GREEN BAY — The Compass newspaper closes with its final issue on Dec. 29, 2023.
It will be succeeded by On Mission magazine, a bimonthly periodical that debuted with its November/December 2023 issue.
With this transition, it seems a good time to look back not only on The Compass’ history from 1978 to 2023, but also on the print publications that preceded it.
The Green Bay Register made its debut, the leadership of Fr. Orville Janssen in 1956. The founding publisher was Bishop Stanislaus Bona. However, The Register was not the first newspaper in the Diocese of Green Bay. That honor dates to the 19th century.
Here is a history of the publications of the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay.
THE NORTH WISCONSIN CATHOLIC
The first newspaper published in the Green Bay Diocese was short-lived and named The North Wisconsin Catholic. Its sample issue has survived. The first formal issue was published on May 17, 1890, by Edward Casteele of De Pere and billed itself as “The Official Paper for the Diocese of Green Bay.” It cost $1.50 for an annual subscription. (In 2023 dollars, that would be $50.72.)
The first edition, launched under Bishop Frederick Katzer, the third bishop of the diocese, promised to be “a weekly family paper and advocate of the Catholic school.” As such, it contained a listing of the entire course of studies approved in 1889 for diocesan schools.
In the standard word-heavy style of the time, the newspaper’s first page also listed train schedules, the stock market reports and national news, such as a story about “a mysterious gas syndicate” that had been formed in Philadelphia. The first editorial covered several topics, including asking for help “to make the paper flourish,” and expressing concern about saloons operating on Sundays.
The paper contained no photos but did have several ads — including one for a 20-pound pail of jelly for 70 cents.
Only one issue of The North Wisconsin Catholic exists in the diocesan Archives and the Library of Congress only lists it as a single publication during 1890.
THE GREEN BAY REGISTER
Over six decades passed before the next “Official Newspaper of the Diocese of Green Bay.”
The first edition’s headline — “Bishop launches diocesan paper” — announced The Green Bay Register. The paper was part of the Register System, based in Denver, Colo., which handled some content and the printing of several diocesan papers at the time. Green Bay was the 35th diocese to join the chain.
The Register offices were first housed in the WBAY building, then owned by the Norbertine community, at 113 S. Jefferson St. in Green Bay. In 1957, The Register moved into the Diocesan Office Building on South Monroe Street, across from St. Francis Xavier Cathedral.
There were many congratulatory ads in The Register’s first edition of 20 pages — including one from Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Also included was political advertising for Dwight Eisenhower, running for U.S. president, and Vernon Thompson, running for Wisconsin governor. Political cartoons were sprinkled in. And page 3 included a “pumpkin altar” photo at St. Wencel Parish in Neva.
There was an ad for a book on Dominican Fr. Samuel Mazzuchelli called “Medicine for Wildcat.” The sainthood cause for Fr. Mazzuchelli, founder of the Sinsinawa (Wisconsin) Dominicans, who was also part of the beginnings of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Green Bay, is ongoing. He has been declared “Venerable.”
In his first “Editorial Comment,” Fr. Janssen explained The Register’s purpose: “It exists not just to inform or to disseminate information; it exists also and even primarily to instruct. It is an instrument of the church founded by Christ to teach and therefore it must be to some extent a teacher in our world.”
The paper covered 15 counties and one Native American reservation (now Menominee County).
The new paper had only three employees: Fr Janssen, Doris Stimart (secretary) and Ray Wanek, advertising manager. There were also over 150 “parish correspondents” who updated the paper on local news. (Their names were listed – but it took three issues to publish them all.) In addition, a group of freelance writers and columnists were also part of the paper, which remains the case today.
The early Register was printed in two sections. One included local news, official announcements, parish notes and school sports coverage. The second section included world and national church news, as well as nationally syndicated columns, including Bishop Fulton Sheen, and a full comics page.
In April 1966, the paper sponsored a pilgrimage to France.
For the centennial celebration of the Diocese of Green Bay in 1968, then-editor Fr. William Stengel produced a 72-page paper. It included aerial photos taken by Fr. Stengel of important buildings in the diocese, which numbered 300, including every parish and school.
During its final year of publication in 1970, The Register experimented with color. The center four-page feature called “Family Pages” was printed on green paper.
One of the last major features in The Register was a 40-page supplement published on June 19, 1970, for the ordination of Fr. Mark Schmitt as auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay. Bishop Schmitt later became Bishop of Marquette, Mich.
In fall of 1970, the diocese ended its relationship with the Register chain, which meant a new local paper needed to be formed. It also became clear tha printing a paper locally would be less expensive.
