Letter from the Editor: About Peregrine Magazine

Peregrine Magazine is a long time in the making, though the ideas that formed the foundation for the magazine only coalesced quite recently. An offshoot of the group behind The Josias, it was born out of the idea that politics is not just principles and theories, but the lived social experience of mankind in particular places. Peregrine, therefore, is an attempt to get to the heart of our what our lives are and what they should be.

Of course, practice without principles is like a building without structural members. The practical concerns of our daily lives are built on principles that direct our actions toward good and just ends. For Peregrine Magazine, our focus is on the common good as the proper end of society and thus the foundation of all of our principles.

In order to discover our common good we must have an idea of who we are and what we have in common. We need to understand the nature of mankind and the nature of his origins and purpose. Necessarily this will involve a developed theological anthropology, and as a Catholic publication, Peregrine will look to the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church on the nature of man in society (often referred to as “Catholic Social Teaching.”)

The principles undergirding Catholic Social Teaching have widespread applications, from the interaction between laborer and employer, to the domestic life of the family, to the role of civic leaders. Whereas in contemporary discourse these concerns are often separated into individual spheres, which often clash and compete for the attention of modern man, Catholic Social Teaching sees them as distinct but related aspects of man’s social journey.

The market, the family, and the state are all established for the sake of the common good, the common life of virtue and the contemplation of the good, the true, and the beautiful — ultimately God Himself. The common goodrequires the different spheres of society to work in concert, not competition. This is the purpose of Catholic political practice and this is the theme for Peregrine Magazine.

To live these principles is to be politically homeless, a foreigner in the public square, a pilgrim on the road to the Eternal City. Christians are called to live in the world, but not to be of the world. This is why the name “Peregrine” was chosen; “peregrine” refers to something foreign or wandering. We hope, however, that by living according to these “foreign” principles, we can encourage others to join us on our pilgrimage. 

Peregrine Magazine intends to publish pieces that address myriad social circumstances from the management of the household and domestic life to the organization of our cities and our nations, but each and every circumstance relates to the ordering of the political community toward the common good. We are especially interested in the way that human creativity in art and science contribute to society. By presenting a variety of principled perspectives on the practical issues of contemporary life, we hope to develop a clearer picture of a truly political life in our time.

Although Peregrine Magazine is, at present, an online publication, we encourage our readers to participate in this conversation through the comment box as though writing a letter to the editor in a print magazine. This way, our readers have the opportunity to engage the ideas presented and we can all come to a better understanding of the ­common good. Thank you for reading!

 

Nathaniel Gotcher

Editor-in-chief

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