Celebrating the Catholic Exponent – A Retrospective

The Catholic Exponent has undergone many changes in its nearly 80-year history, but one thing has remained constant: Its mission to be “a Catholic window on the world,” a description coined by now-retired editor Lou Jacquet in the 1990s. The Exponent focused on providing stories and news from across the diocese and beyond, along with Catholic commentary on the issues of the day.

The Exponent published its first issue in January of 1944, just six months after the Diocese of Youngstown was founded in July of 1943, with Bishop James McFadden as its leader and serving until his death in 1952. At the time, the Exponent was part of a trio of Catholic newspapers that also included the (Cleveland) Universe-Bulletin and the (Toledo) Catholic Chronicle. Collectively they were known as the Catholic Press Union (CPU). 

The Exponent’s first office was in the Youngstown diocesan chancery building at 144 W. Wood St. The newspaper later moved to a house at 151 W. Rayen Ave., which the diocese had purchased. 

In 1966, when Bishop Emmet Walsh was Bishop of Youngstown (1952-68), the Exponent moved to the Ohio One Building downtown. In 1991, it moved a final time, back to the W. Wood Street building that houses the Diocesan Central Services. 

“This newspaper was undeniably blessed through the years with real stability in the editor’s chair,” Jacquet noted in a recent interview. Following a short stint by Norman Geibel (1944-46), Otto Bordenkircher held the role (1946-60), followed by Edgar “Ed” Barmann (1960-71), Dennis “Denny” Finneran (1972-96), Jacquet (1996-2013), and Pete Sheehan ever since. “William Callahan and Robert Simanski served for a few months each, but five editors in the span of 1947-2023 offered “remarkable continuity,” said Jacquet.

Edgar Barmann served as Exponent editor from 1960 to 1971, until he was named editor of Cleveland’s Universe-Bulletin, becoming the first lay editor of the U-B in 44 years. He also served as managing editor of the Catholic Press Union.  

In 1967, Barmann hired professional artist and cartoonist Edmund “Ed” Sullivan, whose Exponent career would span more than five decades, to write and draw for the Exponent. Sullivan had first worked for the newspaper from 1950 until 1958, when he left to join the seminary of the Society of St. Paul and then a seminary in the Diocese of Steubenville. Finally choosing not to further pursue the priesthood, he knocked on the door of his former editor. 

The year Sullivan returned to the Exponent was the year he established his cartoon syndicate, Avant Features. His cartoons, portraying life in a light-hearted, never mean-spirited way, had appeared in newspapers and magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s, and The Ladies’ Home Journal. His “Beyond the Stained Glass” cartoon, a gently humorous depiction of life in the Church, ran for decades in diocesan newspapers across the country until its creator died in 2006. 

Denny Finneran’s editorship, 1972-96

On Aug. 18, 1972, Denny Finneran was named editor of the Exponent. He had worked at the paper for 10 years before his promotion and remained at the helm for nearly a quarter century, during which time (1986) he was also named associate publisher by Bishop James Malone, Exponent publisher from 1968 to 1995. Finneran was known and respected by diocesan, ecumenical and community leaders, by readers of the Exponent, and by Catholic journalists across the country. He won numerous awards from the Catholic Press Association (CPA) and from social justice, racial equality, Christian family and other organizations. 

Under the leadership of Bishop Malone, and Finneran, the Exponent navigated a rough period that included national and global cultural changes in religious practice for Catholics and others. Like other diocesan newspapers, the Exponent saw its circulation drop to a “dangerously low level,” according to an Exponent article published later.

However, a plan to mail the Exponent to every registered parishioner at a discounted rate (Total Parish Coverage) was hatched in the early 1970s, earning the newspaper a first-place award in circulation promotion from the CPA in 1973.

In December of 1977, Lou Jacquet joined the Exponent as a reporter, before taking a writing job in 1978 at the Chicago Catholic diocesan weekly newspaper. (He would later come back to the Exponent in a new role.)

Jacquet recalled several Exponent employees with whom he worked in the 1970s – some in managerial roles and some behind-the-scenes – who, besides Finneran, played key roles in the paper’s success. Among them was John Regis Reddington, “ad manager and storyteller without peer. Regis was already a Youngstown icon for his Irish wit and ways,” Jacquet said. 

