First
issue of The Catholic Herald published in 1908
The Herald began with its first issue published on March 14, 1908, under the editorship of Irish-American journalist Thomas A. Connelly, who had already served as a Catholic journalist in Washington, D.C. and Cleveland.
The paper was launched with a warm endorsement from Sacramento Bishop Thomas Grace and it reported the Catholic news of the city and to a lesser degree the rest of the diocese, as well as reports of conditions in Ireland and lengthy essays on the state of Irish activities in the United States. When it began The Herald was independent of episcopal control.
From Bishop Grace in the March 14, 1908 edition: “The announcement of the establishment here of a Catholic weekly paper of high grade devoted to the interests and activities of the Sacramento Diocese affords me the greatest satisfaction. There is ample scope for such an enterprise in this extensive and rapidly developing territory.
“The urgent need of a well-conducted Catholic newspaper is apparent and must be recognized by all who are familiar with conditions in the diocese. It can be made an effective agency for the promotion of religion and morality in the community and for furthering, in a practical manner, every movement designed to benefit the people, spiritually and otherwise, within the range of its influence.”
From Connelly in the first issue: “Somebody has said that if St. Paul were on earth today, he would be a Catholic editor. That is another way of emphasizing the potency of the printed word in an era in which reading is a universal passion.
“There is no movement, large or small, important or trivial, without
its special organ of publicity. There is no cause which does not include
a literary bureau as a necessary adjunct of its material equipment for
reaching the people and interest them in its objects. Every party, every
cult, boasts its advocates and champions in the public press – daily
and periodical.”
Some information for this article was taken from “The Diocese
of Sacramento: A Journey of Faith,” by Father Steven M. Avella.
