Tony Spence, former director and editor-in-chief of Catholic News Service, is seen in this 2010 file photo accepting the St. Francis de Sales Award, the highest award given by members of the then-Catholic Press Association. (CNS photo/Nancy Wiechec)
By Julie Asher
Catholic News Service
A hundred years ago the U.S. Catholic bishops were insightful enough to realize there was a role for a news service to provide accurate information about the church, said Thomas Lorsung, retired director and editor-in-chief of Catholic News Service.
“And they were smart enough to see this should be put into the hands of professional journalists,” he said in an interview. “It wasn’t a question of just having knowledge of theology,” but knowing how to report on the workings of the church “and get at information people could use.”
“In this crazy world, I think it’s terrifically important for the news service to do what it does — it presents unbiased professional journalism,” Lorsung added. “That’s what people need. They don’t need to get tied up in the sharp divisions we have now in the world. … Maybe I have seen far too much shabby and slanted coverage from newspapers.”
From the start, he said, it was clear the bishops wanted an authentic news agency that would report “fully, fairly and freely” on the church itself as well as its involvement in the world.
Founded in 1920 as the NCWC News Service, it was part of the bishops’ National Catholic Welfare Council.
The hierarchy first established the council as the National Catholic War Council in 1917 to better address challenges posed by World War I. Its successor was the National Catholic Welfare Council in 1919; in 1922, it became the National Catholic Welfare Conference — the precursor to the National Catholic Bishops Conference and U.S. Catholic Conference. These twin conferences were combined and officially renamed the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in early 2001.
The news service changed its name in the 1960s to National Catholic News Service, or NC News. In 1986 “National” was dropped, because Catholic News Service better reflected its mission of covering the world.
The service’s founding director was Justin McGrath, a veteran journalist and managing editor of the San Francisco Examiner. He also had worked at The New York Times and other dailies and was Washington bureau chief of the Hearst papers. McGrath helmed the news service from 1920 until 1932.
Succeeding McGrath was Frank Hall, who had been city editor at The Washington Post; he served from1932 to 1963. Then came Floyd Anderson, Richard Guilderson, A.E.P. “Ed’’ Wall, Richard W. Daw, Lorsung, Tony Spence and Greg Erlandson, CNS’ current director and editor-in-chief.
Lorsung’s tenure as director and editor-in-chief is the second longest in the agency’s history. He was named to the post in 1989 and retired at the end of 2003. He first joined the news service in 1972 as photo editor, then he was news editor, then managing editor before being named to head CNS.
In his time, CNS made its own technological strides in how it delivered the news and photos, going from wire transmissions in the 1980s to satellite delivery to internet delivery. In the past decade, CNS has expanded visual storytelling to include news videos distributed on YouTube.
“CNS is keeping up with developments in journalism and technology, like video and digital platforms,” Lorsung noted.
He thinks the new technologies are great but also said the most valuable way for bishops to communicate to their flock is with print — “something to put in homes that is quite tangible.”
“That’s not to say you can’t look for other ways to communicate. Print isn’t the only way. … You have to use as many resources as you possibly can and see how that all fits into a plan” for communications. “That’s the challenge for everyone,” he added.
Lorsung also said it was distressing to see on Facebook and elsewhere on the Web the news that some Catholic newspapers have gone out of business due to the economic blow the COVID-19 pandemic has delivered to dioceses, among other pressures.
Looking ahead to the next 100 years for CNS, Lorsung said: “The strength of the CNS Rome bureau is always going to be the biggest asset of the news service. You can look at the kind of steady and important careful coverage done by the bureau with Cindy Wooden as bureau chief. And I’m impressed by still photos CNS is able to provide its clients by Paul Haring.”
“It’s reassuring to see that 100 years ago the bishops of this country were insightful enough to realize they needed something like CNS and by extension the rest of Catholic press. Let’s hope that kind of thinking can be restored to the hierarchy today. I think it can,” Lorsung said.
“I think helping people understand the Catholic perspective is one of the most important roles for CNS,” said Spence, director and editor-in-chief from 2004 to 2016, who, like Lorsung, is a past winner of the Catholic Press Association’s 2010 St. Francis de Sales Award.
“CNS is one of the largest and certainly the oldest religious newsgathering organization in the world and because of that it is held in very high esteem around the world by other journalists, Catholic leaders and thought leaders,” he said in an interview. “So with that foundation, it is a great influencer of Catholic thought and perspective for readers and leadership around the world.”
