Staff & Contacts for the American Catholics in the Public Square

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Peter Steinfels, project co-director, started as an editorial assistant at Commonweal in 1964 while a graduate student at Columbia University. He rose to associate editor before leaving the magazine in 1972 to take a position at the Hastings Center, a bioethics think-tank. For many years a columnist for Commonweal, he returned as executive editor in 1978, becoming editor in 1984. His book, The Neoconservatives, appeared in 1978. In 1988, he became senior religion correspondent for the New York Times, where he currently writes the "Beliefs" column. He is married to Margaret O’Brien Steinfels, and they live in Manhattan. They have two grown children.

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Robert Royal, project co-director, is president of the Faith & Reason Institute in Washington, D.C. Dr. Royal holds a B.A. and M.A. from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the Catholic University of American. He is a regular columnist for Crisis magazine and his articles have appeared in numerous scholarly journals and other publications, including First Things, Communio, the Wilson Quarterly, the Catholic Historical Review, the Washington Post, the Washington Times, National Review, the Wall Street Journal, and the American Spectator. His books include: 1492 And All That: Political Manipulations of History (1992), Reinventing the American People: Unity and Diversity Today (1995), The Virgin and the Dynamo: The Use and Abuse of Religion in the Environment Debate (1999). The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century: A Comprehensive Global History (2000, Crossroad) is his latest book.

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Regina Garvey, project administrator, was the office manager for the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ U.S.A. She has also done development work for the Ecumenical Development Initiative of the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches and Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary. In her other incarnations she worked as a librarian and a piano teacher. She is married to John Garvey, a priest of the Orthodox Church in America and a columnist for Commonweal. They are the parents of two grown children.

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Margaret O'Brien Steinfels has been editor of Commonweal since 1988. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the New Republic, and other publications. Her book, Who’s Minding the Children_ The History and Politics of Day Care in America, was published in 1974. Before coming to Commonweal, Steinfels was director of publications at the National Pastoral Life Center and editor of its journal, Church. From 1981 to 1984, she worked as executive editor and business manager of Christianity and Crisis. She has also worked as a social science editor at Basic Books and as editor of the Hastings Center Report. She has served on the boards of Georgetown University, The National Association of the Laity, and The Catholic Press Association; currently she is a member of the advisory committee to the Catholic Common Ground Initiative. Steinfels is a graduate of Loyola University, Chicago, and New York University. She lives in Manhattan, and is married to Peter Steinfels. They have two grown children and one grandchild.

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Paul Baumann came to Commonweal in 1990. He serves as book review editor, writes editorials, and solicits and edits articles. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Newsday, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and other publications. Before coming to Commonweal, he worked as a newspaper editorial writer, reporter, and movie reviewer. He was educated at Wesleyan University and the Yale Divinity School. He and his wife, Vivian Segall, a newspaper editor, have three children and live in Connecticut.

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