Introducing the New Editor of Catholic World Report | August 3, 2006 | IgnatiusInsight.com

http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2006/cwr_neweditor_aug06.asp

The mission of the Catholic journalist is one that is unique, says the new editor of Catholic World Report (CWR). Done right, George Neumayr explains, Catholic journalism brings a much-needed focus on God's truths by reporting the news accurately and in proper context.

Neumayr, who was recently appointed editor of Catholic World Report, told IgnatiusInsight.com that he sees his role at Catholic World Report as bringing the wisdom of the Church to bear on the news of the world at a time of intense civilizational crisis. The August/September 2006 issue of Catholic World Report will be the first issue edited by Neumayr.

Neumayr most recently served as managing editor and executive editor of the American Spectator in Washington, D.C. He is a media fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, a member of the California Political Review's editorial board,and a 2004 recipient of the "Spotlight Award" from the Center for Military Readiness in Washington, D.C. His columns have been featured on the Rush Limbaugh show, Beliefnet.com, Human Events Online, and numerous magazines and newspapers. He has appeared often on national television and talk radio programs discussing political, cultural, and religious issues.

A native of Southern California, Neumayr holds a degree in philosophy from the University of San Francisco, graduating magna cum laude in 1994. He served as the first editor of the San Francisco Faith newspaper, and then as an editorial writer and Op-Ed editor at Investor's Business Daily in Los Angeles. He lives in the Washington, D.C. area.

IgnatiusInsight.com: How does your background suit you for the role of CWR editor? What do you bring to the job that is unique?

Neumayr: I come from a Catholic academic background. My mom's father, J.M. Cameron,was a Catholic philosophy professor fromGreat Britainof the progressive stripe who wrote for The National Catholic Reporter, Commonweal, the Tablet, and the New York Review of Books, among other liberal publications; my father, John Neumayr, is one of the founders of Thomas Aquinas College and continues to teach philosophy and theology there. So wide-ranging Catholic controversy -- intellectual, cultural, and political -- is a subject with which I am very familiar. The issues CWR covers are issues I've heard debated since childhood.

I was also exposed to Catholic issues, both national and international, in college: I went through the St. Ignatius Institute at USF before its dismantling, majored in philosophy, spent my junior year at Blackfriars College at Oxford, and wrote for the student newspaper at a time of intense political correctness and cultural chaos.

My journalistic experience has deepened my interest in the civilizational crisis that CWR covers. I've written about conflicts across the world and within the Church. Perhaps what I bring to the job that is unique is experience in sectarian and nonsectarian journalistic settings that has trained me to look more closely at where religion, culture and politics intersect and figure out ways to introduce at those pointsthe wisdom of the Church into the world's debates.

IgnatiusInsight.com: What role does Catholic media play in the Church?

Neumayr: Pope Benedict recently told Catholic journalists to report on the world as Jesus Christ sees it, "to be able to look at the world with his very eyes." The role of the Catholic media is to present the news, good and bad, honestly, chronicling the crises that afflict the world and the Church while advancing truths that provide the only hope of overcoming them. Though obviously in a less significant way, Catholic journalists, like the writers of the Bible, are in the business of reporting God's truth. Once they forget that they become useless.

IgnatiusInsight.com: What can a Catholic news magazine offer the reader that is not easily available elsewhere?

Neumayr: It can offer them news of the world and the Church under a more penetrating light -- a light that not only uncovers facts but exposes their deepsignificance. The orthodox Catholic media has a great deal of field to run on because the blinkered secular media and secularized Catholic media can't see much of it. They are awash in information but lack the judgment to interpret it meaningfully. Even when they get around to telling important stories, they often botch them, because the philosophy underlying their coverage is so false and foolish. A Catholic news magazine can give the reader facts he won't see in secular media outlets and put in context those facts he does get from them.

Selected Articles by George Neumayr:

• "Stem-Cell Mania Has Liberals Saying Anything", The Diocese Report, July 2001
• "God Is My Pilot", The American Spectator, April 2005
• "Darwin's Compost", The American Thinker, August 2005
• "Cardinal Sin", National Review, April 2006
• "Gore, Enviros Hope to Scare Americans Into Statism", Humans Events, May 2006

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Catholic World Report is a monthly news magazine that tells the story from the Catholic perspective. Catholic World Report will keep you on the cutting edge when it comes to the religious, political, and cultural events happening in every part of the globe. Each issue is packed with informed articles and thoughtful essays written by some of the most insightful commentators and celebrated authors of our time. It's a hard-hitting journal that doesn't shy from the toughest issues. It has covered stories such as the rise of anti-Catholicism in the media, the true roots of the priest scandal, and the Catholic response to the War on Terror.

Catholic World Report doesn't set out to be a "conservative" magazine or a "liberal" magazine. It's a Catholic magazine.

Edited by George Neumayr, Catholic World Report attracts important writers and commentators, such as Cardinal George Pell, James Hitchcock, Peggy Noonan, Archbishop Charles Chaput, Philip Lawler, Sandra Miesel, Steven Greydanus, Carl Olson, and Fr. Benedict Groeschel.

Father Joseph Fessio is publisher of Catholic World Report.

Sample articles from past issues (downloadable PDF files):

• The Blood of the Martyrs, March 2006
• Why Brokeback Mountain is Different, March 2006
• Crunchy Cons in the Catholic Church, April 2006
• Even the Pope Has Rights, May 2006
• Dan's Dreadful Sources, May 2006
• Priestly Vocations in America: An Updated Look, June 2006

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