The Wanderer (newspaper)

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The Wanderer is a Roman Catholic weekly newspaper published in St. Paul, Minnesota and distributed nationally. It was founded by Joseph Matt on October 7, 1867.

1 Overview
2 History
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Overview

The Wanderer states an excellent summary of the paper:

"The Wanderer, a national Catholic weekly journal of news, commentary, and analysis, has been publishing continually since 1867. Owned and operated by Catholic laymen, The Wanderer is independent of ecclesiastical oversight but maintains a fiercely loyal adherence to Catholic doctrine and discipline."

It was originally published in German, to minister to German immigrants in Minnesota and the Dakotas who were being "attracted to and influenced by Masonic and quasiMasonic German-language newspapers and organizations." A German language edition was published until 1957. The English edition began in 1931.

[edit] History

Early on it was a major opponent of a perceived "Americanizing" of the Church. That tendency was addressed by Pope Leo XIII in his 1899 apostolic letter, Testem benevolentiae. It claims to be one of the first newspapers to decry Nazi ascendancy as antichristian, and opposed Russia participation as an "unholy alliance". The Wanderer was also noticed by Stalin in these efforts, as a repudiation was published in Pravda.

Through the Vatican II years, a dispute over the Council led to Walter Matt leaving the Wanderer to Alphonse Matt. In 1967, The Remnant, was founded by Walter Matt. As the Wanderer states, "For The Wanderer, the council was not a rejection or an abandonment of tradition, but a development of that tradition, safeguarded for 2,000 years by the Holy Spirit, to better enable the Church to continue to bring the gospel to all men."

The Wanderer remained faithful to Church teachings, among them contraception, often opposing innovators who operated , "in the spirit of Vatican II". This paper continues to retain traditional Catholic leanings.

The paper found itself in opposition to the Call to Action Program in 1976 which threatened to improperly liberalize Church teachings by opposition to the Vatican and the CTA's leftwing approach. The Wanderer often is repudiated in the press by more radical elements of traditional Catholicism, and schismatic and sedevacantist bodies.