No, I don’t mean war. I mean a whole new Catholic World News. We’ve spent months planning and implementing big changes to our web site and I think it’s going to be the best source for Catholic news and information on the Web. And starting tomorrow, you’ll get to see it.
In addition to continuing to provide top-notch news from the Vatican and elsewhere, we have also more stories on our front page than ever before, an easier to navigate interface, new features that allow you to provide comment on stories that grab your attention, and my favorite part: a weblog.
Now you’re saying to yourself: “Ho hum, another blog?” But this isn’t just any blog. We have some big names contributing to this blog, names you already know and respect. These are some of the keenest minds around when it comes to analyzing and commenting on news of the day. Plus, for all your Catholic World Report readers, we’ll also have “Diogenes” as a contributor. If you don’t know him, Diogenes is the pen name of our back-page contributor who provides witty, pithy, sometimes stinging commentary on whatever catches his eye—from the Scandal to bad liturgy to the dating scene to pop culture. He sees it all, and now he’ll be sharing his observations in the new blog, called “Off The Record.”
Now the bad news. In order to get all this you have to be a subscriber. I know this sounds like a commercial pitch, but I’m just trying to convey the good stuff we have to offer. You can get a 30-day, free trial or you can just subscribe for $30 a year or $2.95 per month.
I hope you all like the new CWN as much as I do. By the way, I will be continuing my own blog, but I will also begin posting on that blog as well. I’m not sure what the balance of stuff will be, because I’ll have to work that out over time. I do know that some stuff will be posted exclusively over there.
Update: I can now say two of the contributors to the CWN blog “Off the Record” will be Fr. George Rutler, who has hosted TV programs on EWTN and is a priest of the Church of Our Savior in New York and Fr. Joseph Wilson, a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, who has become a well-known commentator on the Scandal and the situation in the Church. Of course, I forgot to mention that Philip Lawler, editor of Catholic World News and Catholic World Report magazine will also be contributing.
Update 2: You don’t have to be a subscriber to read the blog, so check it out.