JoAnn Canavan, another proud Irish-American and “the best secretary I ever worked with in my three decades at various newspapers,” sat at the front desk by the door, meeting the public and riding herd on every day’s mail in and out,” Jacquet noted. “Seated at adjoining desks were Carole Vlosich, circulation secretary, who had started at the Exponent in 1974 and still serves today; and Shirley Ellington, bookkeeper. Both were young women raising young children – the latter of whom were frequent office visitors after school,” Jacquet recalled fondly.

He continued: “Somewhere in that cramped space sat Bill Stafford, the ad salesman (and father of a future diocesan priest), whose daily exertions seemed heroic to me, since he could barely hear, having sustained hearing loss in the military. Bill was then, and for many years, heavily involved in Catholic social justice efforts inside and outside the office.”

In 1979, Pete Sheehan was hired as the newest Exponent reporter, where he worked for seven years. In that position, Sheehan said, he wrote a good number of features on parishes and schools and did a variety of human interest stories on Catholics living their faith in the six-county diocese. He also covered speakers who came to the diocese, and reported on the meetings of the diocesan school board and the board of religious education.

Especially enjoyable for him was writing preview stories for the Exponent’s high school football preview. Highlights of Sheehan’s career at this time, he said, included covering the March for Life in Washington, D.C., in both 1980 and 1983; reporting on protests that took place at the Mahoning Women’s Center, on Market Street in Youngstown, where abortions were performed; and covering the talk of Mother Teresa of Calcutta at then-Walsh College in 1982 and engaging her in a question during the press conference.

For his articles on the March for Life, then still in its first decade, Sheehan traveled overnight by bus to the nation’s capital. The experience was an opportunity to see “up close and personal “the demonstration against the 1973 landmark Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision (which legalized abortion nationwide).

“The first year, 1980, I was covering it for the Exponent alone and I got to meet marchers from all across the diocese,” Sheehan recalled. “In particular, I remember talking to some nice kids from Canton Central Catholic High School and a dedicated delegation from Ashtabula, along with those from Mahoning Trumbull, Columbiana and Portage.

“My next year, 1983, I was also covering the march for the Exponent’s sister papers – the Cleveland Universe-Bulletin and the Toledo Catholic Chronicle, so I met right-to-lifers from all over Ohio.

“For both marches, I got to see the movement as a national phenomenon – with thousands of dedicated people showing their sincere commitment to protecting human life,” Sheehan recalled. “It was clear that this was a grassroots, lay-oriented movement. “They would prove their dedication over subsequent decades of continued marching.”

Sheehan’s covering the national march led to another story –  covering protests at the Mahoning Women’s Center. 

“It was a challenge in that I felt it necessary to speak to a representative of the abortion facility – and my editor [Finneran] and the protesters, confident in their position, were supportive of balanced coverage. 

This experience proved helpful when he later moved to Long Island, New York, where “there were many abortion facilities as well as protests and even sit-in demonstrations,” he said. 

Protests at the Mahoning Women’s Center would go on for decades, but eventually “their dedication paid-off and the facility closed.”

Sheehan said one of the most inspiring people he wrote about at the Exponent was Mother Teresa. He and Finneran were present at Walsh when she spoke, as was then-Elaine Polomsky, who was covering the day’s events for the Warren Tribune-Chronicle as religion editor. 

WNEO/WEAO (PBS Channel 45/49) aired portions of Mother Teresa’s talk and the press conference, which drew many reporters. Sheehan’s question, along with those of Finneran and Polomsky, made it on the air, Sheehan noted.

He recalled asking Mother Teresa if having received the Nobel Peace prize was a help or hindrance to her work with the poor. 

The future saint replied that she had accepted the award not for herself but “on behalf of the poor and God.” The attention that Nobel prize drew to her work “made the presence of the poor better known” and inspired others to help.

While Sheehan was an Exponent reporter, Bishop Malone was president of the then-National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB), predecessor to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). During that era, Bishop Malone was involved in efforts to write and publish the bishops’ pastoral letter on peace and nuclear arms (1983) and on economic justice (1986).

