March 29, 2024

By Renae Kranz

If you’ve already read Father Mike Griffin’s column for this month, you know the news. If you haven’t, well, go back to page 4 and see what he has to say.

After about 26 years as executive editor of the Bishop’s Bulletin, Father Mike is putting down his pen. As part of that decision, he will also end the column he has written for 30 years. It’s a sad day for those who have faithfully read his lovely words all these years.

Changes like these can be difficult, especially when they are unexpected. But changes in life help us grow and stretch ourselves in ways we don’t expect. They also help us put our trust in God, following him where he leads us. As long as we do that, it will always be the right direction.

Father Mike Griffin proofreading the Bishop’s Bulletin from his office in Aberdeen.

I didn’t get to work with Father Mike for nearly as long as others involved with the Bishop’s Bulletin, but the short time I’ve had has been a great learning experience. His writing has a beautiful poetic feel to it that I always admire as I proof his column every month. And it will be difficult to replace his keen eye when proofreading the entire issue on proof day. His help with planning stories and advice when problems arose were invaluable to our team.

Jerry Klein was the director of communications for much of the time Father Mike was part of the Bulletin and worked closely with him. He felt privileged to work with him through the years.

“His ability to combine his pastoral and journalistic skills have imprinted not just the Bishop’s Bulletin but all who read it,” Jerry said. “His foresight inspired the transition from newspaper to a beautiful, readable and inviting magazine format. Most of all, I enjoyed the monthly proof day time together. While getting the work done, we also caught up with each other. We laughed a lot and I learned much, whether about his National Guard experiences, his pet stories, and perhaps something of our shared Jackrabbit journalism legacy. After 30 years of monthly columns and nearly that long as executive editor, all I can say is thank you for sharing your abundant God-given talents.”

From the Communications team and the entire diocesan staff, thank you Father Mike. Your contributions over the years have helped the Bishop’s Bulletin become what it is today.

This is not the only change you’ll see in months to come. Bishop DeGrood’s vision of Lifelong Catholic Missionary Discipleship Through God’s Love will begin to push the Bulletin in a new and exciting direction. We want to feed your faith, help you grow in love, and help you become more fully, authentically Catholic.

How will we do that? Well, we don’t have that completely hashed out yet, but we will be creating more content to serve all age groups in our diocese. You’ll begin to see more stories about Catholics living their faith in everyday life. And you’ll read about the wonderful parishes and parish families we are blessed with, along with our priests, seminarians and others in religious life.

Renae Kranz, interim director of Communications for the Diocese of Sioux Falls and managing editor of The Bishop’s Bulletin

To accomplish this, we will need help! So I’m putting out a call for Catholic writers and photographers around the diocese. If you are a writer or photographer and would be interested in helping us tell more stories from the diocese, please reach out to me. This would be a great opportunity for high school and college students who aspire to become journalists to get experience and create a portfolio. However, all ages are welcome.

If you are interested in helping the Bulletin, contact me at rkranz@sfcatholic.org. I will want to see samples of your work, and we’ll talk about opportunities in your area.

We’re so excited to see where this adventure with the bishop’s vision takes us. I hope we can all become better Catholics and better missionary disciples to spread God’s love to all.