Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

publishing company in Huntington,

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, which prints the American national weekly newspaper of that name, as well as numerous Catholic

periodicals Periodical literature (singularly called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) consists of Publication, published works that appear in new releases on a regular schedule (''issues'' or ''numbers'', often numerically divided into annu ...

, religious books, pamphlets,

catechetical Catechesis (; from Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of converts to Christianity, but as t ...

materials, inserts for

parish bulletin A parish magazine or parish bulletin, also called church bulletin, is a periodical produced by and for an ecclesiastical parish. It usually comprises a mixture of religious articles, community contributions, and parish notices, including the prev ...

s and

offertory The offertory (from Medieval Latin ''offertorium'' and Late Latin ''offerre'') is the part of a Eucharistic service when the bread and wine for use in the service are ceremonially placed on the altar. A collection of alms (offerings) from the c ...

envelopes, and offers an "Online Giving" system and "Faith in Action" websites for parishes. Founded in 1912 by Fr John F. Noll, the newspaper ''Our Sunday Visitor'' was the most popular Catholic newsweekly of the twentieth century.

History

John Francis Noll, later Bishop of Fort Wayne in Indiana, was a small town priest who, having grown weary of

anti-Catholic Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics and opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and its adherents. Scholars have identified four categories of anti-Catholicism: constitutional-national, theological, popular and socio-cul ...

literature, and especially a widely circulated anti-Catholic paper called ''The Menace,'' decided to print a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

bulletin. The first issue of ''Our Sunday Visitor'', numbering 35,000 copies, was dated May 5, 1912. A year later, the circulation of the paper had reached 160,000 copies, far beyond Noll's parish. Shortly after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the circulation had grown to 500,000 copies. The initial focus of ''Our Sunday Visitor'' was to combat anti-Catholicism, help Catholics preserve their identity, teach Catholics about their faith, and combat

social injustice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has ofte ...

. A column Noll started in 1912, called "Father Smith Instructs Jackson", was later collected into a popular book, which sold millions of copies. On March 30, 1913, the paper offered a $10,000 reward for anyone who could prove the anti-Catholic charges laid against the Church. No one ever claimed the reward. In the 1930s, ''Our Sunday Visitor'' focused on how Catholics could preserve their faith in a

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

society. During the 1940s, Noll's newspaper took positions against

birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only be ...

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

, and

indecent Inappropriateness refers to standards or ethics that are typically viewed as being negative in a society. It differs from things that are illicit in that inappropriate behavior does not necessarily have any accompanying legal ramifications. Co ...

literature and movies. During the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, the paper stepped up its attacks on

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

and warned Catholics away from joining communist groups. The fortieth anniversary issue of ''Our Sunday Visitor'', published on May 4, 1952, carried a banner headline that read, "They Do Not Want God in Our Schools: Secular Trend is Certain to Bring Disaster." In 1953, Noll was named

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

''ad personam'' by

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

. Noll suffered a stroke in 1954 and was no longer able to edit ''Our Sunday Visitor''. He died on July 31, 1956. After Noll's death, the paper continued to be produced, and in 1961 its circulation had surpassed one million. Today, ''Our Sunday Visitor'' has a full publishing wing which publishes books, religious educational materials, and other media. The company expanded by purchasing Harcourt Religion in 2009. the weekly newspaper is known as ''Our Sunday Visitor'', and the editorial director for periodicals is Gretchen R. Crowe; earlier it was known as ''OSV Newsweekly''. Fr. Patrick Mary Briscoe, O.P., was announced as Crowe's successor as editor of ''Our Sunday Visitor'', on August 24, 2022. In July 2012, ''Our'' ''Sunday Visitor'' was selected by the Vatican as the exclusive distributor of the North American English edition of the official Vatican newspaper, ''

L'Osservatore Romano ''L'Osservatore Romano'' is the daily newspaper of Vatican City which reports on the activities of the Holy See and events taking place in the Catholic Church and the world. It is owned by the Holy See but is not an official publication, a role ...

''. In July 2022, the company announced plans to acquire the operations of

Catholic News Service Catholic News Service (CNS) is an American news agency owned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) that reports on the Catholic Church. The agency's domestic (United States) service shut down on 30 December 2022, but CNS ...

, which was set to close its US office at the end of the year. Crowe will serve as the editor of the new agency, OSV News. In July 2024, the company announced its weekly newspaper will transition to a monthly lifestyle magazine format.

OSV News

Our Sunday Visitor announced in July 2022 that since the close of the US services of

(CNS) was planned, Our Sunday Visitor would be launching a new

news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency ma ...

on 1 January 2023: OSV News. Our Sunday Visitor also stated it would acquire the digital archives of CNS and allow for its consultations on OSV News by subscribers. They also stated the new agency's website would be hosted on CNS's former URL address. In August 2022, Gretchen Crowe was named

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of the future OSV News. In September 2022, Our Sunday Visitor stated it would reemploy three veteran CNS journalists for the future launch of OSV News. The launch date of 1 January 2023 was also confirmed by OSV News.

References

External links

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''Our Sunday Visitor'' newspaper

OSV News
{{Authority control Catholic newspapers published in the United States Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend Publishing companies established in 1912 1912 establishments in Indiana Catholic media

History

OSV News

References

Further reading

External links