Catholic Media Conference 2026

By Fr. Mike Mendl, SDB

(New Rochelle, N.Y. – July 8) – The Catholic Media Association held its annual conference from Tuesday, June 16, to Friday, June 19, at Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City, N.J. By all accounts, it was a highly successful event with a reported 386 attendees besides the sponsoring organizations and exhibitors. They came from across the U.S. and Canada “and even travelers from Rome” (Acts 2:10) — Dr. Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Dicastery for Communications, and Carol Glatz of Catholic News Service.

Attendees included journalists, editors, publishers, diocesan communications staff, business staff, et al.

Each annual conference includes workshops, roundtable discussions, panel discussions, film screenings, liturgical celebrations, recreational outings, and awards presentations. This year, two Masses were celebrated at the beautiful church of St. Nicholas of Tolentine and two in one of the large rooms at Harrah’s.

In addition, a room was dedicated for private prayer on Wednesday and Thursday but was mysteriously locked up on Friday.

A new feature of the conference was that some local priests were available for confessions on Wednesday and Thursday.

The greatest benefit for many of the attendees was networking: meeting old friends and colleagues, making new ones, and facilitating future collaboration.