Clark's Spot

Living in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a place with a bar and a church on every corner, it was hard to miss the news today. All the local media outlets – even radio – were on hand to capture the bishops’ retirements. Rumors that the local bishop was leaving town had floated last week, and the local newspaper grabbed the scoop.

The Diocese of Scranton's Mother Church

After covering the press conference, each news outlet produced a similar reaction piece from around the Diocese. (The results were easy to figure out: Catholics who stopped going to church are glad he’s gone; Catholics interviewed on their way into Noon Mass think he did well in a tough job.) Then each newspaper and television station produced a piece highlighting the history of the Diocese of Scranton and its nine bishops. One television station went through the work to put together a piece on the challenges of leading a Diocese with changing demographics. (This is just a sampling of the coverage. You can find all of the articles from each outlet through the initial main news articles.)

I’m always interested in following the news, and I watched and read the coverage Monday evening. The tidbit of resigning because of insomnia at 63 – more than a decade before he’d normally retire – makes for a great twist too. (The auxiliary is retiring at 77.)

I’m sure Sunday will bring more man-on-the-street interviews and look-back pieces. Beyond that, I’m curious to see the additional local coverage. (About 325,000 of the 1 million residents is Catholic. That 30 percent figure is higher than the 22 percent nationwide so this is a big deal here. This is also a community that is big on religion, whichever one you follow.)

There is an additional, well-informed source to follow if you happen to be interested in the process of filling the seat. That blog, in fact, carried three stories as the drama played out to its final press conference on Monday.

Thanks to patwalsh_2000 for the Creative Commons picture via Flickr.