Light On Dark Water

What Happened To Inside Catholic?

Does anybody know what's going on with the web site that once belonged to the old Crisis magazine, then was transmogrified into Inside Catholic, and not too long ago (some months?) reverted to Crisis?

I'm asking because Inside Catholic, despite its mildly annoying name, was a pretty good publication which I read regularly. Yes, it was a little heavier on the "democratic capitalism" advocacy than I would have liked, but it was fairly eclectic, and included a group blog which was frequently very interesting. But since it became Crisis again that's gone, and many of the articles are on the dull side, and too heavily focused on free-market advocacy etc., while others are just re"prints" of syndicated columns. At the moment it's been silent for two weeks, announced as a summer vacation, but that seems a bit long for an online publication. I'm just wondering if anyone has any, um, inside information. (Here is the site.)

Maclin Horton

19 responses to “What Happened To Inside Catholic?”

  1. Louise

    a theory: they got a new editor and he went on holiday?

    Reply
  2. Rob G

    I figured something was up when I couldn’t find Robert Reilly’s classical music reviews, which I really like. Tony Esolen had some good pieces there as well.

    Reply
  3. Mac

    They still have the same editor (Brian St. Paul) and at least some of the same staff, including at least some of the frequent contributors to the group blog. But the only sign of their presence is on the ‘About’ page, not in the content. This is the posted announcement/explanation of the change back to Crisis, and maybe there’s nothing more to it than meets the eye.

    Reply
  4. your resident film & theology expert

    When they went to the new format for the Webpage, it became less user friendly. That is life. It is almost invariable. But also the ‘print’ for the articles is in this weird font which is difficult to read and ‘bounces’ when I try to go downpage.
    I suspect their going back to being Crisis was a strategy of desperation. A crisis. That is not insider knowledge, just a recollection of the long history of the magazine and its editors, some of which you may recall.

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  5. Mac

    Yeah, that may be all it is. I’m neutral about the re-design, and don’t find it hard to read.

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  6. your resident film & theology expert

    Read my post again. I don’t get your ‘all it is’.

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  7. Mac

    I mean “strategy of desperation” may be a sufficient explanation for the change (as opposed to some mysterious intrigue happening behind the scenes, which is the sort of thing I was wondering about). I was assuming you meant financial desperation. The name change aside, there’s sort of a reduced quality about the whole thing.

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  8. your resident film & theology expert

    I see. I thought you had to be very pessimistic to think a ‘strategy of desperation’ is ‘all’ it is! Out Maclining Maclin, so to speak. I looked at the board of Crisis and notice Deal Hudson is not there.

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  9. Mac

    Heh. I suppose desperation could become the norm, but things are not quite bad enough to make me think that yet.
    I googled “inside catholic change to crisis magazine” or something like that and got a few mildly interesting links:
    their announcement, which I missed (or just as likely forgot)
    Fr. Dwight Longenecker, who writes for them and thinks the old site was “too busy”
    the Reporter, which of course hates them reminds me of one of the features I liked–the links to Catholic blog posts of interest.
    This post appears on the third page of results.

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  10. Louise

    All I keep asking myself is “what kind of a name is Deal?”

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  11. your resident film & theology expert

    Thanks for all three links, all of which I missed. I particularly liked this comment on Sean Winter’s article
    If you think Ralph McInerny was a “neo-con” you aren’t really credible as a commentator on Catholic life and thought

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  12. Daniel Nichols

    The only good thing I have to say about Crisis is that Brian St Paul has one beautiful wife, the former Zoe Romanowsky…
    And “Deal” is short for “Big %#@&?$ Deal”…

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  13. Mac

    I applauded that comment, too, res-ex.
    I’ve wondered that, too, res-ex.

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  14. your resident film & theology expert

    That was Louise being spot on, on ‘Deal’ as a name

    Reply
  15. Mac

    Yes, I don’t know why I typed ‘res-ex’ instead of ‘Louise’ there. Something to do with the fact that a dog was pawing at my leg and whining to be taken outside.
    I didn’t know St. Paul & Romanowsky were h&w.
    I was also slightly amused and slightly appalled that the NCR guy actually goes out looking on conservative sites for something to be outraged about. I suppose if punditry is your trade you need to do that.

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  16. Briana

    The staff is on vacation. They put an announcement up a couple weeks ago. Although they didn’t mention when they’d be back.
    http://www.crisismagazine.com/2011/summer-vacation

    Reply
  17. Mac

    Right, I mentioned that. At the time I wrote this post, it had been two weeks. Now it’s over a month. Also, the vacation notice says they will continue to post something from the archives every day, which they haven’t. Sure looks like all is not well.

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  18. resident film & theology expert

    When FT was between editors, Inside Catholic carried items saying FT was about to go belly up. So I’m not sympathizing with them now.

    Reply
  19. Mac

    I hate to think how much intrigue and back-biting, if not back-stabbing, goes on amongst these folks who are all supposed to be on the same side.

    Reply

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