The opinion piece below was included in a publication about the retirement of Butler Eagle publisher Ron Vodenichar. It was originally published April 19, 2020 in the Butler Eagle. The Daily Message, which ran across the bottom of Page 1 for 13 weeks, featured local religious leaders with messages of faith and hope.

We should establish that it was with guarded optimism that we started our Daily Message column on our front page four weeks ago.

Some of us at the Eagle have stronger convictions than others toward religion and those who are active with a particular faith are varied as to the type and style of faith. Most are some flavor of Christianity but many denominations and groups are represented.

We had concerns with wanting to be inclusive but we were adamant that the space we were filling would be non-divisive and certainly not hateful. To our extreme delight the writers have been informative, enlightening and positive in the presentation of their faith and that of their religion.

It would seem that once you clear the Christian denominations, all the others would be counted as extreme minorities. But we have been fortunate over the past years to have input from the Jewish community particularly concerning the history of their church and their specific holiday traditions.

On Friday, April 17, we had a really good piece from the Zen Buddhist chaplain. Prior to her article, we very limited knowledge of any active practice of the Buddhist faith in our community. There is surely much more to learning and understanding what the Buddhist faith entails but it was a lesson in the most basic portion of it.

But best of all has been the acceptance of a message of faith prominently provided to the community.

Of course some might simply ask what took you so long? That would be a fair question.

We can't hide behind political correctness because we are far from that. It is interesting that while we received two cancellations this week over what subscribers viewed as partial political positions; one was for this writer being too liberal and one for this same writer being too conservative.

It seems the best explanation for starting a daily feature that is absent from almost every daily newspaper in the country is timing and demand. Demand might not be the best word but rather need.

With social distancing ordered and churches unable to meet together, everyone is reaching for additional ways to communicate including the faith leaders.

So the timing was right for the idea. Timing was also provided by the absence of activities that we normally cover across the county.

And demand was to find interesting commentary that wasn't about COVID-19 or politics at first but it became clear that people were really looking for some good news and hope for the future not just what the negative side of news has to offer.

To those of you that are enjoying the messages; we are glad and want them to continue. To those of you not particularly pleased we hope you will give us a suggestion or two that might be of more interest.

Meanwhile we will stay sheltered at home as ordered and trust that you will as well.

— RV