Joel Davidson, Editor of the Catholic Anchor & The Archdiocese: Part 1

Joel Davidson was informed that he would be "let go" yesterday, December 15th, 2010 from his position as the Editor of the Archdiocese of Anchorage's newspaper the Catholic Anchor. Since that time nothing in way of a statement has come from [nor can be found on the respective websites of] the Archdiocese, the Archbishop nor Chancery, or the Catholic Anchor. This looks to be a very slow moving story.

I reached out to all of the above. I emailed the Archdiocese through 3 different people. The did not respond to any of my various requests for comment. They have not issued a statement. I reached out to the Anchor and have not received comment.

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So what then happened? Why was Joel Davidson removed? Was he fired? He was the popular Editor of the Catholic Anchor  and seems to been fired only as the newspaper was becoming both more orthodox, and more popular. Was there a catalyst to his termination?

There are several frustrating parts to this situation. First, that the public relations arm of the Archdiocese has again, failed to understand the needs of the Faithful. We cannot blame the Archbishop, he is not supposed to handle the day to day communications for the Archdiocese. But there should be concern when every time some sort of situation occurs within the Archdiocese the only thing coming from 225 Cordova Street is: silence.

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Secondly, Joel Davidson was a very good editor. The Anchor was professional, engaging, and informative. It seemed to lack teeth a lot of the time and the stories seemed rather restrained, but overall it was heading in the right direction. In fact, in recent weeks and months I have had several conversations concerning exactly that: the Anchor seemed to be heading in the right direction and was publishing good orthodox stories, raising the consciousness of some controversial and yet important issues, and the Archbishop seemed to be finally understanding the needs of the Faithful. This new development though seems to have derailed most of that.

The Archdiocese outside of Anchorage is in dire need of intellectual Catholicism. This is true of any parish or diocese. Removing one of the few people that is seemingly a proponent of Catholic intellectual thought, and one who is of the more orthodox persuasion, one has to wonder what egregious act could have been the impetus for removal?

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Finally, this leads your humble blog author to a rather interesting question. Is is possible that it is exactly that thing which we admired about Davidson, that was the cause for his removal? Was it his orthodoxy? Did he commit some offense that was just enough of a reason to fire him, when in reality it was his theological base that was the catalyst for his demise? When we finally get answers to our questions will we see a rather weak "case against" Davidson, and start to believe that we are right to think that Davidson was let go more because of his beliefs than any one article he may have written. 

It is clear if you have read the Anchor over the past year or more that there are certain things that Davidson liked to write about as a journalist, and there were certain things that were important to the editorial direction of the Anchor. As an Editor, the editorials that you put your name on stand as your base. The editorials that come from a paper do the same for the paper itself, and to a slightly lesser extent the Editorial board and the Publisher. One only need to look at Davidson's editorials to know where he was on the spectrum of Catholic orthodoxy. Here is a list of the titles of Davidson's recent editorials (with topic in parenthesis):

• In Death Alaska Reaches for God (Alaska's reach for Faith in times of strife) - Aug. 25, 2010
• Help prevent the abuse of minor girls in Alaska (A plea to Vote Yes on Prop. 2) - Aug. 14, 2010
• Who needs confession? (A message to Catholics to seek the Sacrament of Reconcilliation) - Jul. 13, 2010
• The Church must be like a loving mother - even if you disagree, you know she loves you (How Catholics and the Church must embrace the digital age of communications to evangelize the faith) Jun. 14, 2010
• For more please see the Anchor's Editorials Page

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What one finds when they read Davidson's editorials is a faithful Catholic, who adheres to the teachings of the Church and Her magisterium. They also see that he has embraced the call of the Pope and the Church to push forward in the realm of digital communication. The new format of the Anchor is much closer to what other dioceses around the country are doing, and it embraces both the print and digital mediums that are most effective at spreading the Good Word. So again, why was Davidson fired?

He seems to have all the requisites of a great Editor. He is faithful to the teachings of the Church, he has embraced the new digital movement in media while at the same time maintaining loyalty to the print medium, and he has put his finger on the pulse of the Archdiocese in regards to their intellectual and spiritual needs. So what was so offensive to the Church and the Archdiocese that he was let go? 

I guess we will all have to wonder and pray until we finally get answers. Until then, we can only guess as to the reasons. Hopefully a new day will bring answers. 

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