I have been thinking a lot (and trying to prayerfully accept) about the upcoming death of the print edition of Catholic New York. It is a mistake. While I have thought of a number of reasons this decision may have been taken, the fact remains that most people have an “encounter” with the physical paper. We cannot get that digitally.
As Catholics, we understand more than any the necessity of “outward signs”; we “get” the physical. Christ left us the sacraments and tradition gives us sacramentals.
With the print form, we see, we touch, we smell the news. I have been evangelized via weekly encounters—homebound in summer—with the paper visiting me, in a tangible, concrete way that I can hold in my hands. I cut out articles and reread. Oh, the loss of incarnational encounter!
If possible, please find another way. Once a month, perhaps?