Freedom in the Catholic Press: a case study of the Melbourne Advocate in the 1960s

Abstract

The thesis proposes that there was a short-lived movement in the Catholic press in the 1960s whereby certain Catholic editors in Australia and America attempted to open their newspapers to a wider range of uncensored views and information. This “liberal project” in the Catholic press arose out of wider liberal movements in the Catholic Church and the world. The key features of the project are traced by way of a case study of the Melbourne Advocate between 1961 and 1969 and reveals a different Catholic press to the one of popular preconception.