The Diocese of Youngstown celebrates The Exponent and announces the launch of the new Catholic Echo website
PRESS RELEASE
February 24, 2023
CONTACT: Justin Huyck, Director of Communications; (330) 744-8451, ext. 320; jhuyck@youngstowndiocese.org
Youngstown, Ohio—This weekend, the Diocese of Youngstown publishes its final issue of The Catholic Exponent newspaper, as announced in a press release on November 11, 2022. The diocese also launched a website this week, www.CatholicEcho.org, which acts as a media resource for local Catholics and will pave the way for The Catholic Echo magazine—a 10x/year publication that will reach every parishioner household in the six-county diocese later this spring.
“The word ‘exponent’ is defined as ‘someone who believes in and promotes the truth.’ For 79 years—nearly a lifetime—that word has defined the mission of the Catholic newspaper of the Diocese of Youngstown … We are so grateful to our staff, to our advertisers, to our readers who have beheld this treasure—this treasure of truth, this treasure of accuracy, this treasure of the faith,” said the Most Reverend David J. Bonnar, Bishop of Youngstown.
Just one year after the diocese was founded in 1943, The Catholic Exponent newspaper published its first issue, providing “a Catholic Window on the World” and offering news, features and commentary at the local, national and international levels to Catholics in all six counties of the diocese. In recent years, the Exponent was only reaching about a third of parishioner households, so the diocese has been pursuing a new communication model that is digital-first and will reach all its parishioners in print and online.
The final issue of The Catholic Exponent features a “Celebrating The Exponent” special section, compiled by Contributing Editor Elaine Polomsky Soos, which includes information on the history of The Exponent and its numerous awards and accolades. The final issue also contains the latest news, including an article by Exponent editor Pete Sheehan on how the Catholic community is navigating the East Palestine disaster. Additionally, the issue outlines the diocese’s plans for The Catholic Echo.
“The Catholic Echo is really a media group, featuring all of the various types of media produced by the diocesan communications department,” said Katie Wagner, Editor In Chief of The Catholic Echo magazine and Associate Director of Communications. “Even when the magazine begins hitting homes later this spring, The Catholic Echo website will continue to be the place for our parishioners to go and read the latest news, since the magazine will be feature-heavy—focusing more on telling the stories of Catholic life throughout the diocese.”
The Catholic Echo website, which launched this week, features videos from CTNY (the Catholic Television Network of Youngstown), the Wineskins radio program—which is now available as a podcast on all major podcasting platforms—news from the most recent issues of The Exponent and information on the upcoming print magazine. The website will help “bridge the gap” in news between the last issue of The Exponent and the first issue of The Echo, and will continue to be developed as a central piece of the diocese’s media outreach. News and media from the Echo will also be available though an email newsletter.
Justin Huyck, Director of Communications for the Diocese of Youngstown, comments, “I want to thank and congratulate the Exponent team over the years for an amazing history. Coming out of the Second Vatican Council, the Diocese of Youngstown has been a leader in media and publishing,” Huyck said. “Along with Catholic Television Network of Youngstown, the Exponent has utilized media to help Catholics in our six counties grow in faith. That continues to be our guiding philosophy. We have a transformational faith and we’re transforming into the future, building on that legacy of good media, good publishing in the diocese and innovating to the time we’re in now.”
Visit the website at www.CatholicEcho.org. For more information, contact Justin Huyck at (330) 744-8451, ext. 320.