Church Press

Sixty-seven years ago at exactly September 19, 1934, the maiden issue of the periodical Lungsoranon came off the press. A trilingual weekly (English-Cebuano-Spanish), it was founded as a Catholic publication by Archbishop Gabriel M. Reyes.

Church-sponsored publications were important organs in the early decades of local journalism. Boletin de la Diocesis de Cebu (ca. 1888-1892) and Boletin Eclesiastico (1893-1892) were among the first newspapers in Cebu. Ang Camatuoran (1902-1911) was a semi-official organ of the Cebu diocese and was edited by Mariano Albao Cuenco (congressman Tony Cuenco’s grandfather). Then there was the popular El Boletin Catolico (1915-1930), the weekly magazine published and edited by Father (later Archbishop) Jose Ma. Cuenco. This was superseded by Ang Atong Kabilin in 1930 and Lungsoranon continues to this day but it differs from its predecessors in that early Catholic periodicals were mainstream newspapers. They were sold on the streets, political commentaries, and literary pieces by the day’s popular writers and journalists. 

Over time, church periodicals have become sectarian bulletins rather than major organs of public opinion.

 - Ybarra