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''Commonweal'' is a liberal American journal of opinion, edited and managed by lay
Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, headquartered in The Interchurch Center in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. It is the oldest independent Catholic journal of opinion in the United States.


History

Founded in 1924 by Michael Williams (1877–1950) and the Calvert Associates, ''Commonweal'' is the oldest independent Roman Catholic journal of opinion in the United States. The magazine was originally modeled on ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
'' and ''
The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...
'' but “expressive of the Catholic note” in covering literature, the arts, religion, society, and politics. ''Commonweal'' has published the writing of
François Mauriac François Charles Mauriac (, oc, Francés Carles Mauriac; 11 October 1885 – 1 September 1970) was a French novelist, dramatist, critic, poet, and journalist, a member of the'' Académie française'' (from 1933), and laureate of the Nobel Prize ...
, Georges Bernanos,
Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. She is widely considered to be one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century. Arendt was born ...
, G. K. Chesterton,
Hilaire Belloc Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. ...
,
Jacques Maritain Jacques Maritain (; 18 November 1882 – 28 April 1973) was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised Protestant, he was agnostic before converting to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive Thomas Aquinas fo ...
,
Dorothy Day Dorothy Day (November 8, 1897 – November 29, 1980) was an American journalist, social activist and anarchist who, after a bohemian youth, became a Catholic without abandoning her social and anarchist activism. She was perhaps the best-known ...
, Robert Bellah,
Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
,
Emmanuel Mounier Emmanuel Mounier (; ; 1 April 1905 – 22 March 1950) was a French philosopher, theologian, teacher and essayist. Biography Mounier was the guiding spirit in the French personalist movement, and founder and director of ''Esprit'', the magazine w ...
,
Conor Cruise O'Brien Donal Conor David Dermot Donat Cruise O'Brien (3 November 1917 – 18 December 2008), often nicknamed "The Cruiser", was an Irish diplomat, politician, writer, historian and academic, who served as Minister for Posts and Telegraphs from 1973 ...
,
Thomas Merton Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. On May 26, 1949, he was ordained to the Catholic priesthood and g ...
,
Wilfrid Sheed Wilfrid John Joseph Sheed (27 December 1930 – 19 January 2011Christopher Lehmann-Haup ''The New York Times'', 19 January 2011) was an English-born American novelist and essayist. Biography Sheed was born in London, to Frank Sheed and Maisi ...
, Paul Ramsey, Joseph Bernardin,
Abigail McCarthy Abigail Quigley McCarthy (April 16, 1915 – February 1, 2001) was an American academic and writer, and the wife of politician and presidential contender Eugene McCarthy. She predeceased her estranged husband by almost five years. Early life ...
, Christopher Lasch,
Michael Novak Michael John Novak Jr. (September 9, 1933 – February 17, 2017) was an American Catholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat. The author of more than forty books on the philosophy and theology of culture, Novak is most widely known ...
,
Alasdair MacIntyre Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre (; born 12 January 1929) is a Scottish-American philosopher who has contributed to moral and political philosophy as well as history of philosophy and theology. MacIntyre's '' After Virtue'' (1981) is one of the mos ...
, Charles Taylor,
Thomas Mallon Thomas Mallon (born November 2, 1951) is an American novelist, essayist, and critic. His novels are renowned for their attention to historical detail and context and for the author's crisp wit and interest in the "bystanders" to larger historical ...
,
Walter Kerr Walter Francis Kerr (July 8, 1913 – October 9, 1996) was an American writer and Broadway theatre critic. He also was the writer, lyricist, and/or director of several Broadway plays and musicals as well as the author of several books, genera ...
,
Marilynne Robinson Marilynne Summers Robinson (born November 26, 1943) is an American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and t ...
, Luke Timothy Johnson, Terry Eagleton, Elizabeth Johnson, George Scialabba,
Phil Klay Phil Klay (; born 1983) is an American writer. He won the National Book Award for fiction in 2014 for his first book-length publication, a collection of short stories, '' Redeployment''. In 2014 the National Book Foundation named him a 5 under ...
and
Andrew Bacevich Andrew J. Bacevich Jr. (, ; born July 5, 1947) is an American historian specializing in international relations, security studies, American foreign policy, and American diplomatic and military history. He is a Professor Emeritus of International ...
. It has printed the short fiction of
Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...
, J. F. Powers, Alice McDermott, and Valerie Sayers; the poetry of W. H. Auden,
Robert Lowell Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the '' Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects ...
, Theodore Roethke,
John Updike John Hoyer Updike (March 18, 1932 – January 27, 2009) was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once (the others being Booth Tar ...
, Les Murray,
John Berryman John Allyn McAlpin Berryman (born John Allyn Smith, Jr.; October 25, 1914 – January 7, 1972) was an American poet and scholar. He was a major figure in American poetry in the second half of the 20th century and is considered a key figure in th ...
, and Marie Ponsot; and the artwork of
Jean Charlot Louis Henri Jean Charlot (February 8, 1898 – March 20, 1979) was a French-born American painter and illustrator, active mainly in Mexico and the United States. Life Charlot was born in Paris. His father, Henri, owned an import-export business ...
, Rita Corbin,
Fritz Eichenberg Fritz Eichenberg (October 24, 1901 – November 30, 1990) was a German-American illustrator and arts educator who worked primarily in wood engraving. His best-known works were concerned with religion, social justice and nonviolence. Biogra ...
, and Emil Antonucci.