Sheehan had numerous opportunities to cover Bishop Malone on these and other justice issues, including the conflict in Northern Ireland – both for the Exponent and for the national Catholic newspaper “Our Sunday Visitor,” for whom Sheehan worked on a freelance basis.

Before leaving for a job as senior reporter at the Long Island Catholic in 1986, one of the last interviews Sheehan did was with then-new Youngstown State University (YSU) football coach Jim Tressel for the Exponent’s annual football preview. 

“Tressel invited me up to eat lunch at the training table and we had an enjoyable interview,” Sheehan recalled. “He was succeeding a fine coach, Bill Narduzzi, and was relatively unheralded, having served as assistant coach for several colleges – including Ohio State.

“He was engaging, well-informed, and sharp. I was hopeful that he could do well for YSU. I had no idea how well he would do,” Sheehan noted with a laugh.

In 1986, Elaine Polomsky Soos sought Sheehan’s vacated position at the Exponent, because she found that, as religion editor of the Tribune-Chronicle, she missed the writing she had done before, as religion writer. While at the Tribune, she had also been freelancing for the national Catholic magazine “U.S. Catholic” and for a national publication used by high school guidance counselors, “Vocational Biographies,” but was finding fewer opportunities to write for these while working full-time. 

That fall, Finneran hired Soos as associate editor, primarily with writing and reporting responsibilities.

Soos said her favorite articles to write for the Exponent were “the complicated – and even controversial – ones. Once a teacher, always a teacher, I guess [Soos had been a high school Spanish and English teacher]. I liked trying to take challenging material and make it reader-friendly – as people would say today.”

With Bishop Malone just finishing up his three-year term as president of the NCCB, Soos, like Sheehan, found plenty of opportunities to cover speakers invited to the diocese to answer questions about the bishops’ peace pastoral document and their letter on Catholic social teaching and the U.S. economy.

Soos also covered stories about women in the Church, including the development of national documents being considered by the U.S. bishops. In 1992, Soos wrote an Exponent article about the publication by the bishops of a pastoral letter (written by the USCCB Committee on Women in Society and in the Church and the Committee on Marriage and Family) on the evil of domestic violence – a topic the nation’s Catholic women had urged they write about in earlier consultations. And in 1995, Soos reported on Bishop Malone’s decision to assign two women religious to parish leadership positions, with priests named as pastors in accordance with Canon Law. (Two decades later, several lay women and religious would be named by Bishop George V. Murry, S.J., to similar positions, and Bishop David Bonnar has assigned women to the role of diocesan pastoral associate, working closely with pastors and associate pastor as a leadership team for one or more parishes.)

In January of 1989, the year of the Exponent’s 45th anniversary, the newspaper began publishing independently from the CPU, which had been dissolved by the bishops of Cleveland, Toledo and Youngstown after the Catholic Chronicle (Toledo) pulled out of the corporation for financial reasons in the spring of 1988. Cleveland and Youngstown considered continuing to publish together, but, in the end, Bishop Malone determined the Exponent would fare better financially if it began publishing independently.

“Bishop Malone so strongly supported the diocesan newspaper, its editor and staff and its parish coverage plan, that the Exponent thrived when others would possibly not have,” Soos said. Other income came from individual subscriptions and advertising, but parishes’ buying the diocesan newspaper for as many of their parishioners as they could was the main revenue source for the Exponent for years.

Even before the transition from corporate partner to independent newspaper, the Exponent already had an advisory board in place, led by Auxiliary Bishop Benedict Franzetta, which gave advice to Finneran in various areas. Soos served on the board when she worked in Warren and became a non-voting member, like Finneran, when she was hired at the Exponent. (Among those who chaired the advisory board was Thomas Anderson, a Tribune-Chronicle copyeditor who, years later, began freelancing for the Exponent and, in 2022-23, assisted in the office part-time with production.) 

In the summer of 1988, Bishop Malone had directed the board to form an ad hoc committee whose task was to determine whether and how the Exponent could publish on its own. The committee was composed of local business professionals, attorneys, journalists, diocesan finance officers and other diocesan staff, along with Finneran and Soos.

