It has happened! The new all-colour Diocesan Magazine was launched yesterday at the Diocesan Office.
It will be in churches on Sunday morning – thanks to our hard-working parish distributors – and will be with subscribers by post or digitally by tomorrow afternoon.
We hope you like it. As the bishop says below, if you do please tell your friends! As editor I am thrilled with the quality and the change – something that Denise Hughes, secretary of the Media & Magazine committee has been pushing for, for years, and now the time is here! Our aim is to offer substance and style and I think we have achieved that though there is always room for improvement! My thanks to Ewa Neumann who did the design work and to Joe Hogan, our printer, who spares no effort to make sure that our Magazine is as good as it can possibly be. Also thank you to everyone of the committee (names listed below) who all had an input over the last few months into getting the new issue to design completion stage.
It was a joyful day when we all could gather outside the Diocesan Office to celebrate.
Here’s a reminder of what our Bishop said in his September letter and what our chairperson, the Reverend Trevor Sargent said in our recent press release also:
We are in full colour! The attractiveness of the ‘new look’ of the Diocesan Magazine speaks for itself. Much gratitude is due to the energy and vision of our editor, Margaret Hawkins, who has made this happen … supported by our Magazine and Media committee which is chaired by the Reverend Trevor Sargent. And I would like to acknowledge, too, the cooperation and kindness of our excellent printer, Joe Hogan in Enniscorthy.
COVID has made us think a lot about our communications strategy, online and otherwise. We have reviewed everything from streamed worship to actual church notice boards. And we have realised anew the enduring value of printed material such as this magazine … which is read by so many people (dare I say, perhaps a little provocatively, by far more individuals than actually buy it?!!) and which also provides a chronicle of diocesan life which will endure for the future. However, the printed magazine must reflect the freshness and quality and modernity which we would expect of other aspects of our communications network. We often stress the importance of vibrant websites and other online platforms; but our hard copy material must also be vibrant, colourful and attractive. We hope this new look will encourage many to be interested in our life and mission as a diocese and will ensure that for many years to come printed material remains very much part of our communications output. So, enjoy this issue and its successors, admire its subtlety of design and range of content and (as they say) tell all your friends!!
Michael Cashel Ferns & Ossory
The Reverend Trevor Sargent: “The Diocesan Magazine has for many years been a tangible expression of our unity as a diocese, although parochially we are made up of many parts. Now, thanks to the expertise of our magazine editorial and production team, we can move a step closer to, not just worshipping the Lord in spirit, but also in the truth which full colour allows. The beauty of creation in this part of Ireland is difficult to fully convey in photography, but colour is closer to the truth than the monochrome pictures of the past. Our hope and prayer is that the new colourful Diocesan Magazine will attract new subscribers and give a truer picture of the joy of discipleship across our parishes.”
A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY
The Magazine has come a long way since its first issue in January 1901 when John Baptist Crozier was Bishop and Dr Torrance was his vicar. The Magazine, which started off as the Kilkenny Parish Magazine has continued for 121 years with only a break of 5 years from 1921 to 1926.
In the opening editorial in the first issue (see detail below) the then Bishop speaks of how, if ‘the clergy and laity throughout the diocese support our venture, the Magazine may well become in due course a Diocesan Magazine, and may even at length embrace the United Dioceses of Ossory and Ferns and Leighlin.’
I think he would be pleased to know how far its come. I will have a more indepth look at the first year of its publication in the October issue of our Magazine.
Margaret
Subscriptions: email cfomagazinesubs@gmail.com, telephone 087-2392285 or write to Ms. Denise Hughes, Hillgrove, Sheastown, Kilkenny.
In the Media & Magazine Committee photo – left to right:
Nicola Jacob (advertising), Liz Keyes, The Reverend Alex Morahan, The Reverend Trevor Sargent (Chairperson), Margaret Hawkins (Editor), The Reverend Conor O’Reilly (Deputy Editor) and Trevor Garrett. Seated are Denise Hughes and Bishop Michael Burrows.
The seat is one that has been especially dedicated to Denise for her long years of service as Diocesan Secretary (1966-2020)