don’t know, but we’ve got to try.
As more people from a generation of exceptional work ethic and accomplishments retire, we have a lot to live up to, but our best days are ahead of us.
One era may be fully coming to a close here, but I know Amanda, Angela, Ann, and myself (All As? Really? Does that make them The A-Team?) are ready to move forward and be part of the next great generation of the Catholic Herald and its service to the Diocese of Madison.
The future is here
On to July and the next chapters of the Catholic Herald story.
I’m the sort-of old guy now and I can’t do anything other than be OK with that.
The training wheels have been off for a while now, but it’s time to keep the Catholic Herald going as the respected publication that it has been for the past 75 years.
What have I learned? A lot. I continue to keep learning. I had some really good teachers and I hope I can be the example that Mary, Pam, and Steve were.
Congratulations on your retirement, Steve. You’ve earned it. I just don’t want to hear about it when you’re in a warm climate and I’m up to my knees in snow heading to work.
Thank you for reading.
I’m praying for you.