Christian modernities in Britain and Ireland in the twentieth century: Article on the Journalism of Fr Gerry Reynolds published in Contemporary British History

My article on ‘Clerical modernisers and the media in Ireland: the journalism of Fr Gerry Reynolds’, has been published in a special issue of the academic journal Contemporary British History on ‘Christian modernities in Britain and Ireland in the Twentieth Century’, edited by John Carter Wood.

This is the abstract of my article:

This article analyses the journalism of Fr Gerry Reynolds in the context of modernisation in Ireland. Identifying Reynolds as a ‘clerical moderniser,’ it describes two periods in which he devoted a substantial amount of time to journalism: 1962–1975, when he worked for Redemptorist Publications and the Catholic Communications Institute; and 1987–1989, when he wrote a column for Northern Ireland’s Irish News. In both periods, Reynolds emphasised Vatican II themes like the priority of individual conscience, laity and women, and ecumenism. It argues that like other clerical modernisers, Reynolds contributed to a cautious modernisation of Irish Catholicism from within.

Coincidentally, the article was published yesterday, the 5th anniversary of Fr Gerry’s death.  With its focus including an earlier period of Gerry’s life in Dublin, it highlights aspects of his work in journalism that extended beyond his peacebuilding and ecumenical ministry in Northern Ireland, for which he was better-known.

Here is the Table of Contents for the Special Issue:

Introduction: Christian modernities in Britain and Ireland in the 20th Century, by John Carter Wood

Religion and the rise of mass democracy in Britain, by Pippa Catterall

Reframing the ‘laws of life’: Catholic doctors, natural law and the evolution of catholic sexology in interwar Britain, by Alana Harris

‘The Relation of the Sexes’: towards a Christian view of sex and citizenship in interwar Britain, by Laura Monica Ramsay

Going ‘part of the way together’: Christian intellectuals, modernity and the secular in 1930s and 1940s Britain, by John Carter Wood

‘Christian civilisation’, ‘modern secularisation’, and the revolutionary re-imagination of British modernity, 1954-1965′, by Sam Brewitt-Taylor

Clerical modernisers and the media in Ireland: the journalism of Fr Gerry Reynolds, by Gladys Ganiel

(Image: Fr Gerry Reynolds in the Limerick Leader (circa 1975) after winning an award that recognised his contributions in journalism)