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!