The story of the Church in the United States is a story of growth and innovation. Our experience is not the experience of the Church in Europe. Our story tells of determined saints like Mother Cabrini, Katharine Drexel, Elizabeth Ann Seton and Bishop John Neumann — holy men and women who managed to accomplish Herculean tasks. They were founders and pioneers who poured heart and soul into their Gospel mission. They accomplished extraordinary things, often with little means and facing substantial opposition … even from within the Church.
Other heroes dot the page, too, like Father Edwin V. O’Hara, later archbishop, who launched the Catholic Rural Life movement. Blessed Michael J. McGivney, who founded the Knights of Columbus. Or our own founder, Father John Francis Noll, later archbishop, who heroically picked up his pen to defend the Church (especially from socialist and communist ideology).
A virulently anti-Catholic newspaper, The Menace, was founded in 1911 in Aurora, Missouri. With three years of publication, the paper had more than 1 million subscribers. Publicized as “The World’s Headquarters for Anti-Papal Literature,” The Menace was clandestinely left on doorsteps to spread its hateful propaganda. Catholic leaders took note, but Father Noll did something about it.
Father Noll’s time saw a need for a new means to inform and encourage Catholics. He stepped out to try something new. It’s the story of the American Church. It’s our story. And it’s still being written.
A new apostolic strategy
Fidelity to our founder’s vision demands more than continuing to do what’s always been done. We must continue to invent and employ new apostolic strategies. Our content, which we have been transitioning the past few years, demands a new format, something that readers will want to treasure, showcasing the timeless riches of the Faith, coupled with a dynamic digital presence delivering the latest news and enriching resources for your daily prayer.
To serve our readers, we want Our Sunday Visitor to be delivered in a way that is supremely useful and engaging, one that you could hold in your hands, as well as your heart. I am proud to announce to our faithful readers that we are transforming our award-winning weekly newspaper into a monthly magazine.
From the passionate vision of our founder, Archbishop John Francis Noll, to the launch of Our Sunday Visitor magazine more than a century later, ours has been a mission of love, dedication and service to others.
Inspiring stories for Catholic life
We need to return to fundamentals, to help us pray and rejoice in the splendor and beauty of our tradition. I have received emails and letters from many of you expressing a desire to hear inspiring stories of Catholic life amid the relentless frenzy and negativity of the news cycle. We need a voice speaking apart from the fray. Our hope is that, as a monthly magazine, Our Sunday Visitor becomes a valuable, trusted resource you can keep and refer back to again and again — a reference guide and a help-mate to encourage and support you in your spiritual life.
I am proud to announce to our faithful readers that we are transforming our award-winning weekly newspaper into a monthly magazine.
We have different needs in the Church today, which is why OSV stepped into the breach to launch OSV News to serve Catholic newspapers across the country. And we are poised to innovate again, to reimagine our flagship publication in a format that will nourish our faithful readers and build a new audience, one longing for a premiere Catholic magazine to grace their homes.
In a note from the editor in the inaugural issue of Our Sunday Visitor, Father Noll wrote: “The supply of most things, good and bad, is generally regulated by the demand for the same. Now the best thing outside of Heaven is the true faith, which is capable of leading us to Heaven.” Our magazine has a grand goal: to help get our readers to heaven. By directing your hearts and minds to what is true and good and beautiful, it will be of incalculable worth.
