John Cardinal Foley passed away on December 11th in his native Philadelphia. I came to know him when he was President of the Pontifical Council of Social Communication–the first time I met him, I was a postulant in the Daughters of St. Paul newly-formed Video Department, and I spent hours videotaping him for a series of classes on the media and the Church. Later, I came to admire the way he built up relationships between the Church and the secular media, and how he supported Catholic media professionals all over the world. While I did not know Cardinal Foley well, I will miss his warmth, his humor, and his perspective of the sacredness of working in the media.
