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Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) is a
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
publishing company in Huntington,
Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
, which prints the
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
national weekly newspaper of that name, as well as numerous Catholic
periodicals A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a Academic journal, journal ...
, religious books, pamphlets,
catechetical Catechesis (; from Greek language, 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 Conversion to Christian ...
materials, inserts for
parish bulletin A parish magazine is a periodical produced by and for an ecclesiastical parish, generally within the Anglican Church. It usually comprises a mixture of religious articles, community contributions, and parish notices, including the previous monthâ ...
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 or opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestant states, including England, Prussia, Scotland, and the Uni ...
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 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 m ...
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 (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, 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 terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...
. 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 ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
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 unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...
,
divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
, 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 is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
, the paper stepped up its attacks on
communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
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 ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...
. 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. ''Our Sunday Visitor'' 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'' (, 'The Roman Observer') is the daily newspaper of Vatican City State 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 a ...
'' (''The Roman Observer''). In 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 service is set to shut down at the end of 2022, but its Rome bur ...
, which was set to close its US office at the end of the year. Crowe will serve as the editor of the new
wire Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample diameter 40 mm A wire is a flexible strand of metal. Wire is c ...
, OSV News.


References


External links

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Our Sunday Visitor newspaper
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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