DAILY TRIBUNE celebrated its 26th anniversary on Tuesday in a manner befitting a publication that has long prided itself on substance over spectacle — quietly, purposefully, and in the company of the people who keep it running.

The occasion was marked with fellowship and a recommitment to the editorial values that have defined the paper since its founding: responsible, fearless reporting in the service of the truth.

At the center of the celebration was a Mass that drew the Tribune family together, its highlight an address by Augustinian Rev. Geoffrey Eborda Jr., OSA, whose homily proved less a ceremonial platitude than a pointed meditation on the moral weight of journalism.

Drawing from the Gospel account of the disciples caught in a storm on the Sea of Galilee, Eborda wove a homily that cut close to the bone of what it means to run a newspaper in turbulent times.

“Storms do not only happen on the sea,” he told the gathering. “They come in the form of uncertainty, financial struggles, criticism, misinformation, natural disasters, political tensions and moments when people begin to lose hope.”

A news organization, he said, knows these storms intimately, navigating them daily as it shoulders the burden of reporting facts amid confusion and holding the line for truth against the roar of competing voices and the seductions of sensationalism.

“The task of journalism,” he said, “is not merely to inform minds but also to enlighten consciences and strengthen society.”

You of little faith

Eborda’s central image of Christ asleep in the boat — present even when the disciples feared He had abandoned them — carried an implicit challenge to the Tribune and its staff. Longevity, he argued, is not the real measure of an institution’s worth.

“Success is measured not only by the number of years we exist, the number of readers we reach, or the number of stories we publish,” he said. “It is measured by the lives we help, the truth we uphold, and the hope we inspire.”

He left three precepts for the Mass participants: that truth is sacred and must be protected, not manipulated; that courage is contagious, and one person willing to stand for what is right emboldens many others; and that hope, not merely information, is what a world in crisis most hungers for.

“Every day our world is hungry not only for information but also for inspiration,” Eborda said, “for reminders that goodness, kindness and faith still prevail.”

He closed with a blessing directed at DAILY TRIBUNE as an organization, its leaders, writers, editors and staff — and a prayer that the paper “remain a faithful voice of truth, hope, and service for our society” in the years ahead.

For a publication that has spent the last 26 years navigating the cross-currents of political life, the homily landed with the weight of recognition.

The storms, after all, are familiar — and so is the resolve to keep sailing.