Jack Figge Reflects on Catholic Journalism and Community Service

Student journalist Jack Figge, who has written for The National Register since 2023, recounts seven years of reporting on Catholic topics. His work took him around the world to interview laypeople, priests and bishops, and to write for local diocesan papers and national Catholic publications.

Figge highlights a feature on Brother Andre’s Café in Pittsburgh – two coffee shops run out of parish basements that employ adults with disabilities – as a lesson in seeing the fuller human story behind a simple headline. He says the experience taught him the value of real relationships and avoiding reductive summaries as he prepares for a new vocational direction.