Hail to the Publican

A friend sent me the other day two issues of a little journal called The Publican of Philadelphia. Since I am forever worried that the Porch's ongoing what-to-do conversation gravitates a bit…

A friend sent me the other day two issues of a little journal called The Publican of Philadelphia. Since I am forever worried that the Porch’s ongoing what-to-do conversation gravitates a bit too inexorably toward strictly political/economic discussions, I’d like to credit the Publican and its founding editor, Matthew Chominski, for answering the what-to-do question in a particularly honorable way: by starting a local periodical.

Warning to Caleb and Darryl: the Publican is Catholic. It also consciously draws on local writers like our own Villanova-based James Wilson for content.  John Médaille ain’t local to Philadelphia, but he is in the Publican‘s pages, and at least he’s a localist.  The driving philosophy of the Publican is very porchy, distributist, crunchy, and certainly orthodox. If you’re inclined toward things papist and/or Philadelphian, check it out.

Imitators in other regions welcomed. Even Protestant ones.

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A stack of three Local Culture journals and the book 'Localism in the Mass Age'

8 comments

  • oh, man. why do I need to read a website that praises the pabulum of Joe Pearce?! I was hoping he had disappeared for a while after his public spanking in First Things.

  • Many thanks, Mr. Beer, for the kind words regarding The Publican.

    Like Brian mentioned, a better sense of the publication comes from visiting the site: http://www.thepubofphilly.com.

    An even better sense of the publication comes from subscribing though, which can be done through a form on this page: http://www.thepubofphilly.com/Subscriptions.html

    Regarding Will’s question, I won’t be making it to the Peters lecture this evening. But please do send along your address by way of the above mentioned web-form.

  • Will O

    I saw these being handed out at the Blond lecture at Villanova but didn’t get one. Any chance they’ll be at the Peters lecture tomorrow?

  • It can be a little easier to get to the actual content of the present issue and a couple from the archives from the main Publican site:

    http://thepubofphilly.com/

    Glad to see the Publican mentioned. I think its the only publication where I’ve shared a meal with more than one of the contributors; another nice benefit to a local journal.

  • ken mcintyre

    I thought that you were going to suggest that the best thing that each of us could do would be to start a public house in our towns, villages, and megalopolitan areas. That would certainly be a career change worth considering in my case.

  • Jeffrey Polet

    I like the reality of a guy named “Beer.”

  • Caleb Stegall

    Hey! I love Catholics! Where else are poor protestants supposed to find good churchy conversation over beer? I even founded, edited, and published a Catholic journal of my own a while back …

    And I note that the Publican features a video of the excellent protestant Roger Scruton on its front page!

    Who said ecumenicism is dead?

    “I believe in papal infallibility, and as such I am very glad to be a protestant!” – Eric Voegelin

  • I like the idea of a guy named “Beer” praising the Publican.

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