Like many, the Catholic Sentinel watched as the coronavirus foiled big plans. During 2020, marking our 150th year, we had hoped to host readers for an open house, lead a tour of old office sites and hold a Mass and dinner. Catholic journalists from around the U.S., Canada and Australia were set to come to Portland for their 2020 conference.

We will try all this again in 2022, hoping to bestow the utmost coolness on 152nd anniversaries.

Readers will note that for the past year we have deployed the original 1870 flag — the large name of the newspaper on the top of page 1. Starting next issue, we will move back to our modern flag, which while it lacks the style of our forebears, has the advantage of leaving more room for news. After all, telling stories of the church has been our mission from the start.