Deep within the bowels of the Archbishop Noll Catholic Center in downtown Fort Wayne lies the archive room of the diocese — a maze of shelves and tables and boxes encompassing thousands of square feet. It’s a staggering collection of history that contains a combination of meticulous organiza tion and artifacts waiting patiently to be sorted and stacked and stored. If you wind your way toward the back, past the shelved boxes of parish files, school records and more, you’ll find 100 years’ worth of this newspaper cataloged in bound volumes, stacked in chronological order. As I was doing research to wrap up the 100-year run of this diocesan newspaper, I spent hours and hours trying to capture as much of its history as I possibly could, seeking out key events in the Church and the world and how they were portrayed to local Catholics — the election and death of popes, the naming of new bishops, the opening of parishes and schools, the beginning and end of wars, the beatification and canonization of those who had lived and worked and prayed in northern Indiana, and so much else. The early years have grown yellow and brittle over the decades. Fourteen years after founding the national Catholic newspaper Our Sunday Visitor in Huntington, and just six months after he became the bishop of what was then the Diocese of Fort Wayne, Bishop John F. Noll felt it was important to give the faithful of the diocese a newspaper of their own, and so Our Sunday Visitor — Fort Wayne Diocesan Edition was born. It would bear that name for more than 46 years. In September of 1972, Bishop Leo A. Pursley announced that the Fort Wayne-South Bend Edition of Our Sunday Visitor would be getting a new name. A contest was opened to readers, with prizes totaling more than $375 contributed by merchants and businessmen in the diocese. The contest closed on October 22 of that year. The winning name — The Harmonizer — was proposed by Monsignor Thomas L. Durkin, rector of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Fort Wayne. In a column titled “Not an Idle Choice,” Monsignor James Conroy, editor of the paper at the time, wrote that the name “indicates a mission whose sole purpose is to create harmony through the constant presentation of truth and understanding. This is the unspoken theme which has run through every issue of Our Sunday Visitor since the day its founder brought it into being. It is now set forth unequivocally in the new title, The Harmonizer. It has been seen as something very apropos to the times, something needed above everything else if we are to function as a modern influence for peace.” Fourteen years later, Bishop John M. D’Arcy and the diocese assumed editorial and operational control of the paper after Our Sunday Visitor had published it for more than 60 years. And with that change came a new name — Today’s Catholic — “designed to reflect greater immediacy in current Church affairs.” Over the course of several days in early June, I made multiple trips to the archives to extensively sift through a century’s worth of newspapers. I’d head back down to double-check a date, or I’d remember a key event I hadn’t yet explored, or I’d realize I hadn’t logged the election of a pope or the death of a bishop. On my final trip, as I wound my way around the stacks and shelves and tables, I noticed a collection of framed artifacts leaning against a shelf. The first piece, the one that caught my eye, was a framed Notre Dame football jersey that bore the No. 1 with “D’Arcy” stitched on the back — a unique convergence of two icons of the diocese. The second piece, wedged behind the Irish jersey, was a providential find given the particular mission I was on. It was a framed and matted collection of black-and-white headshots with “Diocesan Editors” written at the top. It had once hung proudly in the diocese’s communications office and was likely removed amid painting or renovation and shipped to the basement for safekeeping. There was no photo in the space above the engraved plate that bore the name of Father Aquinas Knoff, the first editor of Our Sunday Visitor’s Fort Wayne Diocesan Edition (1926-35), but 10 of his 12 successors — along with two managing or assistant editors — were accounted for: Bill Fink (1935-58), Monsignor Joseph Crowley (1958-67), Monsignor James Conroy (1967-78), Father Vincent Giese (1978-80), Lou Jacquet (1980-84), Matt Scheiber (1984-85), Murray Hubley (1985-86), John Ankenbruck (1986-98), William Cone (1998-2003) and Tim Johnson (2003-16). The collection hadn’t been updated since it was sent to storage, but only two editors were missing — Jodi Marlin (2016-22) and me (2023-26). I stood there for a long moment. Having spent countless hours admiring the work of my predecessors, I felt the full weight of what that framed collection represented: not just faces and dates but callings answered. Soon, the diocese will add to this legacy with the launch of Vibrant Catholic, a quarterly magazine that will continue to share the stories of the work Christ is doing within the diocese through the men and women striving to serve Him. It will be inspirational and formational as we walk together on our journey to grow closer to Our Lord and His Church. Our Sunday Visitor — Fort Wayne Diocesan Edition. The Harmonizer. Today’s Catholic. Now, Vibrant Catholic. The names have changed. The mission has not. Scott Warden is editor-in-chief of Today’s Catholic. Email him at [email protected]. The post The Names Changed. The Mission Never Did. appeared first on Today's Catholic. ...read more read less