CHICAGO The Beacon won three awards — a first-, second- and third-place — in the annual Catholic Press Association’s Best Catholic Newspaper competition for work published in 2019. The awards were announced at the 2020 Catholic Media Conference, which was held virtually June 30 to July 2. The conference had originally been scheduled for those dates in Portland, Oregon, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and financial hardships many of CPA members faced and instead was replaced by the virtual conference, “Together While Apart.”
The Beacon took the national award for Best Front Page among all tabloid-size newspapers. Content and photo selection for the front page was by Richard Sokerka, editor/GM. The total design of the front-page elements was by Marc Stumbo, production editor.
Judge’s comment: “I loved everything about these covers. This was the strongest entry in a very competitive category. I especially liked the dominant art, strong headlines and good index to copy inside the publication. It’s colorful. The headlines popped. Good writing. It screams “Pick me up!”
Michael Wojcik, news editor, was awarded second-place in the competition in the category, “Best Reporting on Vocations to the Priesthood, Religious Life or the Diaconate” for his story, “Bishop opens cause for sainthood of World War II and Korean War veteran who became a Benedictine brother at Newton abbey.”
In it, he told the story of U.S. Merchant Marine Capt. Leonard LaRue. On Dec. 23, 1950, he led his U.S. Merchant Marine cargo freighter, the S.S. Meredith Victory, to the port of the City of Hungnam where thousands of Koreans — men, women and children were standing in freezing temperatures — crammed onto the dock hoping to be rescued from the invading Chinese communist forces who were closing in on them during the early months of the Korean War. Armed with courage and compassion, the captain and crew risked their lives to transport their precious cargo —14,005 refugees — on a perilous 450-mile voyage through treacherous mine- and submarine-infested waters to the safety of Goeje Island on Christmas Day, 1950. The mission — undertaken against all odds — was called a “Christmas Miracle” and is to this day, considered the greatest rescue mission by a single ship.
After his service to his country was over, Capt. LaRue entered St. Paul Abbey in Newton in 1954 and took vows as a Benedictine brother, taking the name Marinus in honor of the Blessed Mother.
“I think often of that voyage. I think of how such a small vessel was able to hold so many persons and surmount endless perils without harm to a soul,” he said in a reflection years later at the abbey. “And as I think the clear, unmistakable message comes to me that on that Christmastide in the bleak and bitter waters off the shore of Korea, God’s own hand was at the helm of my ship.”
Recognizing that heroic voyage of Brother Marinus and his profound faith in God, Bishop Serratelli opened his cause for sainthood in the Diocese of Paterson last year.
Judge’s comment: “A fascinating piece that weaves the history of the potential saint with the story of the sainthood process in a clear and creative way.”
The Beacon was awarded third-place in the category,” Best Editorial on a Local Issue,” for “When a vote is not a vote.”
Written by Richard Sokerka, editor/GM, the opinion piece called the actions of “She Built NYC,” a public arts program an “utter sham.” The program, established to create more statues of prominent women in New York under the patronage of Chirlane McCray, the wife of Mayor Bill deBlasio (D), was criticized for not following the results of the public vote it conducted on which women should be honored.
St. Francis Xavier Cabrini, better known to Catholics as Mother Cabrini, the patron saint of immigrants, came in first with 219 votes, more than double the number received by the second-place finisher.
However, the editorial stated, McCray and her committee never intended to honor the voting process. They announced that there would be no statue in honor of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini. Despite the saint receiving the most votes, they reneged. Instead, under the banner of political correctness, they said statues, for which $10 million of taxpayers’ money has been set aside, would be built instead for Rep. Shirley Chisolm, Katherine Walker, Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Elizabeth Jennings Graham, Billie Holiday and Dr. Helen Rodriguez-Trias. They received the third, fifth, seventh, 19th, 22nd, 24th and 42nd-most votes, respectively. It was pointed out in the editorial that Johnson and Rivera, LGBT rights activists who were biological males, would be featured together in a single statue. Both were self-identified “drag queens” and co-founders of the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries. The pair received a combined 86 nominations. Rodriguez-Trias, the editorial noted, was one of the founding members of the Committee for Abortion Rights and Against Sterilization Abuse, and received only seven votes. They were deemed more appropriate to be honored with a statute by McCray rather than the saint who was overwhelmingly selected as the top choice to be honored with a statue by the public.
Judge’s comment: This piece shed light on an unfair city vote that appeared to be rigged from the start. Very well written and researched.