Overview

The journal, tagged as "A Review of Religion, Politics, and Culture", is run as a
not-for-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
enterprise and managed by a twenty-six-member board of directors. The word "commonweal" is a reference to an important term in the political philosophy of
Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, Dominican Order, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino, Italy, Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest who was an influential List of Catholic philo ...
, who argued that legitimate leaders must prioritize "the common good" or "the commonweal" in making political decisions. ''Commonweal'' publishes editorials, columns, essays, and poetry, along with film, book, and theater reviews. Eleven issues of ''Commonweal'' are released each year, with a circulation of approximately 20,000. In 1951, ''Commonweal'' was hit by financial troubles and almost shut down because of a loss in subscribers.


Viewpoint

Although ''Commonweal'' maintains a relatively strong focus on issues of specific interest to liberal Catholics, this focus is not exclusionary. A broad range of issues—religious, political, social, and cultural—are examined independent of any relationship to Catholicism and the church. ''Commonweal'' has attracted contributors from all points of the mainstream political spectrum in the United States. ''Commonweal'' published several articles in support of censured theologian Roger Haight in 2001, 2007, and 2009.


See also

* ''
America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
'' * ''
Catholic Worker ''Catholic Worker'' is a newspaper published seven times a year by the flagship Catholic Worker community in New York City. The newspaper was started by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin to make people aware of church teaching on social justice. ...
'' * '' Faith & Family'' * ''
National Catholic Register The ''National Catholic Register'' is a Catholic newspaper in the United States. It was founded on November 8, 1927, by Matthew J. Smith as the national edition of the '' Denver Catholic Register''. The ''Registers current owner is the Ete ...
'' * '' National Catholic Reporter'' * ''
Zenit News Agency ZENIT was a non-profit news agency that reported on the Catholic Church and matters important to it from the perspective of Catholic doctrine. Its motto was "the world seen from Rome." The agency suspended operations at the end of 2020, citing the ...
''


Notes


References


Further reading

*Rodger Van Allen, ''The Commonweal and American Catholicism: The Magazine, the Movement, the Meaning'', Philadelphia: Fortune Press, 1974 *Rodger Van Allen, ''Being Catholic: Commonweal from the Seventies to the Nineties'', Loyola University Press, 1993 *Patrick Jordan and Paul Baumann, ''Commonweal Confronts the Century: Liberal Convictions, Catholic Tradition'', Touchstone, 1999
Robert B. Clements (1972). "The Commonweal: The Williams-Shuster Years"


External links

* {{Official website Catholic magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1924 Magazines published in New York City