Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) marks its hundredth anniversary this weekend:
On Saturday, Our Sunday Visitor will celebrate the centennial of the first issue of its now-nationwide Catholic newspaper, “Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly,” with a free open house.
The paper first came out on May 5, 1912, started by the late John Francis Noll, a Fort Wayne-born priest who would become archbishop of the Fort Wayne-South Bend Catholic Diocese.
Noll’s aim was to counter what he viewed as rampant falsehoods about Catholicism, including those circulated by another weekly publication, “The Menace,” and publicize accurate Catholic teachings.
Greg Erlandson, president of Our Sunday Visitor’s publishing division, says the independent non-profit company remains true to Noll’s vision, even while embracing new means of communication, from the Internet to e-books and smartphone apps.
“I think that one of the great strengths of the company is that it serves the church in a variety of ways,” he says.
“We’re linked back to Archbishop Noll’s vision to form Catholics and inform Catholics and are operating in whatever the appropriate medium of the day is.”
Today, Our Sunday Visitor, with 380 full-time employees, publishes much more than the 50,000-circulation newsweekly – down from its heyday of 500,000 around 1960 but still the largest of four national Catholic newspapers.
On its roster are periodicals, books, textbooks and curricula, resources for parish educational resources, bulletin inserts and offering envelopes.
Read the entire article, “Catholic publisher marks 100 years”, in The Journal Gazette (Fort Wayne, IN).
The OSV website has information about the May 5th open house; it also has a timeline of notable events from the history of OSV.
OSV will also mark its 100th anniversary with a September 28, 2012, symposium featuring a number of special guests:
Future plans for the celebration of Our Sunday Visitor’s 100th anniversary include a symposium on September 28 at the Grand Wayne Center featuring Cardinal Francis George of Chicago; Dr. Scott Hahn; and Dr. Helen Alvare. It will be followed by a Mass of Thanksgiving and Rededication celebrated by Bishop Kevin Rhoades at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception; and a reception and dinner that will feature keynote speaker Archbishop Claudio Celli, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
More information here.
Congratulations to OSV on this remarkable milestone!
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