I felt like I had been dropped into a whole new world the first night of class. Excitement and trepidation were in equal measure. My mind was a jumble as it oriented itself to the jargon and the breadth of professional experience that each person had lived and brought to this night. I knew, even in my ignorance and unfamiliarity, that there was a distinct thread moving through each PowerPoint slide, but in my fuddled state I could not grasp it.
Confusion aside, there was something else. Was it underneath or was it all around? I couldn’t be sure, but there was definitely something else. A quiet knowing, a certainty that I was right where I needed to be. The opening prayer was the tip-off. The Our Father, an invitation and acknowledgment to God, who is always with us, and yet waits ever so patiently to be included through our humble requests of prayer, was consciously being asked to be part of the evening. Our Father, His Son and Spirit had Their hand on this venture and had brought me and other people to this appointed time.
This night of introduction required no more understanding than this. Later reflection would begin to bring a glimmer of clarity.
The title of the course, “Telling Truth in Charity,” is where I found my anchor. Before I read any of the assigned readings, it was where the light of comprehension began to take root.
Both Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV in their separate addresses on communications remind us of the critical and sacred nature of speaking truth, of communicating information in an honest and upright way.
In his address to representatives of the media May 12, just a few days after his election, Pope Leo tells us not to run away and, rather than withdraw, our age demands that, “The Church must face the challenges posed by the times.” This clarion call to all of us, whether in media or merely a person walking through life, had the result of my turning inward and examining my own relationship to truth and communication.
I, like so many, have been walking in partial truths for years, maybe decades. It wasn’t a conscious thing. In an effort to avoid difficult conversations when a fundamental piece of my faith became an inconvenient truth, rather than hold to that truth and speak it charitably, I would fold like a paper bag. Inwardly, I would rationalize my cowardice of not standing strong in my faith as an effort to keep the peace and avoid an unsavoury conversation. Choosing not to say the hard thing and instead remaining silent, knowing my silence could be misinterpreted as agreement with things with which I fervently disagreed. This is a type of lie. A lie by omission, but nonetheless a lie. The antithesis of truth.
In my reflections, I believe I am merely a microcosm of what is happening in our larger institutions, including media, and the way so much of our journalism, including Catholic journalism, is being done.
A fear of truth has crept into our world. In his message for the 2025 World Day of Communication, Pope Francis shares the message that the strength of truth that journalism communicates “builds society, it builds the Church.” This recognition of the power of truth and journalism’s responsibility to tell it gives me great hope that we can recommit ourselves to speaking it at all costs.
As Pope Leo so eloquently and pointedly explained to the international gathering of members of MINDS, Media Innovation Network, at the Vatican Oct. 9, “The world needs free, rigorous and objective information.”
Digging for facts through research, holding firmly to the process, not cutting corners, meticulously doing the work — this is where journalism’s North Star is pointing. To pursue truth wherever it leads, no matter how painful or ugly the result, is the path of the genuine, godly journalist.
Being reminded of these core principles, recommitting to these fundamentals and delving deeper into them are what our present age is asking us to do. Are we willing? Are we brave enough? With God’s help, I say, yes, yes we are!
Susan Cruickshank lives in the Toronto area. She is currently enrolled in CCN’s 12-week online course, “Telling Truth in Charity: Introduction to Catholic Journalism.”
