CMA Region Updates for October 2025

New York

Changes at The Good Newsroom, the digital news outlet of the Archdiocese of New York: Mary Kate Polanin, former associate director of news, is now its executive editor; Steven Schwankert, former digital editor, is now senior editor; and former staff member Fernanda Pierorazio has been named the Spanish editor.

Volume 60 of The Christophers annual “Three Minutes a Day” book is now available for pre-order before its October release. The new edition features daily stories and reflections based on the group’s motto: “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”

Diocese of Marquette

Catrina “Caty” Mraz has been promoted to assistant editor of The U.P. Catholic, the newspaper of the Diocese of Marquette covering Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Mraz started work in 2023 as a communications specialist. With initiative, Mraz has taken on new duties and responsibilities. In recognition of her good work, she was given the new title in July.

Glenmary Home Missioners

The Glenmary Home Missioners communications team has developed several new tools to share Glenmary’s mission and invite deeper engagement. A new Advent Daily Reflections pamphlet, available in English and Spanish, offers spiritual inspiration while introducing readers to Glenmary priests, brothers, and lay coworkers. It will be distributed to donors, mission parishioners, and online at glenmary.org/advent.

To support Glenmary’s mission appeal program, a bilingual social media campaign was launched to build awareness and engagement in cities ahead of scheduled mission appeal visits. Glenmary partnered with Hundredfold Video to produce a new vocations recruiting video, “Why Be a Glenmary Priest?” filmed on-site in East Tennessee. Watch the video at glenmary.org/vocations.

Diocese of Gary

Earlier this year, the Diocese of Gary shifted its communication strategy in response to research that revealed a significant change in news readership preferences and a growing demand for assistance with evangelization. The diocese restructured its communications team to strengthen service to parishes and support the diocese’s evangelizing mission.

Colleen McGinty-Rabine, communications director, will continue to lead the team and expand her work with communication strategy and media relations. Cecilia Cicone, digital media strategist, will expand her work helping parishes use digital tools to strengthen community engagement. In April, with the sunset of the print version of the Northwest Indiana Catholic newspaper, former Editor Erin Ciszczon transitioned to the newly created role of news and advertising administrator. Ciszczon is well-equipped to continue working with correspondents to populate the digital news site and will assist the team with digital advertising and production of the weekly “Good News” email. In June, Bethany Dhingra was promoted to the newly created position of communications manager. In this role, she will gradually take on more responsibilities for managing communication projects for the team, as well as overseeing two new positions. In August, the team welcomed Abigal Diaz and Miguel Arteaga to the newly created roles of communication specialists. They will help produce content and fulfill requests for communication projects.

Arkansas

At the Diocese of Little Rock, the Arkansas Catholic hosted its eighth and ninth pilgrimages this fall. The “Pilgrimage of Hope” trip took 70 pilgrims to Italy, visiting Milan, Siena, Turin, Florence and Rome. The first tour was held Sept. 17–27, while a second group leaves Oct. 28. The weekly newspaper for the Diocese of Little Rock just announced its next pilgrimage to Greece and Ephesus in April 2027.

Georgia

In Macon, Ga., Christina Sabo, founder and creative director of the Catholic creative agency Paloma & Fig, said the group has grown with five new employees this quarter, including a college intern from Franciscan University of Steubenville.

Kentucky

The Diocese of Owensboro communications office (Rachel Hall, Riley Greif and Elizabeth Wong-Barnstead) has returned to regular operations after a refreshing summertime print break, according to Wong-Barnstead, editor of the Western Kentucky Catholic. She said they are grateful to have reconnected and made new friends at CMC Phoenix, which was fantastic.

The diocesan e-newsletter (owensborodiocese.org/e-newsletter) is being renewed and will be released monthly. Readers are invited to sign up and share feedback. Wong-Barnstead said she is looking forward to serving alongside CMA colleagues J.D. Long-Garcia and Jeanette DeMelo in November on the “Deepening Communion Through Catholic Media” panel at St. Meinrad’s Deepening Communion in a Polarized World conference (bit.ly/tcj-dcc-sm). They hope to see other CMA members there.

Oklahoma

The Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma recently began a pilot program that partners with the prayer app Hallow and includes locally produced content for parishioners throughout the diocese. Within the next several weeks, locally produced devotions and prayers from Tulsa Bishop David Konderla will begin appearing for free on the app, exclusive to parishioners in the geographical boundaries of the diocese with an eastern Oklahoma ZIP code. Additionally, all diocesan schools now have access to Hallow content and resources.

Chris Rush, communications director for the diocese, said diocesan content should be regularly available by October. In the meantime, Bishop Konderla’s trial podcast of his reflection on a recent Gospel is being shared with parishioners online. The partnership with Hallow is made possible through a gift from a local private foundation.

Texas

In the Diocese of Fort Worth, the weekly diocesan podcast, “Lights, Catholic, Action!” wrapped its first season with 27 episodes plus special episodes featuring Father Mike Schmitz and Marcellino D’Ambrosio. All episodes are available on YouTube.com and podcast platforms. The second season has launched, and in October, a monthly Spanish-language podcast, Alumbremos Juntos, is being introduced.

In the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, James Ramos, content editor at the Texas Catholic Herald, recently began a special series, “Voices From the Great Storm,” in collaboration with the archdiocesan archives office. It chronicles the lesser-known stories of people impacted by the Great Storm of 1900. The hurricane, which would be a Category 4 today, decimated the Texas Gulf Coast 125 years ago Sept. 8, 1900, and claimed more than 6,000 lives. The series begins with recounting the stories of children who survived the storm, as well as residents at a Catholic university in Galveston and the brief but important story of the only known priest who has died in a hurricane, Father Thomas Keany.