Contact: Christine Valentine-Owsik, Publicist, Our Sunday Visitor, 215-230-8095, COwsik@osv.com

MEDIA ADVISORY, Sept. 16, 2015 /Christian Newswire/ -- For media seeking additional information and perspective on breaking news during these events (Sept. 22-27, 2015), Our Sunday Visitor's on-location team will offer timely explanation, as well as insight on Pope Francis' writings, teachings, speeches, and remarks; his life and background; his view on reform of the Catholic Church; the current state of global Catholicism; and new OSV products to support understanding of the news events and Year of Mercy.

Gregory Erlandson, Publisher for the Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, overseeing its periodicals, trade books, parish resources and curricula.  The only North American appointed to the Vatican media reform committee in 2014 by the Council of Cardinals, he also serves as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.  Erlandson is former president of the Catholic Press Association and has served on the board of the Association of Catholic Publishers. Before joining Our Sunday Visitor, he served as Vatican correspondent in the Rome Bureau for Catholic News Service.  He's won a variety of journalism awards from the Catholic Press Association, and has written for the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Newsmax, and many Catholic publications.  He is co-author of the 2010 book, Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis: Working for Reform and Renewal (Our Sunday Visitor).

Terry Poplava, Executive Director of Marketing and Sales for Our Sunday Visitor.   In addition to OSV's special products and series designed for the Year of Mercy, Terry can discuss OSV's unveiling of a new app designed especially for the Jubilee Year, to be launched during the World Meeting of Families.  The "365 Days To Mercy" app, offered free in the iTunes and Google Play app stores – and  to World Meeting of Families attendees, is designed to accompany the faithful on a spiritual journey during the Pope's newly proclaimed Jubilee Year of Mercy (Dec. 8, 2015 – Nov. 20, 2016).  The app features daily mercy and scripture reflections; daily Pope tweets; Year-of-Mercy news items from OSV Newsweekly; excerpts from official catechetical resources, OSV books and products; and traditional Catholic devotions, such as the Divine Mercy Chaplet.  A longtime marketing and sales executive, Terry leads all marketing, branding, public relations and sales functions for Our Sunday Visitor, for both divisions -- Publishing and Offertory Solutions.

Gretchen R. Crowe, Editor, OSV Newsweekly.  Gretchen will be in Washington, D.C., New York and Philadelphia reporting firsthand on Pope Francis' historic U.S. visit. In addition to writing daily and posting photographs, she will be active on social media via the Twitter handle @GretchenOSV. As part of the OSV team covering the papal visit and the World Meeting of Families, Gretchen’s coverage can be found at www.osv.com/papalvisit. The OSV Newsweekly team also will provide daily analysis, e-newsletter updates, infographics and photos. In addition to her renowned coverage and writing for OSV Newsweekly — the largest national Catholic weekly newspaper — Gretchen has earned numerous awards for her journalistic excellence both for the Newsweekly as well as for her earlier work at the Arlington Catholic Herald.

Matthew E. Bunson, Ph.D., Senior Correspondent for Our Sunday Visitor, general editor of Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Almanac and the editor of OSV's The Catholic Answer Magazine. Matthew will likewise be in Washington D.C., New York, and Philadelphia covering each stage of the Pope's U.S. visit. His best-selling book, Pope Francis (Our Sunday Visitor, 2013), was the first English-language biography of the new pontiff and won the Biography of the Year award from the Association of Catholic Publishers. Bunson is author or co-author of over 50 books including: The Encyclopedia of Catholic History, The Pope Encyclopedia, We Have a Pope! Benedict XVI, and the Encyclopedia of Saints.  His Encyclopedia of American Catholic History (Our Sunday Visitor, 2014) won Reference Book of the Year from the Catholic Press Association.  In addition, he is Faculty Chair for the Catholic Distance University and a senior fellow of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He has served as a consultant to numerous news organizations, including USA Today, and has been a guest on many television and radio programs, including MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, Relevant Radio and EWTN. Aside from his Ph.D. in Church History, he holds a doctorate in pastoral theology.

ABOUT OUR SUNDAY VISITOR
The world's largest English-language Catholic publisher, Our Sunday Visitor serves millions of Catholics globally through its publishing, offertory, and communication services. Established in 1912, Our Sunday Visitor publishes a wide range of books including Bibles, biographies of the saints, books by Pope Francis, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, children's books, devotionals, bible studies, inspirational works, and curriculum. Our Sunday Visitor is a not-for-profit organization, returning a portion of net earnings back to the Catholic community through the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.  For more information, visit www.osv.com.