Saturday, January 22, 2011

Spiritans close down Outlook

Outlook, the magazine of the Irish Province of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Spiritans) ceased publication this month because the congregation decided it could not be financially maintained.

The Spiritan Provincial, Brian Starken C.S.Sp. wrote in a letter to the congregation last July that the Provincial Leadership Team ''decided with regret that the continued publication of Outlook was financially unsustainable''.

Speaking to The Irish Catholic, the editor of Outlook, Mary Rieke Murphy said that the publication had remained under budget, ''without any increase in that budget, for nine years'' and she did not understand the sudden finality of the decision.

''They could have changed the format or looked at other ways to make the publication less expensive,'' she said.

''Although Irish vocations are decreasing, they are increasing in other parts of the world, and their mission benefited from being reported, and they still need support for their missionary activities. After 90 years of traditional support in Ireland and from subscribers around the world, to end so abruptly was maybe not wise, or not a way to honour that support.''

Ms Murphy said she was sad to see something so vibrant come to an end. 

''The articles from the field were a tremendous way for the missionaries to communicate what they were doing and it had a huge mission awareness role. It is curious to me that it could be cut off and I don't know of any plans to put anything else in place.''

Outlook was published six times a year and originally began life in 1919 as the Missionary Annals. 

Fr Starken said the decision to discontinue publication was taken ''despite the very high quality of the magazine over a number of years'' and thanked all those involved ''who made it something that the congregation could indeed be proud of''.

The Word, the well-known religious magazine of the Divine Word Missionaries folded in 2008 having run at a loss for a number of years.

SIC: IC/IE