Position Papers turns 600 this month! Maybe not years, but yes 600 issues have been produced since it was brought into being in 1974 by Michael Adams, the founder and editor for many years of Four Courts Press and Fr Charles Connolly, a journalist by training, who almost single handedly produced and edited Position Papers for over thirty years. In the period of upheaval following the Second Vatican Council, doctrinal confusion was rife and doctrinal clarity was much needed. Hence Position Papers sought to present a “position” on topical matters which was faithful to the perennial teaching of the Church. With the advent of the web there was a proliferation – thankfully – of wonderful websites presenting faithful Catholic teaching accessibly and attractively, and so we moved over to the more niche area of book reviews.
It was becoming clear to me at least that the much of the discussion – online in particular – of topical cultural issues was very uninformed. Debate was shrinking to the level of sound bites, slogans and shouting. Opinions are doomed to be at the same time both strong and wrong when they are not underpinned by some serious reading around a topic. And so by moving over to reviewing books we have been trying to do several things at once: firstly to bring to our readers’ attention a sample of some of the more interesting books which are coming in the market. This is only a sample because, even if readership is falling, immense numbers of truly interesting and important books are constantly being produced. Of course the half dozen or so books we review each month is only a drop in the ocean of new books. The books we review are not always deemed “recommendable” by the reviewers, but they are at deemed worth knowing about. Secondly, life is short and time is scare and so it is simply physically impossible to read even a fraction of the books one would like to, and so – sadly perhaps – a review will often have to do instead of reading the original.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the team which make Position Papers happen each month: our wonderful group of dedicated book-worms who actually read the books and write the reviews, and those who look after the more prosaic matters of type-setting, distribution, and looking after the accounts.
And a word on this last matter – our accounts. We have some heroic souls working on keeping Position Papers afloat from year to year, but the task is not easy. The coffers are getting depleted. Occasionally a financial realist asks: “Why not save money by ditching the (expensive) print version and remaining online only?” However I personally think that would be a great pity. There is a lot to be said for having a physical copy of Position Papers which you can pick up and read at will, or throw down in disgust, or even to share with a loved one. To the end of saving the print version, soon we will have to be coming to you, reader, with our cap in hand and asking for your help in keeping the wolf from our door. This is just a little advance warning. In the meantime, happy reading!