Australia and New Zealand have understood the imperative necessity, the paramount importance of a Catholic Press.  “The Freeman’s Journal,” “The Southern Cross,” “The Catholic Press,” “The New Zealand Tablet,” are widely circulated weekly papers that keep Catholic life so intense in those distant colonies.  What the Catholics of Australia have done, why can we not, in Western Canada, do likewise?

One cannot, indeed, over-estimate the value of a Catholic paper, especially in a sparsely settled country where the Church has yet but missions, where the visits of the priest and the teachings of the Gospel are intermittent, where the Catholics are lost among people of different faith and often of hostile feeling.  But, if we wish our Catholic Press to fulfil its noble mission, it must be received as an expected and welcomed friend, and not, as often is the case, as an intruder, a sickly visitor who imposes himself more or less on our faith and generous nature.

What then are the conditions of genuine success for a Catholic paper? Vigour in policy, extensiveness in circulation:  these are the two essential conditions of success.  The Catholic paper in a community must be a live-wire of high voltage, carrying light, heat, and power, and not a mere telegraphic-cable repeating what others have already said, or serving as a safety valve for the overflow of local gossip.  The news and issues of general interest should be so combined with local topics as to awaken and keep the attention of the reader.

Circulation is also fundamental in journalism as well as in the human system.  It carries life into the whole organism and is the warrant of success.  The moment circulation becomes stagnant and loses hold of the people, the paper is but a ghost.  Poor circulation is what gives to so many Catholic papers such languid existence.

How can we create these conditions of success for the Catholic Press in Western Canada, where its need is so deeply felt?  There is the crux of the present situation.  Our scattered and comparatively small population, even in our cities, the extreme difficulty of securing and keeping managers and editors suited for this work, the indifference and spirit of commercialism which characterize Western Canada:  all these factors tend to render precarious the life of a Catholic paper.  And still the crying need is there; how are we to meet it?

This leads us to make a suggestion which would help to solve the problem of the Catholic Press in the West.  The beautiful work of the Catholic Press in France has prompted it.

The society of “La Bonne Presse” issues a weekly paper, “La Croix.”  This paper has different issues for the different parts of France.  At the central office, in Paris, exists a well organized “boiler-plate” service for general Catholic news and opinions.  These “boiler-plates” are shipped to all the sub-stations, where, during the week are composed the pages of local news, editorials, advertisements, etc.  This is the most economical and most efficient modern method of publishing several papers or different issues of the one paper.