Advertisement
Unsplash
August 6, 2025
Share this article:
A public panel Aug. 14 will feature several award-winning veteran journalists who will discuss the state of religion journalism today, its needfulness for society and its pertinence in the current media landscape.
The panel, titled “The Case for Religion Journalism,” will be held at St. John Henry Newman Catholic Church Aug. 14, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., followed by light refreshments at the Newman Centre at the University of Toronto.
The event has been organized in the context of the “God in the City” intensive Catholic journalism course, offered by Canadian Catholic News (CCN) in Toronto, Aug. 10-16.
Paul Schratz, editor of The B.C. Catholic, will moderate the panel that will include Barb Fraze, Michael W. Higgins and John Longhurst.
Fraze, who served as the longtime international news editor for Catholic News Service, is a recipient of the St. Francis de Sales Award, the highest distinction in Catholic journalism. She worked for the secular press prior to shifting into faith-based journalism.
Longhurst received the Order of Canada, one of the highest distinctions conferred by the Canadian government, for his contributions to Canadian society as a religion journalist. He currently freelances for the Winnipeg Free Press, Religion News Service and CBC Radio. He also authored several resources on religion reporting for journalists.
Higgins is a documentarian, biographer, columnist and highly regarded Canadian public intellectual. He is currently the Basilian Distinguished Fellow of Contemporary Catholic Thought at St. Michael's College in the University of Toronto, and serves as a columnist and religion commentator for Canadian media, including The Globe & Mail and the CBC. He is the author of several books, most recently, The Jesuit Disruptor: A Personal Portrait of Pope Francis.
Michael Swan, award-winning journalist and former associate editor of The Catholic Register, will be the respondent. Swan currently freelances as a religion journalist for the news website Canadian Affairs.
Fraze, Longhurst and Schratz are among the instructors of CCN’s summer journalism seminar, which has participants from Bangladesh, Canada, Hungary, India, the Philippines and the United States.
While the course will focus on Catholic faith-based journalism, the panel will engage in a wider discussion on religion journalism, the evolution of religion coverage in the secular press, the challenges in religion reporting in the current media landscape, media models that could support religion journalism and the role of religion journalism in advancing the common good.
Learn more or register for the free public panel here.
Share this article:
Join the conversation and have your say: submit a letter to the Editor. Letters should be brief and must include full name, address and phone number (street and phone number will not be published). Letters may be edited for length and clarity.
