A 1920 issue of The East Portland Catholic Monthly.

Forgotten magazine aimed to bolster faith

More than 90 years ago, St. Francis Parish in Portland began publishing a monthly magazine to comment on politics, tell inspirational stories of Catholic life and strengthen knowledge of the faith.

The East Portland Catholic Monthly began around 1913, but it is not clear how long it was published. The Sentinel this spring obtained five issues purchased at a garage sale, with the latest issue dated June 1921.

Local Catholic historians, and St. Francis Parish leaders, had not heard of the publication.

The magazine — usually 32 to 38 pages in length according to our samples — carried devotional columns and parish news, like a report on first Communion day, 1920.

“In a few words, but in words that went straight to the hearts of all present, adults as well as children, Father McNamee, the pastor, spoke to the Communicants on the dignity of the great Sacrament they were about to partake of and on the great privilege that was theirs this day,” wrote the correspondent, who is unnamed.

Other sacraments, including marriages, received notice.

Entire pages were given over to listing the names of parish donors, along with the amount of their giving. Gifts for the May 1920 building fund collection ranged from $15 from W.J. Corcoran to 50 cents from P.J. Kinnier.

Some articles were lifted from the pages of national Catholic periodicals like America magazine and The New World of Chicago.

There was a children’s corner, which carried stories of young saints, poems and short stories with a lesson. In the issue of February, 1917, an unattributed tale portrays an earnest Catholic boy who helps a neighbor woman gradually understand the faith and embrace Jesus. In the end, he becomes a priest and the woman joins the church, receiving Communion from him for the first time.

There is an occasional article about mission work in rural America and the pages have sporadic pious drawings.

On occasion there is practical household advice, a precursor to the advertorial.

“Cold or hot — in summer or winter — macaroni is always wholesome, nutritious and appetizing in whatever form you use it,” says a corner of the June, 1918 magazine. It goes on to offer a recipe for macaroni with clams and then gives the address of the Oregon Macaroni Company on East 8th Street.

The magazine had a good supply of advertisers, including the Wright Candy Company of East Burnside Street, Beaver Electric on Grand Avenue and J.L. Austin Tin and Sheet Metal at Alder and Grand.

Like the Sentinel, the magazine had a column called the Question Box. The writer was Father William Kress of Cleveland, Ohio. He parried questions from skeptics who asked the see the pope’s credentials as Jesus’ representative and fielded controversial subjects like abortion and birth control, which were hot topics even in 1920.

In the June issue of that year, a questioner reported that his doctor had said that killing an unborn child was no different than killing an animal.

“You have a peach of a doctor — forgive the slang,” Father Kress wrote sarcastically. “He might be the making of a good horse doctor, but I would not advise you to set him up as a preacher of Christian morals. What an acute insight he possesses, being able to draw a line to the exact point where a brute animal, full brother to the colt and puppy, is transformed into a human being, with intellect and soul.”

The motto of the magazine was: “To do good for the Parish and this Community.”