In February 2023, U.S. Catholic published an article called “The Catholics who refuse to leave” about a handful of Catholics who, despite frustration with injustice in the institutional Catholic Church, choose to stay in the church. “The question for this group,” author Teresa Coda writes, “isn’t ‘Should we leave?’ but rather ‘Why and how do we stay?’”
Throughout its 88 years of publication, these are the kinds of questions on which U.S. Catholic has focused, centering lay Catholics’ voices and experiences and celebrating the diversity of Catholic identity.
From the magazine’s In Person section that features inspiring lay Catholics to the Sounding Board surveys in which readers share opinions on topics ranging from leaving Mass early to gun control, U.S. Catholic gives lay Catholics—not just clergy or theologians—a platform to express their opinions and experiences about the church.
We seek to be accessible in our journalism and faith reflections—they are not purely intellectual or theological but are applicable to ordinary Catholics. Our articles are not behind a paywall, we don’t clutter our articles with irrelevant ads, and we remain committed to keeping these stories available to everyone.
To ensure that we can continue this work, we are launching a membership program. We invite readers to join and support us in this mission of providing ordinary Catholics, including LGBTQ folks, women, and young people, a platform to engage and wrestle with their faith.
Members play a vital role in supporting the magazine’s ongoing work to center the voices of everyday Catholics that often don’t have a platform in much of mainstream Catholic media. We hope you will join us in our mission by supporting our work.
The legacy of U.S. Catholic
“At America and Commonweal,” Jesuit Father Raymond A. Schroth wrote in a 2010 article celebrating U.S. Catholic’s 75th anniversary, “the editorial was the voice of the publication, but reading U.S. Catholic, we get a sense that the people of God are raising a collective voice.”
I started working at U.S. Catholic as an editorial assistant in early 2023 after freelance writing for the magazine a few times. In preparation for writing this article promoting our new membership campaign, I got to sift through a lot of our archives (including some iconic covers) all the way back to copies of The Voice of St. Jude, which we first published in 1935.
Through its extensive history, U.S. Catholic has remained accessible and relevant to issues that lay Catholics care about. I’ve found nourishment in U.S. Catholic articles that I don’t find in many other Catholic publications. I’m not as interested in what new thing a Catholic bishop is saying or news cycles about church politics as I am in learning how lay Catholics are showing up for their communities and practicing their faith in social justice-minded and sometimes outside-of-the-box ways. For stories like this, U.S. Catholic has been at the forefront.
In 1935, Father James Tort, a Spanish-born Claretian priest who founded the National Shrine of St. Jude on Chicago’s South Side, launched the first issue of The Voice of St. Jude. From its beginning, the magazine focused on the Catholic laity with a mission to “encourage, inspire, and equip ordinary Catholics to live their faith in everyday life.”
Tort called this mission “Catholic Action,” hoping that the articles published in the magazine would “add to the sum total of Catholic Action in the United States.”
The Voice of St. Jude, being situated in a Chicago community with working-class and immigrant roots, applied Catholic social teaching to urban and social issues of the day such as race, labor unions, housing, and war. For example, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Chicago experienced a series of riots over the integration of public housing projects and local neighborhoods, and the editors used the events to explore the church’s teaching on race.
In 1963, The Voice of St. Jude became U.S. Catholic in an effort to respond to and reach modern Catholics. The magazine embraced the Second Vatican Council’s call to engage every corner of Catholicism’s “big tent.” Throughout the latter half of the 20th century and into the 21st, in addition to continued coverage of racial, labor, and economic justice, U.S. Catholic consistently covered topics related to women’s rights, equality in the church, and LGBTQ inclusion and justice.
From publishing stories about women who are called to the priesthood, to undoing patriarchal language in liturgy, to reproductive justice, feminist theology, navigating friendship and relationships as a young adult, motherhood, and more, U.S. Catholic has centered and sought out the voices of Catholic women and their experiences in the church.
Likewise, U.S. Catholic’s affirming coverage on the LGBTQ community also sets the magazine apart from other Catholic publications. Examples of articles we’ve run include: “There is space for the Pride flag in Catholic classrooms,” “Language about LGBTQ people has moral consequences,” “Trans kids are created and loved by God,” “How LGBTQ rights and Catholic social teaching go hand in hand,” and more.
U.S. Catholic also remains committed to publishing work by and for Black Catholics. Articles from our archives include pieces about the rich history of the Black Catholic Church and coverage of racism in parishes to more recent pieces celebrating the Catholic faith of civil rights heroes, Black joy and Christian hope, Black saints, and resources for understanding antiracism work as a lifelong commitment. U.S. Catholic has also, throughout the years, highlighted the work of Black Catholics such as theologian M. Shawn Copeland; Sharon Lavigne, who is fighting for ecological justice in Cancer Alley; Shannen D. Williams and her research into the history of Black women religious; Father Bryan Massingale, and more. In 2021 and 2022, U.S. Catholic won awards for their coverage racial inequities from the Catholic Media Association.
We publish journalism from Millennial and Gen Z writers who report on topics young people care about: online dating as an LGBTQ Catholic, vocation as more than marriage or religious vows, the future of cryptocurrency in the church, how Gen Z Catholics engage with their faith, mental health, as well as articles about engaging with one’s faith in a changing world of climate disaster, poverty, and capitalism.
U.S. Catholic has never shied away from the nitty gritty hardships of marriage, raising children, and family life, which continue to be a theme in our award-winning Home Faith column. Divorce is covered in realistic and compassionate ways, inviting divorced Catholics into the conversation about their hopes for and frustrations with the church.
Our Sounding Board section, which has been part of the magazine for more than 50 years, incorporates readers’ voices, surveying them with questions in response to provocative opinion pieces. Reader comments from these surveys are published in the magazine. The most popular Sounding Board surveys have centered around parish life. These essays have also engaged social issues, such as whether Catholics should support Cesar Chavez’ grape boycott in the 1960s or building low-income housing.
In our online Sunday reflection videos, lay Catholics, along with men and women religious, share short reflections based on the Sunday lectionary.
U.S. Catholic is an award-winning publication that serves a needed role in today’s Catholic media. We invite you to contribute and become part of a people-centered Catholic publication by becoming a member. It’s a way to support everyday Catholics living their faith, engaging with the why and how we choose to stay. Join our membership program and keep our journalism going in a time when the people’s collective voice needs to be heard.
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