Five Years Of Your Catholic Magazine!

by Rosanne Shields · October 30, 2025

Editor Günther Simmermacher celebrates the publication of the first magazine in 2020 with a beer named, appropriately, Ink In My Drink.

By Rosanne Shields – Five years ago, The Southern Cross relaunched as a monthly magazine. To mark the anniversary and 60 issues of the magazine, Rosanne Shields recalls a dramatic period of transition.

Covid may seem a long time ago now, but it is only five years since we were in the thick of the pandemic. As it was for millions of people, the lockdown changed many things — and it did for The Southern Cross, too.

As 2020 began, we were planning for the newspaper’s 100th birthday in October. But instead of celebrating a centenary, we marked a rebirth, with the launch of The Southern Cross as a monthly magazine.

The preceding months had been traumatic. When the government declared its draconian lockdown in March 2020, The Southern Cross continued to publish every week, as a freely downloadable digital newspaper. We thus maintained a record of almost 100 years of uninterrupted weekly publication.

In June that year, the board of directors had to take the painful decision to retrench all staff — including editor Günther Simmermacher, digital editor Claire Allen and business manager Pamela Davids (the three had by then accumulated a combined record of 81 years of service). This could have been the end of The Southern Cross — but we were not going to give up that easily!

After our centenary, we were going to explore the potential of turning the newspaper into a magazine, on the basis that the latter had a better future than the former. Now we brought the idea forward, and asked the three veterans if they would keep The Southern Cross running as a magazine. They agreed to do so, at substantial financial sacrifices. Sub-editor Mary Leveson has also remained involved as a proofreader.

A miracle publication

Günther and Claire kept the weekly editions running, all while developing the concept of the new magazine and creating the first issue in a record time of two months. Usually, such a development takes at least a year! Bringing out the first issue of the magazine so quickly was indeed a miracle.

The publication of the first magazine overlapped with the release of the final weekly newspaper. This means that in 105 years, there has never been a day when there was no current edition of The Southern Cross in circulation — throughout the economic depression of the 1930s, World War II, the social upheaval of the apartheid era, and the Covid-19 pandemic!

Sydney Duval, a veteran journalist of great repute, often says that, in light of the circumstances and limited available financial and human resources, the turnaround of The Southern Cross from a newspaper to a quality magazine and its survival is one of the greatest stories in South African journalism history.

That is certainly true. But Günther always insists that the Holy Spirit was at work then and is still at work with us now. We have no doubt that God wants The Southern Cross to survive and to thrive.

We still have to navigate financially choppy waters, but with the guiding hand of the Holy Spirit and the generosity of our Associates, kind donors and partners such as the Southern Africa Catholic Bishops’ Conference (which still owns 51% of the magazine), we are keeping the good ship Southern Cross afloat.

As the chair of the board, I must praise my fellow directors for their steadfast loyalty and commitment to the publication — above all Eugene Jackson, on the board for many years, who has taken on the role of managing director. This appointment has made a great difference in the day-to-day running of our operations.

His predecessor, Pamela Davids, is still involved in semi-retirement. She will mark 52 years with The Southern Cross in December. The tireless Claire Allen celebrated her 15th anniversary with the publication in June. And Günther Simmermacher has been with The Southern Cross for 30 years. In February he will be able to look back at 25 years as editor, the longest editorship in 105 years of The Southern Cross.

The Southern Cross still has so much to offer to the local Catholic Church. We are looking forward to many more anniversaries to celebrate.

Rosanne Shields chairs the board of directors of The Southern Cross.