Among the committee’s recommendations was to move the Exponent offices from the Ohio One building downtown, where it was paying monthly rent, back to the diocesan Central Services offices on Wood Street, where it would not have that financial burden.

Another task before the committee, Soos said, “was to figure out how to get the paper printed and who would handle the business side of things, since those jobs had been handled by Cleveland before.” 

After thoroughly studying the operations of other similar diocesan newspapers, gathering data from suppliers on production, printing and mailing the newspaper; and analyzing editorial, circulation, advertising and marketing needs, the diocese enlisted the services of its associate treasurer, John Didek, to handle the Exponent’s books, and a printing company was chosen (off-site). In the meantime, Finneran hired a production director, William Baker, and also a new advertising account executive Robert Berry. Soos was promoted to managing editor, and with the retirement of Exponent secretary/editorial assistant JoAnn Canavan, she hired Annetta “Netta” Sweetko as parish news editor (who, years later, would become production director), and added several freelance writers from across the diocese to help with some of the writing responsibilities.

The ad hoc committee also arranged for a survey to be taken of Exponent readers and other diocesan Catholics to determine what they wished to see in their ‘new’ diocesan newspaper,” Soos recalled.

The survey project was extensive, including focus groups that met across the diocese over several weeks, and with business students from Youngstown State University compiling the results. The respondents (and those of subsequent Exponent surveys) said their most important need was for information regarding events taking place across the diocese; articles explaining documents and statements by the pope and the nation’s bishops; Catholic commentary on current events, and stories about Catholics living out their faith. 

“And more recipes!” Soos laughed. “Our readers always asked for more recipes. So through the years, we held recipe contests, featured good cooks in all of our six counties, published cookbooks and, at Christmas time, pages of holiday recipes – and we made sure we published a recipe in most issues and on our website. In recent years, we published interviews with caterers across the diocese, with their recommendations for throwing holiday parties.”

In 1991, the Exponent was in need of another staffwriter, since Ed Sullivan was now heavily involved in production work, Soos was handling most of the copyediting (with the added duties of special sections editor and office manager), and Finneran found he could be away from home less often, as he cared for his wife, Martha, who lived for decades with multiple sclerosis.

That year, Jacquet was invited by Finneran to return to Youngstown as the Exponent’s associate editor for editorial (Sullivan was associate editor for production). Jacquet, who was hired primarily to write, shared this task with Soos, Sullivan and the freelancers. 

Jacquet came to his new Exponent job with plenty of experience in Catholic journalism. He had worked for nearly two years as a reporter for the Chicago Catholic diocesan newspaper; for four years as editor of The Harmonizer, diocesan newspaper of Fort Wayne, Ind.; for five years as associate editor and then editor of Our Sunday Visitor; and for 18 months as editor/general manager of The Dialog, diocesan newspaper of the Diocese of Wilmington, Del. 

He had also freelanced for many Catholic magazines, writing more than 150 articles in the year before he rejoined the Exponent staff. He was also book review editor for Columbia, magazine of the Knights of Columbus, and wrote a syndicated column, “Everyday Faith,” which ran in 16 diocesan newspapers from 1980 to 1996.

Working with Finneran again, Jacquet noted that his boss “had a great sense of humor, but he was an old-school journalist who knew what he wanted and expected the best [from the Exponent employees]. The staff nominated Denny for the Francis de Sales Award, which is the highest award bestowed by the Catholic Press Association. He finished in the top five because he was so well known and respected in Catholic press circles.”

Sheehan, who had worked with Finneran for seven years, agreed with Jacquet’s assessment of their former editor, calling him “a true newspaper man, who told me to cover Catholic news like I would cover regular news – so that’s what I always did.”

Soos, who worked with Finneran for 10 years, added that he was “my mentor, as a manager of people. Shortly after he hired me, Denny was asked by his supervisor in Cleveland to create a form for use with job performance reviews at the Exponent. He asked me what we used at the Trib [Tribune-Chronicle, Warren], and copied it. Then he added a section for the employee to evaluate his [Finneran’s] performance as well. 

