The Tablet

Infobox Magazine
title = The Tablet


image_size =
image_caption =
editor = Catherine Pepinster
editor_title =
previous_editor =
staff_writer =
frequency = Weekly (except Christmas and Easter)
circulation = 23,628 [ [http://www.thetablet.co.uk/thetabletABCauditreport.pdf ABC audit report Jan.-Jun. 2006] (pdf file)]
category = Catholicism
company = Tablet Publishing Company
publisher =
firstdate = May 16, 1840
country = UK
based =
language = English
website = [http://www.thetablet.co.uk/ www.thetablet.co.uk]
issn = 0039-8837

"The Tablet" is an international Catholic weekly newspaper, published in London. It has an international readership of over 55,000.Fact|date=December 2007

Ownership

"The Tablet" was launched in 1840 by a Quaker convert to Catholicism, Frederick Lucas, just 10 years before the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales. It is the second-oldest surviving weekly journal in Britain after the "Spectator" (which was founded in 1828).

For the first 28 years of its life, "The Tablet" was owned by the Catholic laity. In 1868, Fr (later Cardinal) Herbert Vaughan, who had founded the only British Catholic missionary society, the Mill Hill Missionaries, purchased the journal just before the First Vatican Council that defined papal infallibility. At his death he bequeathed the journal to the Archbishops of Westminster, the profits to be divided between Westminster Cathedral and the Mill Hill Fathers.

"The Tablet" was owned by successive Archbishops of Westminster for 67 years. In 1935, Archbishop (later Cardinal) Hinsley sold the journal to a group of Catholic laymen. In 1976 ownership passed to the Tablet Trust, a registered charity.

Editors since 1935

From 1936 to 1967 the editor was Douglas Woodruff, formerly of "The Times", a brilliant historian and wit whose hero was Hilaire Belloc. His wide range of contacts, and his knowledge of international affairs, made the paper, it was said, essential reading in embassies around the world. He restored the fortunes of The Tablet, which had declined steeply. For many years (1938-1961) he was assisted by Michael Derrick, who after the Second World War was often acting editor.

Woodruff was followed as editor by the publisher and, like Woodruff, part owner Tom Burns, who served from 1967 to 1982. Burns, a conservative in his political views, was a progressive on church matters, firmly in favour of the Vatican II church reforms. A watershed came in 1968, when "The Tablet" registered its disagreement with Pope Paul VI’s encyclical "Humanae Vitae", which restated the traditional ban on contraception.

Burns was followed by the BBC producer John Wilkins, who had been Burns’s assistant from 1967 to 1971. Under his editorship the journal's political stance was seen as centre-left. The paper continued to have a distinctive voice, consistently advocating further changes in the Church's post-Vatican II life and doctrine. Circulation climbed steadily throughout Wilkins's 21-year tenure. He retired at the end of 2003.

Catherine Pepinster, formerly executive editor of the "Independent on Sunday", was appointed as "The Tablet"'s first woman editor at the beginning of 2004. [ [http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article352295.ece The Independent] , March 20, 2006.] She has said that the journal will continue to provide a forum for 'progressive, but responsible Catholic thinking, a place where orthodoxy is at home but ideas are welcome'.Fact|date=December 2007

References

Links

* [http://www.thetablet.co.uk/ "The Tablet" Official Website]