THE SPIRIT
The Register continued until Sept. 4, 1970. On Sept. 11, The Spirit newspaper printed its first edition. The paper’s name came from a “name the paper” contest that resulted in a list of 130 names. The winner was “The Spirit.”
The new weekly paper was printed in Denmark, Wis., by Brown County Publishing (BCP). The relationship with BCP — later called Wisconsin Web Offset — continued off and on until 2006, the year their presses were sold.
Bishop Aloysius Wycislo presented a vision for the new paper: “With this first issue of ‘The Spirit’ … we embark upon a brave venture. … So much is happening today, so much that is new and exciting in religion, that we need our own means of communication with all of you.”
In keeping with that new beginning theme, the first issue ran a photo story visually explaining its new name: “In the Beginning God Created … and the Spirit of God Moved.” The photos portrayed the first days of Genesis.
Bishop Wycislo was the new paper’s president and publisher. Fr. William Stengel, who had been with the paper since 1957, was editor.
The first issue was printed in a broadsheet format as The Register had been. It ran 20 pages and had columns by several priests, including sociologist and novelist Fr. Andrew Greeley. Besides news, there was a farm page, family pages, book and movie reviews, comics and high school football schedules. It also had a story on the new “New American Bible,” called “the first Catholic English translation of the entire text of the Old and New Testaments…from the original languages of the Bible.”
One of the main stories that first issue was on the funeral of Vince Lombardi. The former Green Bay Packer coach had helped initiate the Bishop’s Charities Game in 1961.
Within a year, The Spirit was assisting in the composition of The Badger Bulletin, a quarterly publication by the Wisconsin Knights of Columbus, and The UP Catholic, the newspaper of the Diocese of Marquette, Mich. A new editor, Reinhard Wessing (who was later ordained to the diaconate), was named in 1971. The additional work led Bishop Wycislo to establish the first diocesan communications department in 1973. The paper’s third editor, Jim Alt, was also named.
THE SPIRIT MAGAZINE
In the hope of attracting additional subscribers, The Spirit newspaper was changed from a weekly format to a monthly magazine in October 1977. It was dubbed the “Green Bay Diocese’s Official Catholic family magazine,” and sent to every Catholic household in the diocese – 89,000 homes. (A pilot of the magazine had received favorable response in January 1977.)
Alt became general manager/editor and Doug Landwehr became the news editor.
This magazine was divided into two major parts: “Accent on the News” and “Religious Education and Features.” Since October is Respect Life month, special emphasis was given to pro-life articles in that first issue.
The magazine was a monumental undertaking, even by modern standards, because it was not really one magazine, but several different magazines each month. Each magazine included the same main body of The Spirit — columns and national, state and diocesan news — and four pages of local news for each of its six regional issues.
Such comprehensive coverage required a larger system of “correspondents” — writers who, while not employees of the paper, covered a “regular beat” like city reporters for secular news media now do. That regional correspondent system continued into the late 1980s.
In The Spirit magazine’s premier issue, Bishop Wycislo explained the new format and mission: “This issue of The Spirit marks the beginning of a new era of communications for our Green Bay Diocese — the first time we will be able to reach all our families each month.”
Because it was such a large undertaking — producing basically six magazines a month — The Spirit magazine did not grow. Its last issue, including news on the Aug. 6 death of St. Paul VI, was in September 1978.
THE GREEN BAY CATHOLIC COMPASS
In the month between the last Spirit magazine and the debut of The Compass, a new pope had been elected — and also died. John Paul I led the Catholic Church for 33 days. The Oct. 7, 1978, premiere issue of The Compass headlined the death of the pope. St. John Paul II was not elected pope until Oct. 18. The first cover ran in color as an experiment but did not become a regular feature.
In his first column, Bishop Wycislo explained why he had chosen “The Compass” as the paper’s name: “Sailors and boat people in our beautiful lake-studded area of northeastern Wisconsin will understand why we chose to name our new diocesan paper The Compass. The implications of providing direction, education and steering a correct course in keeping with the teachings of the Church are obvious.”
Then-Fr. Steven Halbach served as the first editor, with Doug Landwehr serving as the associate editor.
In the 1980s, a single color was regularly added to the paper’s front page. Full color covers — known as four-color processing — became a regular feature in 1993.
The first issue of The Compass also included the first “True North” column, written by Bishop Wycislo. The bishop had begun the tradition of a regular column upon his arrival in the diocese in 1968. His columns in The Register/The Spirit were called “Talks with the Pastor” — some of which were later published as a book.
