Imagine if Edward Cooney, who 100 years ago was named the founding president of a new organization called the Catholic Press Association, were to be transported in time from that era to today.

How could Cooney possibly comprehend the changes and challenges unfolding in our digital age, evidenced anew last week when Pope Benedict XVI “tweeted” the announcement of a new Vatican online news portal at news.va?

It’s difficult enough for the current members of the Catholic Press Association — which unites professionals sharing Catholic news and commentary through newspapers, magazines, books, and now other evolving digital forms — to sort it all out. While the association paused to honor its past at a centennial convention a few weeks ago in Pittsburgh, talk of the future dominated the agenda.

“With social media like Facebook, people can now ‘friend’ one another,” observed Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington in his homily at the 100th anniversary Mass. “You in the Catholic press in this age of new media and the new evangelization can take that one step further, and help people become friends with Jesus and with each other as his disciples, carrying out his work in today’s world.”

That’s been a central part of the association’s mission for a century. But founding president Cooney might be happy to learn that print products, including Catholic newspapers, still have a vital role in that work.

During an impassioned presentation at a panel discussion, Pittsburgh Bishop David A. Zubik said Catholic newspapers and magazines — which regularly reach almost 13 million U.S. households — continue to be the best way to reach people in the pews. What the next 20 years will bring may be unclear, but today “absolutely and fundamentally the best option to evangelize the evangelizers is through Catholic print,” said Bishop Zubik. He drew applause as he urged fellow bishops to support newspapers as “the chief means to communicate with all the people of the diocese.”

The newspaper of the Diocese of Peoria has been a major player in the story of the Catholic Press Association. Two former editors — Msgr. Robert G. Peters and Albina Aspell — served as association presidents and received the CPA’s highest honor, the St. Francis de Sales Award. This year, the late Father John J. Dietzen — who began his nationally syndicated column “The Question Box” here — was a finalist for that award.

The Catholic Church, including in our diocese, has much to learn when it comes to navigating the shifting currents of how news is delivered and received in the digital age. But because we stand on the firm foundation laid by our predecessors and the support of our bishops, priests, readers, and advertisers, we at The Catholic Post are nothing but excited by any and all ways to share the good news of Jesus Christ and how it is lived out in today’s parishes, institutions, communities and homes. — Thomas J. Dermody