Last month, I celebrated my 40th anniversary as a staffer here at the Catholic Standard newspaper. I like to joke and tell people that I started here at the paper when I was in the first grade. Nobody believes that.
Forty is a mystical number. I think of the 40 days Noah, his crew and his menagerie spent in the Ark during the flood; I think of Moses leading the Israelites in the desert for 40 years; and I think of Jesus’s 40 days in the wilderness when He was tempted by the devil.
I am tempted to make comparisons between my job and the trials and tribulations of Noah, Moses and Jesus; however, my 40 hardly has biblical ramifications.
I started at the Catholic Standard as a 25-year-old reporter only recently relocated to the Washington, D.C. area from my native Delaware.
Right now, my title is managing editor, but over the past four decades my duties have entailed practically every aspect of producing a newspaper.
I started out as a general assignment reporter who not only covered stories, but who also compiled our bulletin board section, rewrote submitted obituaries and entered into our word processing system press releases and wire reports. I also compiled the regular liturgical readings that we print.
All these years later, and I still do many of those tasks. Although, many of the submissions to the paper are sent via e-mail or Internet so there is virtually no more manually “punching in” information from other sources.
One of my earliest responsibilities at the Catholic Standard was editing for publication the text of the pope’s weekly audience. John Paul II was pope then, and his catechetical talks and his other remarks were translated by the Vatican into British English, not American English. So, it was my job to make sure words such as “colour” became “color” and “behaviour” became “behavior.”
I am thankful for that rather mundane task because it made me really focus on what our saintly pope was saying, and as such deepened my love for the Church and for the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.
Most weekly newspapers operate the way the Catholic Standard does, where job titles do not always give a complete description of one’s duties.
One of my responsibilities from the beginning has been assisting in the composition of each issue of the newspaper. Forty years ago, we started out with a “cut and paste” system where type was transferred to film, then developed, dried, waxed, cut and pasted onto “flats” of blue-lined paper. Now, I can accomplish all of that by a few keyboard strokes on computers outfitted with amazing software.
My talented coworkers also do a myriad of jobs – from proofreading to actually delivering the newspapers – that are not part of a job title.
During the course of my job, I met on assignment people who have made me cry and people who have made me laugh. I remember being moved to tears reporting on the Church’s outreach to a man dying of AIDS-related causes who was disowned by his family. I have also laughed heartily when interviewing Bob Hope who cracked one-liners at a rapid-fire pace.
In my time at the Catholic Standard, I have been able to cover seven presidents, three popes (waiting for the chance to report on Pope Leo), and five cardinal archbishops of Washington. I have interviewed future saints, royalty, politicos and movie stars. I have been on assignment on four continents.
Reminiscences of those experiences make interesting (to me at least) cocktail party chatter, but when I am asked who is my most memorable interview, I mention Anna Robinson.
I interviewed Miss Anna (I never called her anything but that), about three months after I joined the newspaper. She was a Catholic School educator who broke new ground for lay persons and for African Americans in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. In the 1960s, she was the first lay school administrator in an archdiocesan school, and later was the first African American to hold the post of principal in any archdiocesan school in Maryland.
Despite that impressive resume, she was one of the kindest, most endearing and loving people I ever met. She was humble, holy and unpretentious and she made such a lasting impression on me that she was also the only person on this earth I let get away with calling me “Rick.” A little-known fact about me is that I will answer to Richard, Rich, Richie, Ricardo and some other names, but not “Rick.”
After the first couple years of correcting Miss Anna that “Rick” was not my name, I gave up. Until the very last time I saw her not too long before she died, she still called me “Rick.” And I always answered.
In my 40 years at the Catholic Standard, I have been blessed to work with many amazing colleagues – some of whom have become dear friends. Among them are my editor Mark Zimmermann (himself a 40-plus year veteran of the Catholic Standard) and Maureen Boyle, a reporter who joined us about 30 years ago who while no longer on staff still freelances regularly for the newspaper. They knew me when I was thin and had no gray hair. I try not to blame them for the fact that I am no longer thin and am chock full of gray hair.
Of course, there have been other wonderful coworkers over the years as well. Some of them are still at the paper, some have moved on to other jobs, and some have moved on to heaven. But they all hold a special place in my heart.
As I look back over the decades, I am also grateful for our readers. Sometimes I wonder if my words reach my audience, and then I get a letter (now e-mail) from a reader sharing a reaction, whether good or bad. Even if the feedback is not always pleasant, it is always much welcomed.
I have written countless stories and columns these past 40 years. Not all of the news has been good news (that’s with a small “g” and small “n”), but it has always been with the aim of spreading the Good News (with capital letters) of Jesus Christ. There is no better story to tell than that of our redemption and our adoption as sons and daughters of the living God.
I like to think that Jesus’s great commission to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19) is what guides me as a journalist for a Catholic newspaper. I am indeed blessed to say this is not just my job, but my mission, my calling and my life for the last 40 years.
