New publisher for The Catholic Register

A familiar face to Catholic Register readers is about to take on a new role with the paper.

Peter Stockland, who has been a regular Register columnist for more than 10 years, has been named publisher by The Register’s board of directors. He replaces Mike Simpson, who is retiring. Stockland takes over responsibility for the operations of the newspaper and its website on Jan. 2.

“We on the Board of Directors are excited to welcome Peter to The Register,” said James Milway, who is also Chancellor of Temporal Affairs for the Archdiocese of Toronto.

“He has been a major contributor to The Register and to Catholic dialogue across the country. He will find The Register has been in good hands under the leadership of Mike Simpson and we wish Mike the best as he embarks on his next chapter in retirement.”

Stockland most recently has been publisher of Convivium.ca and a senior fellow with Cardus. He co-founded Convivium magazine in 2011, continuing as publisher as it went web-only in 2016.

His newspaper career includes 14 years with Sun Media and in 1994 he was named editor of TheCalgary Sun. He joined The Calgary Herald in 1996 as a columnist and later became editor-in-chief of The Montreal Gazette. In 2004 he was named vice president and editor-in-chief for English magazines at Reader’s Digest.

“I’ve had the good fortune to work in and manage large newsrooms,” said Stockland. “I’ve launched magazines in corporate environments and co-founded Convivium magazine with Fr. Raymond de Souza. All those opportunities proved to be extremely rewarding work, but I’ve had no job in my life more important than guiding The Catholic Register right now when its leadership voice is so urgently needed by the faithful across Canada.”

Stockland isn’t wasting any time shifting his attention to The Register and its team.

“Before I’d even been interviewed for the publisher’s position, the visit of Pope Francis was announced,” said Stockland. “I woke up at 3 a.m. in the morning with my brain buzzing around ideas of how ‘we’ at The Catholic Register could cover the papal event. Yeah, I think this is the job I’ve really always wanted.”