“Denny believed our workplace should reflect the Christian dignity of every person there, and it was clear to me that, as a Catholic and as a manager of a Catholic organization, he believed he should emulate Christ. Denny was a true inspiration to me – as well as a friend – and I hope that at least some of the things he did and the way he treated people rubbed off on me in the way I regarded and treated my Exponent colleagues.”

On December 5, 1995, Bishop Malone, known for many “firsts,” including being one of the first bishops in the nation to establish a policy for dealing with the abuse of children and disabled persons by clergy and other Church workers, retired at the age of 75.  

Auxiliary Bishop Franzetta retired at 75 on Sept. 4, 1996, but not before he gathered Soos, Jacquet and then-ad manager Berry for several meetings aimed at determining the new leadership of the Exponent staff, in anticipation of Finneran’s announced retirement.

Lou Jacquet’s editorship, 1996-2013

In 1996, Finneran, who had led the Exponent for 24 years, retired. Jacquet was named editor, Soos stayed on as managing editor and Berry was promoted from advertising manager to business manager. 

“I was not really nervous about taking over from Denny,” Jacquet said. “I totally respected him and knew I had big shoes to fill,” but he said he also felt the experience he had in his former jobs prepared him well for his new position.  

In February of 1996, Bishop Thomas Tobin arrived from Pittsburgh as the new – and fourth – bishop of Youngstown, and within a year, Jacquet’s title included general manager.

Jacquet called his time working for his new publisher “the “golden era of the Exponent,” as the newspaper boasted 40,000 subscribers under his leadership. Bishop Tobin enjoyed writing a regular column for the Exponent, titled “Without a Doubt” (a play on words based on the “doubting” apostle he was named after). The column won numerous awards from the Catholic Press Association. 

During this time, the Exponent was publishing about one special section per issue on topics such as health care, careers, home improvement, (with each always having a Catholic angle), as well as two series on diocesan parishes that took several years to finish running. These sections were an important way to add needed revenue to the Exponent’s coffers without having to raise the cost of the newspaper for the parishes.

Most of these special sections were suggested by Karen Mason (hired in 1999 to lead the advertising department); by ad account executive Frank Castner (hired in  1990 and who worked into his 80s, selling well over $1 million worth of ads during his career before retiring in 2021); and by business manager Berry. (In the summer of 2022, Mason, flying solo selling ads since Castner retired, welcomed new administrative assistant Brenda Gustovich. Mason noted that, as of today’s final Exponent edition, the list of special sections the Exponent has published numbered 40 per year.)

In 1999, the Exponent launched a feature geared toward the lives and interests of Catholic teens, and “With YOUth in Mind” was born. Freelancer Nancilynn Gatta, a Warren John F. Kennedy High School alumna, was chosen to interview members of parish youth ministry groups and high school and junior high students of Catholic schools. The feature, which ran several times a year ever since, was one of the most noticeable features on the Exponent’s website, with its extensive list of topics covered, said Soos.

“Parish youth ministers told us they’ve used the page for discussion in their youth group gatherings,” Soos said. “They say the kids like it because it features ‘real’ teenagers, sometimes kids they know.” With her “ease in interacting with young Catholics,” Soos noted, Gatta won two CPA awards for her articles.

Among the Exponent’s other CPA award-winning freelancers were writer Mary Ellen Pellegrini and photographer Rick Walker.

In 2003, Dana Nicholson was hired as production assistant, working in that position until 2009. (She would return in the same role in 2017.)

In 2005, Bishop Tobin was named bishop of Providence, Rhode Island, and vicar general Msgr. Robert Siffrin was named diocesan administrator.

In 2006, on the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution against Soviet oppression, Soos interviewed several diocesan Catholics who had fled their homeland in 1956, among tens of thousands, relocating in Greater Youngstown. She won a CPA award for her feature article, which highlighted their harrowing experiences. More recently, in February of 2022, Soos said she felt humbled to interview local Ukrainian Catholics about their thoughts and hopes after Russia invaded the country from which they or their parents emigrated or where many of their relatives still live.

One of the things Bishop Tobin did as Exponent publisher was see to it that the office technology got updated, Jacquet said. Parishes, schools and diocesan departments were asked to attend several presentations on website creation and maintenance, and the Exponent staff decided it was time for them to create a website too.

