AS 2019 DRAWS TO A CLOSE and we all gear up for the new year, The Episcopal News is making some major changes as we shift our priorities in order to better serve the Diocese of Los Angeles with timely news about its congregations, institutions, people and leaders.
With the consent and encouragement of Bishop John Harvey Taylor, Bishop Suffragan Diane Jardine Bruce and Canon to the Ordinary Melissa McCarthy, the News staff will begin in 2020 to concentrate its efforts on online publication of stories at diocesela.org/episcopal-news.
Links to stories and up-to-date news will be posted on our Facebook page (@episcopalnews), and Twitter account (@EpiscoNews_LA). We invite you to follow both to help you keep up with what’s going on in our large and diverse diocese. Feel free to “like,” comment, share or retweet.
We will continue to publish The Episcopal News Update, our weekly email newsletter, every Wednesday. If you don’t yet receive it, please visit our subscription page at diocesela.org/episcopal-news/contact and sign up.
It’s difficult to give up publications with a history, especially The Episcopal News magazine. The first diocesan publication began in 1897 and continued under various names, relaunching as The Episcopal Review in about 1950. The late Canon Ruth Nicastro reshaped it in the 1970s as The Episcopal News and continued as editor for some 18 years. We always have tried to honor her legacy. But Ruth would encourage us to carry on our work in the way that best serves the people of the diocese, and at present that’s mostly online.
The print versions of The News magazine are not going away entirely. We plan to publish four-page monthly issues (replacing The Episcopal News Weekly) and produce an annual printed magazine with special reporting and in-depth stories. Bishop Taylor will have more to say about our plans in his annual address at Diocesan Convention.
Whatever form our publications take, we encourage you to share news of what’s going on in your congregations. Send news items or story leads (and photos!) to editor@ladiocese.org. Deadline is Tuesday at noon. The Update is published most Wednesdays except in the summer, when it is on a biweekly schedule, and the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s Day.
As we begin this new era of diocesan communications, I am fortunate to work with Bishop Taylor, Bishop Bruce and Canon McCarthy, constant sources of great stories and support. Thanks also to Canon for Common Life Bob Williams and to Alysha Kawamoto, communications office assistant, for helping to keep the diocese informed.
I give especially fervent thanks for the Rev. Canon Pat McCaughan, our ace reporter, and Molly Ruttan-Moffat, art director. I’m grateful that these two wise, talented, hardworking, wonderful friends will continue to be part of The News team.
Most of all, I am grateful to you, our readers, for your interest and support. I always look forward to hearing from you.
–Janet Kawamoto, editor of The Episcopal News, may be reached at editor@ladiocese.org or 213.482.2040, ext. 251.