The Archdiocese of Philadelphia, June 21, announced that it is closing its 117-year-old newspaper, The Catholic Standard & Times to help cover a $17 million budget shortfall, which does not include $11 million in legal fees.
Forty-five people will lose their jobs. Among it’s notable writers was Cardinal John P. Foley who served as editor from 1970 until 1984
The publication went from weekly to monthly last September.
Newspapers are dying throughout the land due to the disruptive technology of the web, and while the well-respected Standard & Times will appropriately be mourned its readership has fallen through the floor and Archbishop Charles J. Chapu’s instinct that it will not be missed is likely correct.