In 2008, Soos and Sweetko attended a national Catholic Press Association convention in Brooklyn, New York, geared around creating websites for diocesan newspapers. Inspired by the representatives of several diocesan newspapers who discussed both their successes and challenges, the Exponent sought the counsel of Lou Orbin, then technology manager for the diocese, who made some recommendations, including the possibility of adding interactive features and advertising. 

Soos designed a prototype and the first Exponent website was launched that year. It included a children’s page, a teens page, a young adults page, a college students page, a recipe page, movies and books pages, an editor’s column and the bishop’s column, an “Ask Father Chris” page (in which Father Chris Luoni answered questions about Catholicism sent in by teens and young adults), and links to the diocesan “Communique” newsletter and to websites of the Vatican, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic News (wire) Service, and more. 

Jacquet said one of his goals as editor was to get the six counties to “talk to one another” and he would make sure to run a feature from each county in every issue. 

“I ramped up coverage of the western part of the diocese by focusing on hiring freelancers who lived in Stark and Portage counties,” the editor said. “I tried to get our readers to think beyond their own county. I wanted people to get a sense of the Church at large, either through stories or photos, and I think I accomplished that,” Jacquet said. 

He said the Exponent has been critical for the growth of the diocese and has become a way for the bishops to get their messages across while also serving as a source of news, so diocesan Catholics could be in the know about what was happening in the diocese and beyond. 

The newspaper has also been “an essential faith formation tool. It has had some excellent columnists on Church teaching,” Jacquet said.

He added that the Exponent “couldn’t have done what we did without our freelancers – too numerous to name, but who were invaluable when it came to coverage.” The longest-serving freelancer is photographer Robert Zajack, whom Jacquet described as “a force of nature.” Zajack took photos for the Exponent for decades, after Jacquet invited him to be part of the Exponent team. 

“Bob is a total professional, always prepared, always on time, always getting the necessary information with every photo,” Jacquet said.

In 2007, Bishop George V. Murry, S.J., began his service as fifth bishop of Youngstown. 

The former Bishop of the Diocese of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, Bishop Murry came to his Youngtown post with an extensive background in education, having served in schools and universities in several large dioceses including Washington and Chicago. While in Youngstown, he enjoyed visiting students, and even taught some classes when he visited the Catholic high schools, Jacquet pointed out.

The bishop desired a redesign for the Exponent, and in June 2010, Exponent graphic designer Christyne Yonata fulfilled his wish. The new design featured a striking close-up cover photo related to an important diocesan or national news story; a vertical layout with larger photos on the inside; three award-winning columnists on the commentary page; and new titles for the regular features.

In 2013, after winning 13 CPA awards for the editorials, sports stories, family and spiritual life columns he wrote for the Exponent – and the general excellence award the newspaper won – Jacquet retired, worked part-time in archives at the chancery, and fully retired in 2015. 

Focusing on “the many good things that were accomplished at the Catholic Exponent by so many staffers during its nearly 80 years of existence,” Jacquet said: “Our late colleague Ed Sullivan, artist and cartoonist extraordinaire, will always have a special place in my heart and my memories for all the joy he helped create among us – all too often at my expense. Colleagues too numerous to mention also made my work days enjoyable through the years. An enormous amount of work as a staff went into creating each issue beyond what the public could ever perceive, but almost always amid good-natured ribbing and plenty of highly-caloric snacks.

“The Exponent has had a lot of people through the years who had a skill set beyond what they were hired for,” Jacquet said. “During my years as editor/general manager, it would have been impossible for this newspaper to survive financially without the business skills of Bob Berry, business manager; the writing, editing and copyediting talents of Elaine Polomsky Soos, managing editor; and the graphic talents/secretarial skills/charisma of Netta Sweetko, production director. 

“In addition to Bob’s considerable business talents in advertising and finance, his quick wit and his gift for amusing conversation helped lighten plenty of deadline moments for his fellow staffers. Elaine is the best copyeditor I have ever come across, and Netta was, in my view, the “glue” that held this newspaper together day to day – from answering phones to solving production problems, and speaking with parish contacts in six counties. How fortunate I was to work with all of them – and more,” Jacquet said.

