Members of the CPA board take turns writing the "Board Corner," a monthly column e-mailed to all members. The board members hope these mailings will spark discussion and increase communication among the membership.
Click below to read past Board Corner columns:
Finding Plan B
By Pat McCloskey, O.F.M.
Last month Tim Walter, our Executive Director, wrote in his space about the experience that substitute teachers have. “We all felt sorry for that person who had to come to work on a minute’s notice and try to accomplish something beneficial for the students on hand,” he recalled.
Many of us on domestic or international flights over the Christmas holidays experienced delays, cancellations and sometimes the need to fly into a different city. Travel by car was equally troubled in many parts of the United States. Although the people affected were disappointed, they generally took these inconveniences in stride.
As editors, writers, designers, photographers and business managers, we are well aware of the need to search for Plan B when it is not possible to carry out Plan A. Perhaps a photo or illustration has not come through, a writer is unable to deliver a piece by the deadline, we have technology troubles, a staff member has a family emergency or someone cancels an ad at the last minute. We scramble and survive.
What gets us through such days? For starters: prayer, a good staff, ingenuity and a strong sense of mission to our various publics. They look to us for reliable information, inspiration and something to help them grow in faith and deal with their own bad days.
Late last month we celebrated the feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron of the Catholic Press. Ordained as bishop for a city where he could not live because of religious hatred, Francis was no stranger to frustration. Yet he possessed an inner calmness that could benefit all of us when we need to formulate and execute Plan B.
From July 1986 through January 1992, I headed the communications office at the international headquarters of the Order of Friars Minor in Rome. When I was once asked to describe our work to a group of visiting friars, I said: “On a good day, this work is a great privilege. On a bad day, I try to remember the good days!”
Sooner or later, we will come up with a workable Plan B. The question is: At what price to ourselves and to our staffs? Holy women and men--the ones who are officially recognized and the many whom we have known personally--help us put things in perspective.
Board Corner
January 2009
I used to be a teacher, in fact I taught 2nd and 3rd grade over a period of seven years. I worked at a public school in Janesville, WI, because my parish priest in Menomonee Fallsdid not have a good recollection of my days in grade school and decided I wasn’t a worthy candidate to teach at his school. But as my son likes to say, I digress.
At least once a month a substitute teacher would appear to fill-in for a staff member at our school. We all felt sorry for that person who had to come to work on a minute’s notice and try to accomplish something beneficial for the students on hand. Well here I am now, the substitute Board Corner writer of the month.
Back in the office and on a regular schedule of work after a busy Christmas and holiday season, the task at hand as executive director of your association looms in front of me like a lesson plan I’ve never seen. All of the classes need to fit together, start and end on time and be conducted in a manner that the class understands.
For me the classes include:
The Catholic Press Directory
The CPA Awards Program
The CMC planning process
Upkeep of the new CPA Web-site
New revenue programs to sustain the association
Staff management and member correspondence
I’m sure all of you experience something in that order at your work too. There is always a package of tasks to be completed and pulled together, then at some time you are all called on to be the substitute. You are asked at a moment’s notice to learn something new, to complete a project, to keep a smile on our face in the midst of struggle. Your work may go unnoticed by some people in your office but in the end you will have accomplished what a good substitute did, you will have delivered the lesson plan in a way that the student benefited. Your student was a diocesan employee, a business client or reader, maybe even a staff member.
Life in the Catholic Press is never simple but it is always interesting. Tying the old teacher in me with the daily train commuter I would conclude by saying that all of you have made the grade by serving the Lord through your work.
Have a fantastic year!
Tim Walter
Do you like the new look and new approach of The Catholic Journalist?
A pat on the back goes to Michelle Monckton, one of our association coordinators at the Chicago headquarters. Michelle's graphic arts background fits well with her responsibility to produce our association's primary communication vehicle, and she's been a good student in learning the needs and expectations of members of the Catholic Press Association – and AP style!
But our newsletter might not be where it is at today if not for some dedicated effort by CPA members working on a committee.
Over the past several months Michelle received lots of direction from our Member Communications Committee, and those folks deserve a thank you for helping to update the design and the content of The Catholic Journalist we've seen the past couple months. Improving The Catholic Journalist was the No. 1 priority your board of directors gave the Member Communications Committee last year, and its members offered excellent advice, mostly long-distance via e-mail, as many of our CPA committee work. Penny Wiegert, our board vice president from The Observer in Rockford, IL, chairs that committee, and Penny is providing ongoing assistance to Michelle so our newsletter continues in its quest to serve you better and better.
We know you're busy, but…
A nonprofit organization like the CPA counts on volunteer activity like our Member Communications Committee folks provided for The Catholic Journalist, and that in itself presents both challenges and rewards.
Challenges because so many CPA members wear lots of hats – in our regular jobs, in family, parish, diocesan and community involvements, and in just about anything a bishop or religious superior wants to toss on our plates, which they regularly do.
Rewards because achieving something can bring a lot of satisfaction, working with our peers tightens the bonds between members who are so committed to our ministry, and just about anything we do offers opportunities to grow in many ways.
Is there frustration at times? Sure.
Are there delays in accomplishing tasks? Almost always.
Do we all have only so much time we can devote to working on something that's outside of the jobs that we get paid for? Absolutely.
But none of the hurdles should deter us, because we know the good that can come of working on projects that can help all our members.
The November issue of The Catholic Journalist will carry an update on the tasks that your board has put to our committees and the latest list of committee members.
Maybe the progress that the Member Communications Committee has made will be just the inspiration the rest of us need to redouble our efforts on the committees we've volunteered for or to volunteer to work on a task that will help all of us in the CPA.
Bob Zyskowski
President
651-291-4453
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