As we begin our seventh year publishing OC Catholic, the award-winning official newspaper of the Diocese of Orange, we have a fresh new look – one that reflects the inspired, faith-filled individuals who pack the pews in our 62 parishes and faith centers. From parish events to news from Christ Cathedral to the accomplishments of the students in the Orange Catholic School system, our promise is to bring you the wonderful stories of life in our diocese.
As we begin this year, however, our paper better reflects you. Last spring we conducted a survey to get a better sense of how you feel about the content we deliver each week. We enlisted a third-party, independent firm that developed a survey that was distributed in our churches, inside the newspapers delivered to readers at home with their O.C. Register Sunday paper, and online. The results were gratifying.
Nearly 90 percent of the more than 1,000 people that took the survey said that they feel that it is important that the diocese continue to publish the paper, with 87 percent reporting that they find the publication “useful.”
Eighty-four percent of respondents said that reading OC Catholic helps them understand issues affecting the Church. As many as 96 percent reported that they regularly read our diocesan news, Catholic Family Life feature, international news and guest columns.
While most survey takers said they feel the balance of news is just about right, some expressed a desire to see more local news. One reader offered the suggestion to increase the size of the type in our photo captions.
We kept all your feedback in mind as we redesigned the paper, resulting in what we hope you will find to be an even more engaging, informative and inspiring read each week.
I recently learned that our own Bishop Kevin Vann, along with his brother bishops, Bishop Timothy Freyer and Bishop Thanh Thai Nguyen, will be traveling to Rome for a meeting with His Holiness Pope Francis. Our readers should be pleased to know that our diocesan newspaper, OC Catholic’s July 2019 special issue highlighting the dedication of Christ Cathedral, will be presented to Pope Francis at that meeting.
You can bet that if we receive feedback on OC Catholic from the pope, that’ll be headline news in our next issue.
