Review for Religious

Review for Religious remains one of the best kept secrets among Jesuit apostolates in the United States. Frs. Augustine Ellard, Adam Ellis, and Gerald Kelly—all faculty members of the Jesuit theology school at St. Marys, Kansas—founded the journal in 1942. While there were journals dedicated to specific religious life traditions, for example, Benedictine or Franciscan or Dominican, these Jesuits had the inspiration to provide a journal that would primarily serve all women and men religious and allow for an intercommunity forum for sharing information about religious life, prayer and spirituality, ministerial practices, and helpful canonical guidelines. Among English-language publications, the journal today retains its unique place of being a resource for how we, both lay and religious, understand and practice the spiritualities in the Church and how we live them in our everyday vocations.

Fr. Richard Smith SJ, became editor in 1959, followed by Fr. Daniel Meenan SJ, in 1975. At Meenan’s death in 1987, Fr. Philip Fischer SJ, became acting editor, with Fr. David Fleming SJ taking on the editor’s role in 1988.

Throughout the years other Jesuits, women religious, and lay people have filled out the editorial staff. Currently the staff includes Fr. Philip Fischer SJ, as associate editor, Mary Ann Foppe as office manager, Tracy Gramm as design and art director, and Judy Sharp as secretary. Sister Elizabeth McDonough OP, and Fr. Eugene Hensell OSB, are regular contributors for canon law applications and for scripture reflections, respectively.