Bishop Robert Banks, Bishop David Zubik and Bishop David Ricken all continued the tradition of regular columns in the newspaper.
The Compass offices were first located in the Diocesan Office Building at 115 S. Monroe Street, but soon moved to the former St. Joseph Orphanage building on the current diocesan grounds in Allouez along the Fox River. The Compass moved out of the orphanage before the building was demolished in 1981 and relocated. to the lower level of Bona Hall, which had been a dormitory for the orphanage. The Compass office space was the first to be created in Bona Hall, with the rest of the building renovated for other offices and departments of the diocese while the paper staff worked. The computer room had to be draped in plastic to shield it from dust.
In August 1985, The Compass changed its format from a broadsheet paper to a tabloid-size. Computers and programs were added and, by the late 1990s, the paper came to be designed entirely on computers by the staff. It has partnered with several printers in the state throughout its history. The Compass is currently printed on presses located in Shawano.
In the year 2000, The Compass created its first website. This was revamped in 2009 and again in 2013.
The site will be shut down on Jan. 31, 2024, to be replaced by the website of On Mission Media. Archives of The Compass will be placed in a link on the On Mission site.
THE COMPASS EXTRAS
Besides providing regular news, calendars, columns and Scripture readings, The Compass has undertaken several special features since 1978, including:
During the years of RENEW (1983-1986), it ran a special four-page edition every week.
When the diocese had its last synod in 1988 — a collegial gathering of all members of the local church to plan the future of the Church of Green Bay — the paper ran weekly updates and features on its progress and implementation.
The Compass ran commemorative issues when Bishop Wycislo retired in 1983 and when he died in 2005. Commemorative issues were published when local priests were named bishops in other dioceses: Bishop Dan Felton, Diocese of Duluth (2021), and Bishop John Doerfl ginger, Diocese of Marquette (2014).
When Bishop Adam Maida (now Cardinal-emeritus Maida of Detroit), Bishop Robert Banks, Bishop David Zubik and Bishop David Ricken were each appointed to lead the Diocese of Green Bay, the paper ran special commemorative issues.
When the diocese celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2018, The Compass ran three special sections during the year.
For the start of the new millennium, The Compass ran a series of faith formation articles based on the RENEW 2000 project.
From 1992-2022, The Compass held an annual Just for Kids Christmas contest. It started as an essay question. Then, in 2015, in partnership with diocesan World Mission Services, a coloring contest was added.
Many supplements have been produced since 1978, including one-time supplements on the centennial of the Statue of Liberty, the sesquicentennial of Wisconsin, the ministry of women in the diocese, immigrants to the state and the logging industry in northeastern Wisconsin.
Regular supplements are produced each year dealing with vocations, health issues, senior life, respect life concerns, Catholic schools, rural life and the jubilees of priests, deacons and sisters.
As for the paper’s involvement in the community outside of reporting the news, examples include:
In October 1979, The Compass sponsored buses that went to Chicago to see Pope John Paul II.
In 1985, when the diocesan mission at Elias Pina, Dominican Republic, needed rosaries, The Compass collected over 2,000 from readers and paid the cost of packing and shipping them to the mission.
In 1992, The Compass produced the Diocesan Community Directory containing information on parishes, schools and diocesan offices. It was 1 year before this became an annual publication of The Compass.
From 1993 to 2018, The Compass sponsored a Wish List project to assist community service and ministry groups. In those years, 80+ groups — including free health clinics, homes for teen mothers and hospices — received 388 gifts from readers through the Wish List. (In 2002, the project received a “Best Campaign in the Public Interest Award” from the Catholic Press Association.)
From 1996 to 2023, The Compass produced an education in the classroom project for schools and religious education programs called “Compass in the Classroom.”
For many years, the paper — in conjunction with the other four Catholic papers in Wisconsin — produced a legislative issues supplement prior to state/national elections.
In summer of 2019, the paper began the FAQs (“Faith Asks Questions”) question-answer column. Its intent was to allow readers to ask questions about the Catholic Church.
Since June 2007, The Compass has sponsored pilgrimages to various sites around the world. Bishop David Zubik led the first pilgrims to Poland, Bavaria and Germany. The next year, Bishop Robert Banks led 40 pilgrims to Italy and France.
Over the past 67 years (not counting 1890), there has been a printed local news source for Catholics in northeastern Wisconsin. The tradition will continue with the bimonthly On Mission magazine. The first issue was printed in November 2023. A weekly digital newsletter will begin on Jan. 11, 2024.
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