History of the Parish Newsletter
by Mary Murphy

The first issue of The Spirit of Little Flower was dated December 1983. An article on the front page said, “The purpose of our publication is to supply news and information to parishioners and other interested in the welfare of our parish ... our emphasis will be on the interests and activities of these people.”

The Spirit was the brain child of then recently retired John Stewart, who had been a member of Little Flower Parish since 1957. John’s interest in the newspaper business was lifelong but he was able to attend the University of Missouri School of Journalism for only one year before his father called him home to help with the family-owned Festus newspaper. During World War II, he was assigned to the army newspaper, Stars and Stripes, where he worked with the famous cartoonist Bill Maulden of G.I. Joe fame. When John returned home, he went to work for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as a printer and remained there for 33 years until his retirement in 1979.

Soon after retirement, he decided that Little Flower should have a newspaper that would be not only a source of news but would serve as an historical record of the parish. He worked tirelessly on the paper, doing much of the work himself, including interviewing and writing. He set up the paper for printing in the old-fashioned, pre-computer way. He would decide on the layout, write headlines, cut out the typewritten articles with scissors, and paste them into place for the printer. After the paper was printed, he and his small staff would fold and staple it and address it to be sent out to the parishioners. He estimated that his own part of the work required 40 or 50 hours each month.

On Christmas Eve 1993, John was hospitalized. His meager staff decided to keep the paper going while he was ill. Jack Weber introduced the much less time- consuming desktop publishing process that had recently become available. Interviews and writing were assigned to members of the staff. The most apparent change was the improved readability of the paper. The type was somewhat larger, and more white space and pictures were evident. John approved the new look and continued his interest in the paper until his death on June 8, 1995.

Now, as we begin the 21st century, the staff remains true to John’s ideas for the publication. The format includes reports from parish organizations, news from the pastor and other members of the pastoral team, sports and school news, and most of the special features introduced by the first editor. A survey done in 1998 showed the “Parish Profile” and “Parish and People”, columns were still favorites of the readers. Parish vital statistics, including births, baptisms, and deaths, continue to interest parishioners. One important difference now is that the paper appears every other month. The volunteer staff, with input from the people of the parish, plans and writes each issue and hopes to be able to continue to do so into the new millennium.