The Irish Catholic
| Type | weekly religion-orientated newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | tabloid |
| Owner(s) | The Irish Catholic |
| Founded | 1888 by T.D. Sullivan, MP. |
| Political alignment | Catholic |
| Headquarters | Gardiner St, Dublin |
| Website | www.irishcatholic.ie |
The Irish Catholic is an Irish weekly newspaper which provides news and commentary about the Roman Catholic church. It is Ireland's best selling and most influential independent Catholic newspaper. The 24-page tabloid paper is delivered worldwide.
The newspaper is uniquely independent of the Catholic hierarchy in Ireland, and the members of the Board who run the company fiercely guard this independence from the Irish bishops' conference
The Irish Catholic was founded in 1888 by Timothy Daniel Sullivan, a former Lord Mayor of Dublin and an Irish Parliamentary Party MP at Westminster. A number of the paper’s early staff, including Patrick Fogarty until 1936, had worked at The Nation newspaper.
Leo Fogarty, Patrick’s son, was managing director of The Irish Catholic from 1936 until 1977.
John Ryan was editor from 1936 until 1981, the longest-serving editor in the history of the publication.
1990s
In the early 1990s, David Quinn was appointed Editor. Quinn's brand of thoughtful conservatism on social issues and orthodoxy on matters of faith and morals has won the paper a wide readership amongst Irish Catholics.
Controversy
When David Quinn resigned in 2003 to work for the Irish Independent, Simon Rowe, a prominent member of Opus Dei was appointed as editor. At the time, largely due to concerns about Opus Dei influence in the newspaper, the then Managing Director, Otto Herschan was appointed by the Board of Directors to act as Editor-in-Chief. Simon Rowe resigned after only nine months with the newspaper, http://www.paddydoyle.com/editortoquit.html over the publication of an article that criticised the Irish bishops' conference.
Following Rowe's departure, Hermann Kelly edited the paper from June 2004 to January 1, 2005. The Board of Directors then appointed Garry O'Sullivan as editor, and he took up his post in January 2005. A graduate student of Dublin City University's School of Journalism, O'Sullivan was a former reporter at The Irish Catholic and had worked for the Irish Independent, The Irish Voice in New York, Vatican Radio in Rome, and for the Jesuit Communications Centre in Dublin.
Reporters
Prominent reporters at the newspaper include Paul Keenan, a native of Dublin who is also a graduate of Dublin City University's communications programme, and Michael Kelly, a former official at the Vatican Press Office and a journalist with Vatican Radio based in Rome.
Hermann Kelly resigned in January 2006. David Quinn rejoined the editorial staff of The Irish Catholic in May 2006 having previously resigned from the Irish Independent to take a post with the Irish Daily Mail a post he stayed in for only a matter of weeks.
Competition
In late 2004, former editor Simon Rowe announced that he was setting up a new Catholic weekly newspaper The Voice. However, after a year The Voice switched to publishing bi-weekly, and shortly thereafter announced that it was leaving the newspaper market to become a magazine.
Circulation
Under the editorship of Garry O'Sullivan, according to an annual audit of circulation figures carried out at the end of January 2006, the average weekly circulation has fallen to 24,100 copies per week.
Sources
John Dunne, Headlines and Haloes, (Dublin 1988)