December 2024: Editorial

An Unwritten Page

Christmas comes a little early for Intercom readers this year. The reason lies in the current process of transition to a different publisher as this issue marks the last Veritas publication of Intercom after 54 years of unbroken service to subscribers. Even during the pandemic Intercom was designed and typeset and prepared for online access thanks to the creative skills and enthusiasm of Colette Dower of Veritas and the Catholic Communications Office.

In 2025 a new corner is turned as the magazine adapts to the changing trends in a multi-media age. While the February issue is in preparation now I must apologise in advance for any disruption that may occur in the new year as a result of the transition process. While a printed copy of resources such as Intercom remains popular the graph soars upward for the consumption of such information in digital form. Yet, however, it is disseminated the need for trusted, authoritative and expert sources remains paramount in Catholic communications. Intercom has been blessed over many years to have such resources – in recent times the generous voluntary services – from regular contributors such as Fr Patrick Jones, Fr John Byrne OSA, Sr Moira Bergin, Sr Niamh Galvin OP, Mary Adamson and a host of other skilled thinkers and writers who have made the needs of Intercom subscribers a priority in their busy schedules each month. In this moment of transition I thank them on your behalf as well as my own for their dedication and generosity. Thanks also to ‘Ginger’ who supplied the Crossword for many years and to James Hussey who supplied it in recent months. The crossword, sponsored by Veritas, has now been discontinued. The Irish Episcopal Conference too deserves our thanks for preserving the magazine in testing times in order to maintain an important link with clergy, religious and committed members of the laity for whom Intercom has provided a modest aid and resource over several generations.

The poet Patrick Kavanagh has written:

The New Year’s unwritten page we view
As a lea field to plough and sow
The memory of weeds from the last
Turned page comes through
But only matters what this year we grow

May the Lord of the harvest continue to bless those who sow in his name as a new chapter opens before us all this coming Advent, Christmas and New Year.

Paul Clayton-Lea 

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