Introducing The Fourth Watch: A Newsletter about Catholicism

When First Things began thirty-five years ago, our founder, Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, was not yet Catholic. Just a few months after the publication of the first issue in March 1990, Neuhaus was received into the Roman Catholic Church. A year later, he was ordained a priest by John Cardinal O’Connor. In a press release, Neuhaus wrote that he “could no longer give an answer convincing to others or to me as to why I was not a Roman Catholic.” 

It’s fitting, then, that concern for the Catholic Church was a driving theme of the magazine from the very beginning, to the extent that First Things is sometimes referred to as a “Catholic magazine.” (To which we respond, “Not only a Catholic magazine.”) Shortly before his death in 2009, Neuhaus explained why the Catholic Church is the object of such intense scrutiny by wider Christendom and the world:

Some years ago, when William F. Buckley heard that a prominent Protestant had entered into full communion with the Catholic Church, he exclaimed: “This is great news. It’s like the Yankees stealing the star pitcher from the Red Sox.” That is an understandable tribal response, but it takes us back to the squabbling of boys on the playground. Questions of great theological moment are at stake. In these matters, Catholic and non-Catholic alike should have as their one concern the question of what Christ intended, and still intends, for his one Church—it being understood by all that, in the deepest meaning of the term, there can finally be only one Church, since the Church is the Body of Christ, of which Christ is the head, and there is only one Christ. 

Which brings me to the project I wish to announce: First Things will launch its first ever topical newsletter on December 1. It will be solely about Catholicism, written from a First Things perspective, and drawing heavily from our archives. Jim Keating, a frequent contributor and a theologian at Providence College, is the author. 

I will allow Jim to explain the newsletter’s title. Here is an excerpt from the first installment:

The title of this newsletter, The Fourth Watch, references the time of night in which the Lord made himself known to his disciples by walking on water on the Sea of Galilee (Mark 6:48). The Fourth Watch seeks to alert its readers to the various issues of the moment, including the tempests that threaten St. Peter’s Barque to the point of sinking. It will not, however, provide yet another occasion for doomscrolling. Just as there are dark things happening in our world, there are also signs of impending dawn. The accent will be on the hope the God revealed in Jesus Christ provides. Readers will be pointed to commentary from First Things and elsewhere that offers acute analysis of our present storms and, whenever possible, a path through them.

Jim will be your steady guide past the headlines, buzz, and quick reactions that abound in Catholic media today. Moreover, his insights will be delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge and free of ads, every two weeks. 

I invite you to subscribe to The Fourth Watch by clicking here or visiting fourthwatchcatholic.com. The first issue will hit your inbox on Monday, December 1. All you need to do is enter your email address. The content of this newsletter won’t be available anywhere else, and you won’t want to miss it.

Newsletters are a growing and dynamic medium, free from the clutter of social media and more convenient than remembering to check your favorite websites each day. That’s why The Fourth Watch is just the first of what will be many topical newsletters. We already have three more in the works—on Protestantism, Judaism, and technology—and they will be launching in the next few months. The Protestant newsletter is in the capable hands of Dale M. Coulter. The Judaism newsletter is authored by the spirited J. J. Kimche. And Ned Desmond, a longtime Silicon Valley insider, will helm the tech newsletter. We could not have hoped to find more trustworthy and thoughtful writers to take on such wide and weighty topics. 

This newsletter project is possible thanks to the generous support of the John Templeton Foundation. Watch this space, but for now, I invite you to subscribe to The Fourth Watch. You won’t get commentary on the Catholic Church like this anywhere else.