Joe Ferullo

During Vatican II, a group of Catholics in Kansas City decided laypeople should take the lead in church journalism. The result was the National Catholic Reporter, a key player in the life of the U.S. church since 1964.

For many, 2023 was the year that people and issues on the Catholic margins took center stage. Call it the year they were heard — even with all the expected static struggling to drown out the dialogue.

One of the most important gatherings in the long history of the Catholic Church will begin in just a few days, with the opening of the Synod of Bishops. NCR will be there in strength to report on this momentous event.

Heidi Schlumpf, NCR's executive editor since 2020, will be taking on a new role as a senior correspondent. Publisher Joe Ferullo writes to readers about the change.

This Father's Day, NCR publisher Joe Ferullo reflects on the experience of caring for his father-in-law in a time of crisis.

Over the next few weeks, we'll examine the decade past and the years to come for Francis, a pope who seems to redefine for a new generation a special spirit born three generations ago.

This is my first time writing for this space since I became publisher of the National Catholic Reporter just a couple of weeks ago. I'm new to the job — but I'm not new to NCR and what it means to so many people.