Content includes news and features from the United States, the
Vatican, and worldwide, on such topics as culture, education, books, arts, and entertainment, as well as interviews. Online content includes various blogs and breaking news.
The Register's print edition is published biweekly (26 times a year).[2] Tom Wehner has been the managing editor since 2009. Jeanette DeMelo became editor in chief in 2012. She was succeeded by Shannon Mullen in January 2023.[3]
History
Diocesan ownership
The National Catholic Register was founded as the national edition of the Denver Catholic Register, the official weekly newspaper of the
Diocese of Denver. The National Catholic Register began publication on November 8, 1927, with four pages of national and international news. Monsignor Matthew J. Smith was its first editor.[4][5][6][7]
In June 1929, the
Diocese of Monterey–Fresno asked to bundle local news with the National Catholic Register, and other dioceses followed suit. The arrangement turned into a chain known as the Register System of Newspapers. Dioceses across the United States could wrap their own diocesan newspapers around the national edition.[4][5][8][7] In 1931, Msgr. Smith founded the Register School of Journalism at
St. Thomas Seminary in Denver.[8] The chain's circulation peaked in the 1950s, with the national edition and at least 34 diocesan editions reaching 850,000 households.[5][8][7][9]
Twin Circle ownership
After Msgr. Smith's death in 1960, the chain entered a period of decline. By 1970, the chain had been dismantled, with each diocesan edition being transferred back to local diocesan management.[8] On August 6, 1970,[7]Patrick Frawley's Twin Circle Publishing Co. purchased the financially struggling[4]National Catholic Register, changing its editorial focus from
progressive to
conservative.[10] At the point of sale, the paper had a circulation of 112,000.[4]
Legionary ownership
In 1995, Frawley sold the paper to Circle Media, a ministry of the
Legion of Christ.[11] During the
church sex abuse scandals of the 2000s, the paper downplayed
allegations of sexual abuse by Legionary founder
Marcial Maciel, and defended him against the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on its editorial pages. After new revelations in 2009, benefactors cut ties with the paper, leaving it in a precarious state. In 2010, the paper's publisher, Father Owen Kearns, issued an apology for its coverage of Maciel and his victims. He was replaced by Dan Burke, who moved the paper from weekly to biweekly publication and launched a new website.[8]