Young blood
Reidy, Maurice Timothy
THE LAST WORD YOUNG BLOOD Maurice Timothy Reidy People tell me I look young. It's something I've always heard, but more so since I started working at Commonweal. I guess that people think that...
...Maurice Timothy Reidy is an associate editor of Commonweal...
...My job is that much easier because they have worked to make Commonweal a respected journal of opinion...
...Steinfels and Callahan were part of a generation of intellectually and socially engaged Catholics who came of age just before and during Vatican II...
...I have to constantly remind myself that my interests may not match those of our readers...
...That generation was-and still is-a large part of the magazine's readership...
...What does that mean...
...When I left the magazine a few years ago after a year as an intern, I took solace in the fact that I could still be part of the Commonweal community as a reader...
...If our recent reader survey is accurate, more than half our subscribers are sixty-five or older...
...The magazine is what it is because of the wisdom and experience of its many excellent editors, both past and present...
...When the sexual-abuse scandal broke, the magazine helped me to weather that storm...
...I guess that people think that Commonweal is-and has always been-an august journal edited by a veteran group of mature and high-profile journalists...
...My generation, on the other hand, does not have the same level of commitment to the church, and consequently, fewer of them read the magazine...
...Commonweal continues to attract smart young people as writers and, occasionally, as interns (such as our current one, Eileen Arnold...
...And they are the ones that, God willing, will carry us into the future...
...We're a must-read for young theologians, though we need to do a better job attracting young professionals-people who may never write or work for the magazine, but who will read and discuss it with their friends, families, and colleagues...
...Yet I am confident that our faithful subscribers believe, as I do, in the importance of this enterprise, and that they will bear with us as we try to find ways to reach a younger audience...
...Articles on liturgical music may not thrill me, but I understand that many of our readers are deeply invested in this issue...
...These are the kind of people that have helped sustain the magazine in the past...
...Considering the average age of those who responded to our survey, I can't but worry about Commonweal's future...
...I also know that I'm working for Commonweal and not Entertainment Weekly, so references to obscure 1980s TV sitcoms or indie pop albums should be kept to a minimum...
...Peter Steinfels arrived right after college, Daniel Callahan after graduate school...
...I know this is a gloomy thought for an anniversary issue, but I want to be clear about how much is at stake...
...There's a certain truth to this perception...
...Occasionally, that means covering subjects that may seem frivolous (pop music) or embarking on projects that may seem of only long-term benefit at best (updating our Web site...
...I have benefited enormously from the knowledge and expertise of the people who have read and written for this magazine over the years...
...The list of people who have worked here in their youth is quite impressive, including Kevin Doyle, capital defender for New York State, hospice nurse Mary Lee Freeman, and Bernard G. Prusak, a professor at Boston University...
...I worry about living in a world where the Commonweal perspective might not be available...
...Young people are discovering the magazine...
...One: I'm lucky...
...Still, my situation-and that of my colleague Grant Gallicho, who is roughly my age-differs in significant ways from those of our predecessors...
...Of course, there are many reasons to be optimistic about the magazine's future...
...Wilfrid Sheed jokes in this issue that turnover at the magazine was always high because editors could no longer afford to work here after having two-and-a-half kids...
...I am not the first person this side of thirty to work at Commonweal, nor do I expect to be the last...
...And make no mistake: finding young readers must be a top priority...
...in fact, some were as green as I was when I started here in 1999...
...Still, editing a magazine for an older audience does pose some challenges...
...Still, part of my job as I see it is to attract a new generation of readers to the magazine...
...But not all of them were seasoned pros when they first walked in Commonweal's doors...
...Our goal is to bring the unique Commonweal perspective to subjects that interest young readers (like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Lord of the Rings) in the hope of enticing them to discover the many riches this magazine has to offer...
...I find myself in the strange position of being a committed and educated young Catholic editing a magazine whose average subscriber is slightly older than my father...
Vol. 131 • November 2004 • No. 19
