Publishing and the New Evangelization

Last Thursday here at the motherhouse, we had a blessing of the offices of several of the publishing house departments that had, for years, been making do with classroom space in our former high school (enrollment limited to girls who wanted to be nuns). Anyway, before the blessing service, our provincial superior gave such a wonderful talk about the mission of publishing and the new evangelization, I just had to share it with you! The timing is right, too, during the Pauline "Webathon Novena" which began yesterday. And so...

What the Publishing House Means
Sr Leonora Wilson, FSP Provincial Superior, Daughters of St Paul

For Father Alberione, The Publishing House is comparable to a church, where the Word of God is preached to a vast audience, in response to the mandate of Jesus, “Go, and preach the Gospel to all peoples.”

“Like oral preaching, the publishing apostolate propagates the word of God. It multiplies it over and over again, making it accessible everywhere, even there where the spoken word by itself might not penetrate...” It’s how God worked, in giving us the Scriptures. Quoting an author of his time, Alberione says of the media in general: “Good or bad, deceitful or truthful, dishonest or virtuous, the media is, in a free country, all-powerful. It creates public opinion and customs; if good, it strengthens the family and the school, if bad it destroys them; it can bring down governments or put them in place; it lays claim to peace and war.”

The specific aim of the publishing apostolate is the glory of God and the salvation of people’s souls. It’s the same purpose Jesus Christ had in becoming man.

The sole ideal of the publishing apostle is to have God reign in people’s lives – “thy Kingdom come.” It’s aim is to stir up faith, if necessary, to instill it; to encourage and strengthen people in living God’s will; to inspire everyone to love God and neighbor.

Since not everyone comes to God in the same way and all have their individual needs, Alberione wanted us to learn from the "publisher apostle" par excellence, Saint Paul, the art of “being all things to all people,” acquiring that flexibility of adaptation that lets us meet people where they are and in keeping with their intellectual, moral,  and religious circumstances. How can we do this? Blessed Alberione himself answers: “The publishing apostle will find no great difficulty in this if he discovers the secret of Saint Paul’s adaptability, which is love: 'in omnibus caritas!'” This needs to be the driving force behind everything we do, whether it be our writing, our digital productions, our radio programs, even our accounting, our budgeting and our marketing; we need to be able to say “It was love that moved me.” “The charity of Christ impels us.”

Love of God and of our fellow human being makes God the hub of the publishing apostolate. Inundated with this love, endowed with the right intention, strengthened by prayer, and steeped in Scripture, the apostle will be able to take up editorial, marketing, accounting or any other task, confident that her work, like the Holy Scriptures themselves, will succeed in being light, guide and support for people.
So as we tour the refurbished apostolate rooms and Father Mozer blesses them, we ask you to join us in saying a prayer for the sisters and employees who work there and for the editions that are created there – that everything may be for the glory of God and be truth, way and life for the people whose lives they will touch.

Thank you and God bless you.