More on diocesan newspapers.

Aha, Todd and I agree on something! He asks in comments to the post below whether the cost of a diocesan vanity press as it were, is justifiable (if I may paraphrase). Jeff raises the issue, too, of course.

In addition to the cost, I wonder if getting an almost-weekly paper filled, primarily, with unimportant things, actually works against the sense of community that should be built within the local church (i.e., the diocese). I admit that my cold, cold heart doesn't warm to human interest stories the way it would to, say, an updated syllabus of errors. But does such fluff trivialize the faith in the minds of those who aren't so calloused? Does it make it more difficult for the average "pew" Catholic (whatever that is) to keep the substance of the faith distinct from its accidents? In the end, does it make some Catholics think of the diocesan church as little more than a sort of neighborhood association, and its newpaper merely analogous to neighborhood newsletter or an ultra-tame gossip column?