Seventy-five fat years: coming soon to a bookstore near you.

One-hundred-and-twenty-five bound volumes of Commonweal sit on our office shelves (1924-1998). The first issue appeared on November 12, 1924, and the 75th anniversary issue will appear on November 19, 1999, all part of the unstinting efforts of editors, writers, and reviewers to make sense of the Catholic and American encounter. Seventy-five years is something to celebrate. And we will.

In fact, we began this past summer when each of those volumes of Commonweal was scrutinized for an anthology. Patrick Jordan, our managing editor, took the lead in coordinating this massive effort. We were each assigned two decades (or more). In all, some hundreds of items were proposed. Then came the hard part. Choosing. Sometimes the discussion was as heated as the one that first ended in publication. Others were shoo-ins.

There were favorites, of course, that didn't make it: G.K. Chesteron on "Religion and Sex," from that very first issue is briefly excerpted across the page. One of my own favorites never had a chance: Michael Williams's series covering the 1925 Scopes trial in Dayton, Tennessee, did not pass our first principle of selection, continuing relevance. The trial was a landmark case, but today it belongs in the history books. Unlike H.L. Mencken who fatuously mocked the "rubes," Williams brought a discerning eye to the town, to the defendants, the prosecutors, and the issues. But he did go on. Of course, he was editor. And you know what prima donnas they can be. Another favorite of mine did make it: George Shuster's 1938 dispatch from Vienna on the German invasion of Austria; an example of Nazi terrorism and the awful collusion in that of the Catholic church.

Reading back issues of Commonweal naturally brings on the editorial itch. All those periodic sentences, all those adjectives! And yet: all those editorials, articles, reviews that year after year did exactly what needed to be done.

The computer skills of our long-suffering interns - Grant Gallicho, Christian Zwahlen, Tim Reidy, and Drew Rosado - were put to good use. The final selections were scanned in August and September. While we avoided an immense retyping job, we created an immense proofreading job. Nothing scans like the human eye. A general introduction by Peter Steinfels and section introductions by Paul Baumann will round out the volume.

Look for the anthology to appear next fall, published by Simon & Schuster; title to come.

All of which brings to mind the man who kept the wolf from the door.

The man responsible for a remarkable portion of those editorials, articles, and reviews has finally agreed to take it easy - but not too easy. Edward S. Skillin, on the staff for sixty-four years and publisher for thirty-one, officially retired June 30, 1998. No surprise - he continued to come to the office almost daily as a volunteer. He celebrated his 95th birthday, January 23, 1999. At last, he has agreed to take it easier. He will work from home doing his usual superb job of proofreading, including distinguishing the accent aigu from the accent grave, getting umlauts over the right vowel, and on the rare occasion when numbers appear in these pages, he will add, subtract, multiply, or divide, as the case requires. Edward, ad multos annos.