By Candice Johnson
On March 21, 2017, the New York Chapter of the Religion Communicators Council met at the Church Pension Group for their monthly luncheon. This month’s speaker was Tom Gallagher, the new CEO of Religion News Service (RNS). Gallagher spoke about his experience reporting on religion, the importance of religion reporting, and looking towards the future for the RNS.
Tom Gallagher started his presentation by giving his background. He had originally worked in finance and in 2009 began work at the National Catholic Reporter, where he wrote about domestic and foreign affairs.
He spoke about his experience in April 2016, when he traveled to Iraqi Kurdistan to cover New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s pastoral visit to displaced Christians, Yazidis, and other religious minorities. He discussed this significant experience and connected what he saw to the situation in Iraq today.