“IT isn’t often that an ordinary priest from a provincial community in Italy makes worldwide news.
But the selfless act of Fr Stefano Gorzegno, who collapsed from a heart attack after rescuing seven of his parishioners from drowning in the Adriatic Sea, is one of those heroic stories that grabbed the attention of newspapers far beyond Italian shores and will be long remembered in the community he served.
It is a welcome break from the stories of sexual abuse or scandal that typify secular media reporting of the Church, both in Australia and elsewhere.
The Church is full of ‘good news’ stories. The Catholic press plays an important part in reporting them. Without the Church’s commitment of support for the Catholic press many of these stories would never be reported.
