Homiletic and Pastoral Review

Homiletic and Pastoral Review (HPR) is a religious journal, the first Catholic Clergy magazine to appear in the United States and has been the leading journal of its kind for over a century. The current editor-in-chief is the Reverend John Cush, professor of theology at Saint Joseph's Seminary (Dunwoodie) in Yonkers, New York.

Founded over one hundred years ago, Homiletic and Pastoral Review is one of the most well-respected pastoral journals in the world. At its height, the paper edition of the journal was carried by 191 university libraries. It has featutred noted contributors such as James V. Schall, S.J., Alice von Hildebrand, Paul Vitz, Kenneth Whitehead, Donald DeMarco, Regis Scanlon, and John F. Harvey. In 1900 Joseph F. Wagner decided to start a magazine for the Catholic clergy in the U.S.A. He called it The Homiletic Monthly and Catechist, the name it carried until it was changed to the present name in 1919. The format was always simple: each issue included a sample sermon for each Sunday and Feast Day along with some aids for teaching catechism to children. It stayed that way until 1919. Editor until 1916 was Msgr. John F. Brady of St. Joseph's Seminary in Dunwoodie, N.Y., the seminary of the Archdiocese of New York. He was succeeded by two Dominican friars, Fathers John A. McHugh, O.P. and Charles J. Callan, O.P. They changed the name of the periodical to The Homiletic and Pastoral Review (HPR) because they wanted to offer more than sermons. They expanded the scope of HPR, adding articles, official church documents, a "Questions Answered" section and book reviews.