What do you get when you bring together a group of Ivy League Catholic
grads? Dappled Things, a new literary magazine that features the works
of creative young adult Catholics — as well as some big name
Catholic contributors.
Bernardo Aparicio, the magazine’s president, had recently graduated
from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree
in economics and international relations when the idea for the magazine
came to him.
“It occurred to me that we had a lot of great Catholic magazines
and publications out there … that featured analytical essays
and news, but nothing that really addressed the creative side of Catholics,”
Aparicio said.
He knew many young Catholics from his student days “who had
so much talent to give,” he said, “but it was going unnoticed
because there wasn’t much of an outlet for them.”
So Aparicio approached several young Catholics from his alma mater
and across the nation about starting their own magazine. It became
Dappled Things, its title taken from the first line of a poem by the
great Catholic convert and priest, Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J.: “Glory
be to God for dappled things.”
The magazine was launched in Advent 2005 as an online showcase for
emerging artists, writers and photographers, Aparicio said, because
“we didn’t have a penny.” It did well from the start,
and consistently receives about 20,000 hits per issue on the site:
www.dappledthings.org.
As readership grew, the demand for a printed edition became apparent,
Aparicio added.
“Everyone seems to have the experience that you can read things
online — but when you want to read something prayerfully and
really enjoy it, sometimes there is no replacing the print media,”
he said. “We thought we could do something really nice that
could stand up to any other literary magazine around, so we decided
to make that step.”
Aparicio began reaching out to prominent Catholics such as George
Weigel, the well-known Catholic commentator. He and his wife, Joan,
became financial donors for the print edition in the summer of 2007.
Others, such as Father Richard Neuhaus of First Things and Catholic
authors Michael D. O’Brien and Peter Kreeft, have contributed
their writings to the quarterly magazine for free.
“It’s just been great… As soon as we tell them about
the project, they tend to want to help us,” Aparicio said. “They
want to do it … because it’s something that fills a real
gap in the Catholic cultural world, and it’s being done by young
adults.”
Those young adults are committed Catholics who want to share the beauty
and richness of their faith with the world, he said.
“Beauty is a way to evangelize as much as any other way …,”
Aparicio added, “Through beauty, people can have an intimate
experience of a certain truth that they might not have had if it were
presented to them in an argument.”
To read Dappled Things online or order a subscription visit www.dappledthings.org.
CS&T staff writer Nadia Maria Smith may be reached at npozo@adphila.org
or (215) 965-4614.