Since 1934, the Catholic Chronicle has been publishing the news of the Diocese of Toledo. Naturally, the paper has seen many changes in format, size, content, style and frequency during those years.

What hasn’t changed, though, is the dedication of the staff to connect the people of the diocese through reporting and writing stories that keep everyone informed.

Relatively recently in its 77-year history, the Chronicle delved into online publishing at www.catholicchronicle.org. In its infancy, the staff posted several stories from the print issue, along with Bishop Leonard P. Blair’s column and a photo or two. Technology being what it was then, this was a bold step into the online news world for the Chronicle.

That practice of posting stories that were already in print continued until November 2007. At that time, we redesigned the website and started using software that made adding stories and photos easier for the staff, who didn’t have a background in web programming.

The site has continued to evolve since then, with traditionally-trained journalists and production staff learning new skills to help the Chronicle remain relevant in the wired world in which we live.

I’m sure I can speak for many of my colleagues who work at both Catholic and secular newspapers when I say this is not what I expected when I was handed a diploma and landed my first newspaper job. I never took a computer class in high school (we still learned to type on manual typewriters) and the one class I took in college taught me the BASIC computer language.

Way back in the early ’90s, I was working on a computer system that was designed especially for newspaper use. And I use the term computer system generously here — it really wasn’t much more than a networked bunch of word processors — the screens were black and there was no choice of font or spacing.

Things started changing fast in the next several years. I can remember the newsroom getting its first Mac computer and the Associated Press photo feed becoming digitized. These were really revolutionary advances at the time.

The Internet was also starting to make its mark on our society during those years. I remember interviewing a college professor who told me the day was coming when a person would no longer need to leave their home for anything — even groceries could be ordered online and delivered to a person’s home. Who would’ve imagined even then that people wouldn’t even need to leave their homes or use the telephone to connect with their friends?

Journalists and people in many other professions have constantly had to learn and adapt to technological changes or be left behind. We have come a long way from clay tablets and chisels to the continuous and sometimes instant news stream on Twitter. (I’m sure most people have heard that one Pakistani resident realized later that he had live-Tweeted the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound.)

With the new skills we have learned, the Chronicle staff is diligent in delivering new stories online daily, along with photo galleries, videos, slideshows, audio, calendar of events, archives, electronic versions of the print issue, advertising and more, all neatly organized in one place.

We know that not everyone wants to get their news from the web, but with more than 400,000 page views on our site in April alone, we know what we are offering is relevant to those who do look to the web to get their news. We have also delved into the world of social media within the past two years with accounts on Facebook (nearly 1,000 fans), Twitter (more than 1,000 followers) and YouTube, where our videos may be viewed.

Just as we are dedicated to providing our print readers with a quality product in that medium, we are also dedicated to providing a top-notch online presence for those who prefer the web.

If you’ve never visited www.catholicchronicle.org, or haven’t been in a while, I encourage you to take a look. Be sure to join the conversations on Facebook and Twitter, too.