The Catholic Sentinel is, according to its masthead

Masthead (publishing)

The masthead is a list, published in a newspaper or magazine, of its staff. In some publications it names only the most senior individuals; in others, it may name many or all...

, the "Oldest Catholic

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 Newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

 on the West Coast." A weekly publication, it is sent out every Wednesday to subscribers and is the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Portland

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland

The Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon is an archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It encompasses the western part of the state of Oregon, from the summit of the Cascades to the Pacific Ocean...

 and the Diocese of Baker. It is published by the Oregon Catholic Press

Oregon Catholic Press

OCP is an American liturgical publisher based in Portland, Oregon. The not-for-profit company publishes liturgical music, books, choral collections, hymnals, missals, and support materials for the Catholic Church...

.

The Oregon Catholic Press also publishes El Centinela, a Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

-language version of the Sentinel.

History

The Catholic Sentinel was started in a response to Anti-Catholicism

Anti-Catholicism

Anti-Catholicism is a generic term for discrimination, hostility or prejudice directed against Catholicism, and especially against the Catholic Church, its clergy or its adherents...

 in 1870 by Henry Herman and J.F. Atkinson. After the Whitman massacre

Whitman massacre

The Whitman massacre was the murder in the Oregon Country on November 29, 1847 of U.S. missionaries Dr. Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa Whitman, along with eleven others. They were killed by Cayuse and Umatilla Indians. The incident began the Cayuse War...

 in 1847, a Protestant minister had accused local Catholics of inciting a band of Cayuse

Cayuse

The Cayuse are a Native American tribe in the state of Oregon in the United States. The Cayuse tribe shares a reservation in northeastern Oregon with the Umatilla and the Walla Walla tribes as part of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation...

 Indians to killing 10 Protestant missionaries

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

. The first run of the Catholic Sentinel was 500 copies, and a year's subscription cost $4. By 1995, circulation had grown to 15,000 copies.

External links

• The Catholic Sentinel
• El Centinela (in Spanish)