Theresa Marie Moreau is one of the very few reporters fortunate enough to be entrusted to tell the stories of the persecuted underground Roman Catholics of China. Her interviewing skills and respect for their vocations has gained Moreau the trust of those normally reticent to speak about their suffering, not from humility, but from fear – so instilled in them is the terror of Communist persecution.

Moreau has worked for the Los Angeles Times, where in a newsroom filled with grizzled veterans she earned the nickname “The Pitbull,” for her tenacity and agression when she grabbed hold of a story. She has also covered the Los Angeles Police Department for the Daily News of Los Angeles and worked as a beat reporter and city editor for Times Community News. She has also been a copy editor for Live! Magazine and a freelance writer for numerous publications during her career.

Having developed a “beat” of the Roman Catholic Church, Moreau has been published in Catholic periodicals, including: The New Oxford Review, The Remnant and Crisis Magazine, as well as China Infodoc Serivce, an online news service.

Her stories about the persecuted faithful in China have been translated into Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish and Romanian.

The Missionary Society of St. Columban handed over to Moreau in 2007 files of rough, nearly unintelligible notes and hired her to edit and research the project. The result: the 88,000-word memoir of the Rev. Fr. William Aedan McGrath, “Perseverance Through Faith: A Priest's Prison Story,” which may be purchased from Amazon.com.

An award-winning journalist, in 2011, Moreau's "They Died in China: 33 Martyrs of Yang Kia Ping" won a Los Angeles Press Club Journalism Award in the highly coveted News Feature Category.

Judge's comment: “I was drawn into this in-depth series of stories from the opening sentence and couldn't put it down until I had read every word of every story. That, to me, represents quality writing and reporting, which are hallmarks of exceptional feature writing.”

In 2010, Moreau's "With God in China" won a Los Angeles Press Club Journalism Award in the highly coveted News Feature Category.

Judges comments: “Her gripping account of life for two Catholic priests in China is superb. She calmly explains the constant political upheaval in China, the awful effects of those changes on Winance and Zhou — and their unflinching faith — and finally, how they emerged later with new lives. It’s a history lesson, a faith lesson and a stark recitation of a dark time in history.”

While working in the newsroom at the Los Angeles Times, Moreau won first place in the coveted Los Angeles Times Editorial Awards for Reporting, in 2000. That same year she received the Investigative/Watchdog Award presented by the Orange County Press Club Journalism Awards. Throughout her career, she has won many awards from the Greater Los Angeles Press Club Southern California Journalism Awards, including those in the categories for News Writing, Magazine Feature, Feature Reporting Body of Work, Series of News Stories, Spot News and Feature Reporting.

Theresa Marie Moreau can be reached at TMMoreau@yahoo.com.