The ''Catholic Herald'' is a

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

-based

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monthly newspaper and starting December 2014 a

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

, published in the United Kingdom, the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...

and, formerly, the United States. It reports a total circulation of about 21,000 copies distributed to

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

es, wholesale outlets, and postal subscribers and describes itself as "a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values".

History

''The Catholic Herald'' was established as a weekly newspaper in 1888. It was first owned and edited by

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

-born Charles Diamond until his death in 1934. After his death the paper was bought by Ernest Vernor Miles, a recent convert to Roman Catholicism and head of the New Catholic Herald Ltd. Miles appointed Count Michael de la Bédoyère as editor, a post he held until 1962. De la Bédoyère's news editor was writer

Douglas Hyde Douglas Ross Hyde ( ga, Dubhghlas de hÍde; 17 January 1860 – 12 July 1949), known as (), was an Irish academic, linguist, scholar of the Irish language, politician and diplomat who served as the first President of Ireland from June 1938 t ...

, also a convert who arrived from the Communist ''

Daily Worker The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, attempts were m ...

''.Kevin Morgan
"Obituary: Douglas Hyde"
''The Independent'' (London), 29 September 1996 De la Bédoyère almost went to prison for criticising what he saw as Churchill's appeasement of the "godless" Soviet Union. In the 1980s, when Peter Stanford became the editor, the publication openly supported left-wing politics in South America. Stephen Bates of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' says that in the later 1990s and early 2000s under William Oddie, the publication moved to the right and published criticism of liberal bishops and Jesuits. Bates went on to say that editor Luke Coppen, installed in 2004, takes a more embracing stance towards Catholics of all political hues. During his tenure, Oddie lost a libel suit against Bates. The online version of the magazine includes articles from the print edition of ''The Catholic Herald'', as well as web-only content such as the coverage of

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereig ...

's April 2008 trip to the United States. The site was revamped in November 2013. In December 2014 it became a magazine, with a revamped website covering breaking news. "The" was dropped from the title and the magazine started being known as ''Catholic Herald''. A relaunch party on 11 December 2014 was attended by Cardinal

Cormac Murphy-O'Connor Cormac Murphy-O'Connor (24 August 1932 – 1 September 2017) was a British cardinal, the Archbishop of Westminster and president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. He was made cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001. He sub ...

and Princess Michael of Kent. Until recently, the magazine was owned by Sir Rocco Forte and Lord Black of Crossharbour. In May 2019, Black sold his 47.5% share in ''the Herald'' to

Brooks Newmark Brooks Phillip Victor Newmark (born 8 May 1958) is a British Conservative politician and former Member of Parliament and minister. He was elected as the Member of Parliament for Braintree in the 2005 general election and stood down at the 20 ...

, a homelessness campaigner who was previously the Conservative Member of Parliament for Braintree and

William Cash Sir William Nigel Paul Cash (born 10 May 1940) is a British politician who has served as a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1984. A member of the Conservative Party, he was first elected for Stafford and then for Stone in Staffordshire in 1997. ...

, the publisher and author. The '' Scottish Catholic Observer'', Britain's oldest religious newspaper founded in 1885, is owned by the ''Catholic Herald''. A US edition of the ''Catholic Herald'' was launched on 16 November 2018. The US edition is owned by Sir Rocco Forte, William Cash, Brooks Newmark, and Robert Wargas, who started and ran the company as US CEO. Its existence was short-lived as, owing to low numbers of subscribers and the resignation of editor-in-chief Damian Thompson and the rest of the US staff in July 2019 over disputes with the magazine's ownership over the U.S. edition's editorial direction, the ''Catholic Herald'' closed its Washington, D.C. offices in March 2020. Shortly after Dan Hitchens took on the position as editor in 2020, the newspaper revealed that it would be publishing on a monthly basis, a change from its previous weekly format. Hitchens stated that the change would provide the newspaper with the opportunity to expand its scope and publish more material online. In April 2020, with the churches closing and lockdown announced in the UK because of

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the US weekly print edition was merged into the UK print edition to create an international magazine.

Editors

Its editors have included:

Contributors

Contemporary contributors

Past contributors

Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (born Leon Dudley Sorabji; 14 August 1892 – 15 October 1988) was an English composer, music critic, pianist and writer whose music, written over a period of seventy years, ranges from sets of miniatures to wor ...

Past cartoonists

Mark Haddon Mark Haddon (born 28 October 1962) is an English novelist, best known for ''The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'' (2003). He won the Whitbread Award, the Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award, Guardian Prize, and a Commonwealth Wr ...

* John Ryan

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Catholic Herald, The 1888 establishments in England Newspapers published in London Publications established in 1888 Religious newspapers published in the United Kingdom Catholic newspapers Catholic magazines Conservative media in the United Kingdom