Dutch Priest Titus Brandsma, Warrior Journalist, Now Saint; Frank A Hilario, War-Of-Words Journalist, Not Now Faint. “When In Rome, I Would Not Do What The Romans Do!”
Courtney Mares says (10 May 2022, “Titus Brandsma: A New Patron Saint of Journalism?” National Catholic Register (ncregister.com):
More than 60 journalists write to Pope Francis with request, saying soon-to-be saint’s “journalistic works stand out among all his other activities,” adding that “he gave his life for it. In our view, this makes him particularly suitable for this patronage.”
An open letter published on May 10 said that the world “urgently requires a holy intercessor” like Brandsma, a Carmelite priest and journalist, “in these times of disinformation and polarization.” In part, the petition says:
We, Catholic journalists, recognize in Titus Brandsma a professional peer and fellow believer of considerable standing. Someone who shared the deeper mission that should drive journalism in modern times: a search for truth and veracity, the promotion of peace and dialogue between people.
The holy terror journalist was canonized on Sunday, 15 May 2022 (“Pope Canonizes Dutch Priest, Professor Titus Brandsma” NL Times, nltimes.nl).
Father Brandsma died in the Dachau concentration camp in 1942 “after he firmly opposed mandatory Nazi propaganda in Catholic newspapers.”
The appeal letter was co-written by three journalists from the Netherlands, where Brandsma was born, and a journalist from Belgium. It was co-signed by more than 60 Vatican correspondents.
Titus Brandsma has meant a lot to the Catholic community in the Low Countries, but his journalistic works stand out among all his other activities. He was [Editor In Chief] of a newspaper, devoted himself to the modernization and professionalization of the Catholic daily press in the Netherlands, and strove for better working conditions and the establishment of professional training for journalists.
In contrast, I am not a saint and I am a war-of-words Roman Catholic journalist. Titus Brandsma “devoted himself to the modernization and professionalization of the Catholic daily press in the Netherlands” – ha, ha! All PH media have not modernized and professionalized themselves out of American bad media habits such as their practice of “press freedom”!
I have been urging the modernization and professionalization of the media in my country –
But not freedom of the press. Not freedom to go after the bad but freedom to go after the good! Lawmen must pursue and punish the bad; but journalists must pursue and publish the good for the good of communities of people, especially the poor!
I am an agriculturist, and by choice I journalize for people progress, via what today (starting 2021) I call “Communication for Village Development in the 21st Century” (CoViD21).
Not always with a paid employment, I have been journalizing for community development of and on pursuing CoViD21 in the last 46 years! Thank you, Lord, for the privilege!@517
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