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Commonweal



 
 
Commonweal is a New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
-based American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 journal of opinion edited and managed by lay Catholics. Founded in 1924 by Micheal Williams (1877-1950) and the Calvert Associates, Commonweal is the oldest Catholic journal of opinion in the United States. The journal, tagged as "A Review of Religion, Politics, and Culture," is run as a not-for-profit enterprise, and managed by a nine-member board of directors.

Commonweal publishes editorials, columns, essays, and poetry, along with film, book, and theatre reviews.






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Commonweal is a New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
-based American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 journal of opinion edited and managed by lay Catholics. Founded in 1924 by Micheal Williams (1877-1950) and the Calvert Associates, Commonweal is the oldest Catholic journal of opinion in the United States. The journal, tagged as "A Review of Religion, Politics, and Culture," is run as a not-for-profit enterprise, and managed by a nine-member board of directors.

Commonweal publishes editorials, columns, essays, and poetry, along with film, book, and theatre reviews. Although Commonweal maintains a relatively strong focus on issues of specific interest to 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.

Moreover, despite its distinctly Catholic character, Commonweal has consistently spurned sectarianism and religious dogmatism, in turn attracting contributors from all points of the mainstream political spectrum in the United States. Indeed, since its inception the journal has taken a decidedly liberal stance on many of the more important issues in the modern religious, cultural and political discourse in the United States.

For instance, Commonweal condemned the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nuclear warfares near the end of World War II against the Empire of Japan by the United States at the executive order of President of the United States Harry S....
; criticized the tactics employed by the Irish-American Senator
United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism United States Congress, the lower house being the United States House of Representatives....
 Joseph McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy

Joseph Raymond McCarthy was an United States politician who served as a Republican Party United States Senate from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957....
, who was a Roman Catholic; supported domestic opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War

The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina Wars, the Vietnam Conflict, or often in Vietnam the American War occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia from 1959 to April 30, 1975....
; and questioned the 1968 Papal encyclical Humanae Vitae
Humanae Vitae

Humanae Vitae is an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI and promulgated on July 25, 1968. Subtitled "On the Regulation of Birth", it re-affirms the traditional teaching of the Roman Catholic Church regarding abortion, contraception, and other issues pertaining to human life....
, a document spelling out the Vatican
Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, and is the preeminent episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church....
's position on abortion
Abortion

An abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death....
 and contraception.

Commonweal published several articles in support of censured theologian Roger Haight in 2001 , 2007 and 2009 .

Twenty-two issues of Commonweal are released each year, with a circulation of approximately 20,000.

Staff

As of 2008, Commonweals staff includes:

  • Editor: Paul Baumann
  • Managing Editor: Patrick Jordan
  • Poetry (review): Rosemary Deen
  • Screen (review): Richard Alleva, Rand Richards Cooper
  • Stage/Media (review): Celia Wren
  • Columnists: E. J. Dionne
    E. J. Dionne

    Eugene J. "E.J." Dionne, Jr. , raised in Fall River, Massachusetts, is an United States journalism and politics commentator, and a long-time op-ed columnist for The Washington Post....
    , John Garvey, Cathleen Kaveny, Melinda Henneberger, Jo McGowan, William Pfaff, Barbara Dafoe Whitehead


The previous editors were Peter Steinfels and his wife, Margaret O'Brien Steinfels
Peter Steinfels

Peter F. Steinfels is an United States journalism and educator best known for his writings on religion topics.A native of Chicago, Illinois, and a lifelong Roman Catholic, Steinfels earned his Doctor of Philosophy from Columbia University and joined the staff of the journal Commonweal in 1964....


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, Ph.D. (1972). "The Commonweal: The Williams-Shuster Years". http://proquest .umi .com/pqdweb ?did=760722021 &sid=1 &Fmt=1 &clientId=12010­&RQT=309 &VName=PQD


See also

  • National Catholic Register
    National Catholic Register

    The National Catholic Register is the oldest national Catholic Church newspaper in the United States. It was founded in 1927 by Msgr. Matthew Smith as the National Edition of the Denver Catholic Register....
  • Zenit News Agency
    Zenit News Agency

    ZENIT is a Non-profit organization news agency that reports on the Roman Catholic Church and issues important to it from the perspective of Church doctrine....


External links