News in Spanish will continue in the Intermountain Catholic

In December, the Intermountain Catholic began to regularly print articles in Spanish and English on the front page. I’ve received several complaints about the change, so I thought I would take this opportunity to explain why we are doing this.

There are several reasons for adjusting our Spanish-language coverage. First, Bishop Wester is encouraging hospitality throughout the diocese, following the Gospel call to welcome the stranger. About 80 percent of Catholics in Utah speak Spanish. Putting Spanish stories on our front page is one way for the newspaper to welcome them.

In addition, I feel that having such articles in their native language may encourage Spanish speakers to continue to practice their faith, or to deepen it. If I had the resources, I would add coverage in Vietnamese, Tagalog, and the numerous other languages that are spoken by those who worship in our churches. Unfortunately, I don’t have reporters who can write in these languages, but I will do everything I can to make the strangers in our midst feel welcome.

Another very practical reason for putting a Spanish story on the front page of our paper is to attract more readers, which therefore attract advertisers, which helps our bottom line.

Although we are increasing our Spanish language coverage, most of the pages of the Intermountain Catholic will continue to be in English. However, because of space constraints, not all of the English stories will run in Spanish, just as not all the articles in Spanish will be translated to English.

As our bishop has said, the diversity of our diocese enriches our Catholic experience in Utah, it doesn’t detract from it. For the newspaper, having Spanish stories as well as English adds to our pages; without them we would be a smaller publication and the poorer for it.

We are striving to improve the Intermountain Catholic, providing stories on a variety of topics so that we can reach the faithful throughout the state. We hope to inspire, educate and inform about Catholics both here and throughout the world. If you have suggestions about how we can make our paper better, please feel free to contact me.

Marie Mischel, Editor, Intermountain Catholic