Catholic Herald

The Catholic Herald is a London-based Roman Catholic monthly newspaper and starting December 2014 a magazine, published in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and, formerly, the United States. It reports a total circulation of about 21,000 copies distributed to Roman Catholic parishes, wholesale outlets, and postal subscribers.

For other uses, see Catholic Herald (disambiguation).

Catholic Herald
Catholic Herald magazine (4 August 2017)
TypeMagazine
Owner(s)Sir Rocco Forte
William Cash
Brooks Newmark
EditorDan Hitchens
Founded1888
HeadquartersHerald House, Lambs Passage, Bunhill Row, London, England
Circulation21,000
Websitecatholicherald.co.uk
The Catholic Herald (1 November 2013)

History

The Catholic Herald was established as a weekly newspaper in 1888.[1] It was first owned and edited by Derry-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, also a convert who arrived from the Communist Daily Worker.[2] De la Bédoyère almost went to prison for criticising what he saw as Churchill's appeasement of the "godless" Soviet Union.[1] In the 1980s, when Peter Stanford became the editor, the publication openly supported left-wing politics in South America.[1] Stephen Bates of The Guardian 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.[1]

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'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.[3] "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 and Princess Michael of Kent.[3] Until recently, the magazine was owned by Sir Rocco Forte and Lord Black of Crossharbour.[3][4] In May 2019, Black sold his 47.5% share in the Herald to Brooks Newmark, a homelessness campaigner who was previously the Conservative Member of Parliament for Braintree and William Cash, 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.[5]

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.[6]

In April 2020, with the churches closing and lockdown announced in the UK because of Covid-19 pandemic, the US weekly print edition was merged into the UK print edition to create an international magazine.[7]

Editors

Its editors have included:

Contributors

Contemporary contributors

Past contributors

Past cartoonists

References
  1. "Herald of Change". The Guardian. 2 August 2004. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  2. Kevin Morgan. "Obituary: Douglas Hyde", The Independent (London), 29 September 1996
  3. "Catholic Herald relaunch party". Tatler. 11 December 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  4. "Black is back among friends and enemies". London Evening Standard. 24 October 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2016. On Friday, however, his Lordship returns to the real world when he attends a quarterly board meeting at the Catholic Herald, where he remains a joint major shareholder.
  5. Rowan, Nicholas (6 March 2020). "Catholic Herald US to shut down offices". Washington Examiner.
  6. Dodd, Liz (8 April 2020). "News Briefing: Britain and Ireland". The Tablet. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  7. Hitchens, Dan (2 April 2020). "Letter to subscribers - why we're becoming a monthly magazine". The Catholic Herald. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  8. Reid, Stuart (24 January 1998). "OBITUARY: Desmond Albrow". The Tablet. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  9. "Gerard Noel, Catholic Herald editor – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 27 July 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  10. Coppen, Luke (30 September 2016). "A note to our readers". The Catholic Herald. p. 3. Since we became a magazine in 2014 we have published articles by AN Wilson, Cardinal Pell, Howard Jacobson, Libby Purves, Peter Hitchens, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Ross Douthat.
  11. Catholic Herald/Rolheiser
  12. "Is the media biased against the Pope?". The Daily Telegraph. 15 September 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2016. Catholic Herald blogger Milo Yiannopoulos discusses whether some parts of the media have been biased against the Pope.
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