Canticle, the Voice of Today's Catholic Women (now 'Women of Grace'

by Catherine Fournier

Does the world need another woman's magazine? When it's as faithful, varied and thought provoking as Canticle magazine, the answer is a resounding 'Yes!'

Subtitled 'The Voice of Today's Catholic Woman', Canticle's editorial staff has obviously spend many hours carefully considering just who 'Today's Catholic Woman' is, and what kind of magazine she'd like to read. There are many factors to consider. Is she young or old, single or married, childless or a mother, practicing or lukewarm in her faith? How to go beyond 'preaching to the choir' and reach the women sitting in the pews? How to inform and inspire those who are unsure of what the Church teachings are? A tall order for one magazine, but one that Canticle fills, quite well.

This is not a magazine of recipes and home decoration tips, nor it is a gossip-and-advice magazine. Instead it is a magazine of ideas. It presents a large selection of articles, discussing (almost) everything that affects women's lives. The premiere issue's topics ranged from 'the essence of feminity' to the Church's teaching on infertility treatments and a discussion of the appropriateness of Barbie in a Catholic home.

It achieves a (necessary) delicate balance between dense and rich articles, suitable for a Sunday afternoon, and lighter entertaining ideas, easily read in those few moments before sliding into sleep. It carries several regular columns with titles like; Family, Pop culture, Healing Hands, and the Last Word. Domestic-Church.Com's editor (yours truly) is fortunate to be a regular contributor to Canticle with a column entitled 'Coming To Terms' that discusses the definition and mis-definition of important words and concepts.

The editor, Genevieve Kineke, was the founder and editor of hearth magazine, The Journal of Authentic Catholic Women, Canticle's predecessor and to some extent inspiration. Black and white illustrations by Kevin O'Leary give the pages interest without distraction. A large Board of Advisors from around the world contributes prayers and advice to the editorial staff.

As its title confidently implies, the magazine speaks to Catholic women with a broad range of voices. In this new magazine, the voices of a doctor, a housewife, a nun, news of women around the world, a political speech writer, and many others all blend together into one song, one canticle of Catholic women.

Canticle was published quarterly, by Saint Michael's Press.

Editorial correspondence and article submissions should be directed to :
Editor, info@womenofgrace.com

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