100 years on… Threats to Catholic education alarmed this paper as the first Dáil met, writes Gabriel Doherty   “We have seen no reason to change our opinion as to the indefensibility from the point of view of Catholic morality of the Rebellion of 1916, nor can any after events, however deplorable, be made to…

100 years on… This paper believed President Wilson would support Ireland and Poland in the same way, writes Gabriel Doherty   Given that the Versailles Peace Conference formally convened on the same day that The Irish Catholic of January 18, 1919 appeared, it was inevitable that the paper would give it pride of place in…

100 years on… This paper kept its powder dry on the national question in the aftermath of the 1918 election result, writes Gabriel Doherty   The Irish Catholic of January 11, 1919 was very much a tale of three republics – one (Irish) in the process of creation, the other two (French and American) already…

100 years on… This paper almost wholly glossed over the end of the home rule party, writes Gabriel Doherty   Perhaps the most telling aspect of the judgement of The Irish Catholic on the outcome of the 1918 General Election, as revealed in its edition of January 4, 1919, was that the verdict of the…

100 years on… Ireland played a role in the US failure to ratify the Versailles Treaty, writes Gabriel Doherty   The exigencies of producing a weekly newspaper three days after Christmas, when combined with an uncongenial election schedule, meant that The Irish Catholic of Saturday December 28, 1918 lacked a vital ingredient: analysis of the…

100 years on.. Catholic voters had to wait a fortnight to learn the results of the 1918 election, writes Gabriel Doherty Following several months of feverish military and political activity, punctuated by a series of authentically earth-shattering events, The Irish Catholic, in its number for the week ending Saturday, December 21, 1918, registered a sudden…

100 years on… This paper felt Europe’s best hope after the Great War lay with the US president, writes Gabriel Doherty   For several weeks prior to the week ending Saturday December 14, 1918 the pages of The Irish Catholic had been dominated by preparations for the forthcoming general election. With the ballots for same…

100 years on… The once dominant home rulers had no answers to the big questions facing Ireland in 1918, writes Gabriel Doherty   We now know that the armistice of November 11, 1918 marked the end of hostilities of World War I, even if legally the conflict did not end until the ratification of the…

100 years on… The end of WWI saw this paper taking a clear anti-Sinn Féin line, writes Gabriel Doherty   Given the seismic nature of the events on the Western Front over the previous month, it is no surprise that The Irish Catholic of November 23, 1918 devoted a portion of its pages to further…

100 years on… Ireland greeted the First World War with a mixture of relief and uncertainty, writes Gabriel Doherty   It comes as no surprise to find that the pages of the edition of The Irish Catholic dated November 16, 1918 were dominated by news of the armistice, which had been signed five days before…