Episode 191: Pieter Vree, Editor of the New Oxford Review, discusses Catholic Journalism (March 10, 2021)

On this episode of The Open Door, panelists Jim Hanink, Mario Ramos-Reyes, and Christopher Zehnder discuss Catholic journalism, the relation of culture and politics, and how to integrate lighting a candle whilst cursing the darkness. Our special guest is Pieter Vree, Editor of the New Oxford Review. Raised in Berkeley, California, Vree is a longtime observer of “Berserkely.” Pieter and his wife, Rosario, are the parents of six children. We plan to ask him the following questions. One caveat: he admits to not having found a way to get the printer’s ink off his hands.1. Could you sketch for us the history of the New Oxford Review?2. The columnist Ted Rall recently observed that surviving print publications have a “commitment to detailed long-form journalism…they carry words, lots and lots of them, occasionally punctuated by hand drawn illustrations.” Do you agree?3. Are you worried about online censorship?4. Is anti-Catholicism a worsening phenomenon?5. You’ve written that of late too many Catholic bishops “have preferred the easy role of the king’s good servants to the more demanding one of spiritual leaders.” What events did you have in mind?6. Given the New Oxford Review’s fierce independence, how does it manage to pay the bills?7. William F. Buckley, whom your father knew, once told an irate subscriber to “Cancel your own G-d d---n subscription.” What do irate subscribers complain most about? How do you address their complaints?8. St. Teresa of Calcutta said that the more we work the more we should pray. How does prayer animate you and your staff?9. How can public discourse be civil without becoming banal?10. What words of advice do you have for would be contributors?