Of her longtime friend and colleague, Soos said, “Lou and I met when he interviewed me for a story on singles in the Church when he was the Exponent reporter in 1977 and I was a teacher in the public schools. After I went into journalism, we became friends ‘in the business’ and followed each other’s careers.

“I myself am a slow and deliberate writer, so Lou always impressed me with his ability to do a 45-minute interview, then turn out a full-bodied story, well before the second hour was up. 

“He was truly dedicated to his vocation as a Catholic journalist and diocesan newspaper editor and took the Exponent mission statement seriously – wanting to not only keep readers informed about Catholic issues and events and have commentary to help sort out things they would read or hear about in the news, but also to unify Catholics in the diocese by highlighting people living their faith in all of our six counties. He wanted everyone to know their whole diocese and feel connected to one another.”

Pete Sheehan’s editorship, 2013-23

When Sheehan learned Jacquet, his friend, was retiring, he sought his Exponent position. Sheehan was named Exponent editor/general manager by Bishop Murry in 2013, after the Long Island Catholic closed as a print publication in 2012. 

Sheehan said, “Bishop Murry was generally supportive of the Exponent’s mission and was always willing to listen to my explanations or viewpoints and always gave me a fair shake when it came to making a case for stories or angles for stories. He would come up with helpful suggestions.”

Sheehan said one of the challenges Bishop Murry faced as Exponent publisher was encouraging pastors to increase the number of subscriptions they were buying for their parishioners and also to support the mission of the newspaper. 

“The Exponent has been extremely important for the diocese,” the editor said. “It has kept readers informed about diocesan news and about the larger Church.”

He added that the diocesan newspaper helped readers have a sense of community because they knew what was happening in every corner of the diocese, no matter where they lived. 

One of the biggest changes Sheehan experienced when he returned to the Exponent, he said, was the change in the newspaper’s publishing schedule. Due to increased postal rates, it had gone from being a weekly publication to a bi-weekly. He also had to get used to the newspaper now having its own production department and otherwise being produced locally, rather than in Cleveland.

“And there was no staff reporter when I returned, so I had to rely more heavily on freelancers,” Sheehan said. 

He also covered many stories himself, including articles related to Bishop Murry’s many national and state appointments. Bishop Murry had been on the board of directors of Catholic Relief Services when he was named Bishop of Youngstown. He was later elected chairman of the USCCB’s Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism and served in other capacities with the USCCB, including chairman of the Committee on Priorities and Plans, the Committee for Religious Liberty and the Committee on Catholic Education. He was also chairman of the board of the National Catholic Educational Association and served on the Ohio Task Force on Community-Police Relations.

Looking back at his time at Youngstown’s diocesan newspaper, Sheehan said, “I came to the Exponent as a reporter after 16 years of Catholic education, including college, but I still had a lot to learn as a reporter and as an editor, and the Exponent gave me these opportunities. I was often moved by the events I covered and I was inspired by many of the people I interviewed.”

While he was thrilled to get to cover Mother Teresa in her visit to Canton, he said he never got to cover Pope John Paul II while working for the Exponent, but he did attend and report on the pope’s World Youth Day in Denver while working in Long Island. Sheehan said Pope John Paul II came to New York in 1995 and he covered two of his appearances.

On Dec. 31, 2017, managing editor Soos retired, naming Carol Stowe – hired two years before as assistant copyeditor – to special sections editor. Soos came back the very next issue as contributing/consulting editor. In 2020 Lori Vuksanovich was hired as Exponent bookkeeper.

That same year, after the June 5 death of Bishop Murry from leukemia, the diocese was without a bishop until November, when Pope Francis appointed Father David Bonnar, a popular Pittsburgh priest, to be the sixth bishop of Youngstown. Ordained to the episcopacy on Jan. 12, 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bishop Bonnar was installed the same day and began his service to the people of the diocese. 

As part of his commitment to evangelization and the need to use diocesan resources to communicate the message of the Gospel to all diocesan Catholics – a topic he emphasized in his 2021 pastoral letter, “Testify to the Light,” Bishop Bonnar announced in his Nov. 11, 2022, Exponent column that the diocesan newspaper would be transitioning into a print and online magazine, “The Catholic Echo,” which is supported by a multi-media communication platform. 

