Peter Stockland Named New Publisher of ‘The Catholic Register’

The Catholic Register’s board of directors has appointed veteran journalist Peter Stockland as publisher.

Stockland, who has been a regular Register columnist for more than 10 years, takes over responsibility for the editorial and business operations of the 128-year-old newspaper from Mike Simpson, who is retiring in January.

“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 transitioned to web-only in 2016.

His newspaper career includes 14 years with Sun Media, mainly as political reporter, and in 1994 he was named editor of The Calgary 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 an editor-in-chief for English magazines at Reader’s Digest.

“I’ve had the good fortune to work in and manage large newsrooms at Canadian newspapers,” 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’s appointment is effective Jan. 2.