Catholic Roots: Jack Fritscher’s Early Writing 1958–1966

Jack Fritscher’s writing career began not in the gay press but in the Catholic press — a fact that sets him apart from virtually every other writer in American gay literary history. From 1958 to 1966, writing as John J. Fritscher, he published fiction, essays, articles, and reviews in publications including The Josephinum Review, The Torch, Cadence, and The Catholic Preview of Entertainment, during and after his years at the Vatican-affiliated Pontifical College Josephinum seminary in Ohio. This archive preserves that earliest body of work — the Catholic intellectual roots from which all of his later writing would grow.