The aim of the new initiative is to adapt to “the realities of today’s Church and world” and reach diocesan Catholics who are currently not being reached by the Exponent, the bishop said. The plan is to build upon the legacies of the Exponent, Catholic Television Network of Youngstown and diocesan social media.  

In his column in today’s final edition (Page 3), Bishop Bonnar commends and thanks the Exponent newspaper and its dedicated staff and freelancers for “bringing this product to you for the last time” – and he invites all Catholics of the diocese to consider that “at the heart of the Holy Father’s dream is a strong conviction that the Church as we know it cannot be about maintenance, but mission;” that “the Church does not exist for herself, but for the proclamation of the Gospel;” and that “our lives as disciples in the Church must always be open to change.”

With this final edition of the Catholic Exponent, Sheehan is departing as editor/general manager, and Soos is retiring for the second time. 

Reflecting on his 17 years working for the official newspaper of the diocese in which he was born, Sheehan said: “Whether doing the work of a reporter, editor or general manager, I found that the job was never easy, but we found it important because a well-informed readership can better serve the Church and its mission. A diocesan newspaper also helps readers have a sense that they are part of something bigger – a diocese and the Church Universal.

“There were also rewards along with the challenges. Though I’m a proud product of Catholic schools, I had many opportunities to grow in my knowledge of the faith and to be inspired by the people I wrote about. There was also the reward of knowing that I was involved in a genuine ministry – helping people better understand the Church and connect with the truths of the faith.

“Perhaps most importantly, I had the honor of working with a wonderful staff who shared the Exponent’s mission and worked diligently to carry it out. I felt a kinship with colleagues who cared about one another, along with the mission – and who sought to support one another.

“I will miss the daily engagement with the news.”

Of Sheehan, her longtime friend and colleague, Soos said, “After Pete and I met at the Mother Teresa event in 1982, he quickly became another friend of mine, since we were both writing about religion, he in Youngstown and I in Warren. It was always fun to share our perspectives on Catholic events in the news and how our two newspapers were covering them. It was also nice having someone with whom I could share my hopes for our Church – along with my frustrations about its often slow-moving timelines. 

“When Pete came back to Youngstown 10 years ago, we found our conversations could pretty much pick up where we left off in 1986. When he was named editor and we started working together for the first time, I came to respect his abilities as a ‘newshound’ and to also see him as someone who was not afraid to stand up for his beliefs.”

In 2022, Sheehan won a CPA award for a column he wrote on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic as a diocesan newspaper staff.

Of her own 36 years working for the Catholic Exponent, Soos said, “I can tell you that I learned something profound or practical from each person I interviewed for stories – from cardinals to Catholic plumbers. I know of very few workplaces that would have allowed me to legitimately and consistently probe people’s life experiences on matters as important as their enduring faith, their daring hope, or the Christian love that guides their lives.

“The people who made my job worth cherishing on a more regular basis were the Exponent staff members (my family-away-from-family, who provided a unique blend of professionalism, Christian caring, and side-splitting lunch banter); the many friends I made working in the diocesan Central Services offices who also offered important comfort and prayers whenever any of us requested these (including Bishops Malone, Tobin, Murry, Bonnar and Franzetta, and Msgr. Robert Siffrin, who oversaw the Exponent operation); and the dedicated crew of freelance writers who wrote or took photos for our newspaper – some for decades – all possessing a curiosity, creativity and passion for helping us get out the news of our diocesan Church. 

“My career at the Catholic Exponent was sometimes challenging, often entertaining, and always gratifying. It was also an experience I would never trade.”

Current Exponent staffers Annetta Sweetko, Karen Mason, Carole Vlosich, Dana Nicholson, Brenda Gustovich and Lori Vuksanovich will be part of the staff for The Catholic Echo, whose editor is Katie Wagner, associate director of diocesan communications. Several writers and photographers who have freelanced for the Exponent plan also to do so for The Catholic Echo.   

To read further reflections on the Catholic Exponent, written by Pete Sheehan, Lou Jacquet and Elaine Polomsky Soos, please visit catholicecho.org.