U.S. Catholic magazine celebrated its 90th anniversary with a celebration at Catholic Theological Union (CTU) on June 6. As well as members of the current editorial team, several past editors attended, along with multiple writers, journalists, and academics who have contributed to the magazine over the years.
The history of U.S. Catholic
Founded in 1935 by Claretian Father James Tort, U.S. Catholic was originally called The Voice of St. Jude. Its mission was to “encourage, inspire, and equip ordinary Catholics to live their faith in everyday life.” In 1963, while the magazine was under the leadership of Robert Burns—executive editor from 1949 until 1984—the magazine was renamed U.S. Catholic in response to the Second Vatican Council’s summons to the church to engage more fully with the world.
The anniversary event allowed editors and contributors from different eras in the magazine’s history to connect with one another and exchange stories of their memories with the magazine.
“It was great to catch up with former colleagues who are very dear to me, and to meet a lot of the current staffers,” said Cathy O’Connell-Cahill, who worked as a U.S. Catholic editor from 1979 to 2015. She said she especially enjoyed talking with the editors who had been looking through the archives for excerpts from past decades, many of which, she said, she remembered vividly.
Heidi Schlumpf, who worked at U.S. Catholic from 1999 to 2008, said attending the anniversary meant a chance to reflect on and celebrate her years as an editor. “I’ll always remember my years at U.S. Catholic as the most gratifying of my professional career,” Schlumpf said, adding that she was glad to see other editors from her time at the magazine. “I’m grateful to the current editors—and to the Claretians—who continue the legacy of such an important publication.”
Continuing the legacy of justice
Over the years, U.S. Catholic lived out this mission in diverse ways, often as a voice for a voiceless. It was the first Catholic publication to speak against the war in Vietnam, and the first to champion Dorothy Day’s cause for canonization. In both the magazine and the digital publication, it has covered issues ranging from labor justice, women’s rights, racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and environmental justice, commissioning pieces from writers with diverse backgrounds and consulting with a range of sources to represent all the voices that make up the church.
In response to the current political climate, U.S. Catholic has been committed to raising awareness of the plight of immigrants, refugees, and migrants. The keynote speaker for the U.S. Catholic‘s 90th anniversary celebration was immigration attorney and faith-based community organizer Yunuen Trujillo, who is also a columnist for U.S. Catholic. Trujillo spoke about her experiences as both an immigrant and a queer Catholic, and the importance of Catholic journalism in the work of justice.
Claretian Father Ferdinand Okorie, editor-in-chief of U.S. Catholic as well as vice president and academic dean at Catholic Theological Union, noted that Trujillo’s lecture called attention to the “many faces and challenges of the people of God in today’s world” and that “there is an ardent need to reach them and their circumstances of life with the gospel message of God’s presence in their lives.”
“It was amazing to have a queer keynote speaker who did not apologize for being openly queer and wanting to be in a relationship,” wrote Jessica Mesman, associate editor of The Christian Century and a longtime contributor to U.S. Catholic. “Her entire talk was about the dignity of life—but in a way that I have honestly never heard at a Catholic event. To see a room full of Catholics, including priests and sisters, stand up and applaud her instead of staying silent out of fear or even just politeness was profound. It made me want to keep doing this work.”
The Chicago church
U.S. Catholic has deep connections with both parish life and Catholic activism in Chicago, and with the city’s robust legacy of community organizing and labor justice. The election of Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV has cast a spotlight on this aspect of the church’s mission in the United States. As Pope Leo attended CTU, graduating with a master’s of divinity degree in 1982, enthusiasm around the newly elected pope was especially palpable at the event, adding an extra layer of energy and hope to an already lively gathering. Several of the guests took photos with the life-size cardboard cutout of Leo in the building’s lobby.
The following weekend, Pope Leo addressed a crowd of approximately 20,000, gathered in White Sox’s Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago. Speaking to the young people in the crowd, Leo invited them to “come together to share with us in this common mission, as church and in society, of announcing a message of true hope and of promoting peace, promoting harmony, among all peoples.”
It’s a message that resonates for Catholic media, too.
Okorie reflected on the anniversary gathering: “Those who gathered at CTU to celebrate the magazine’s anniversary in media and journalism ministry reminds me of the vision of Vatican II Council for a church united with their various gifts and ministries in service of the gospel of Christ.”
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