Brigid Anne Ryan

Brigid (or Bridget) Anne Ryan (1966 or 1967) is a former Irish journalist. In 1992 she became the first female editor of The Irish Catholic newspaper. She resigned as editor in 1995, and later became involved with the Pilgrim House Community religious group. The religious group, which operated a care home for people with intellectual disabilities of which Ryan was a director, was closed in 2015 following inspections by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA).

Journalistic career

Originally from Borrisoleigh in County Tipperary, Ryan started writing for The Irish Catholic in 1989. Prior to this she had studied journalism at the College of Commerce, Rathmines and had worked in commercial journalism. In 1984, she won the Irish Goods Council's "Young Journalist of the Year" award and was an assistant editor for the trade magazine Today's Grocer. Upon her appointment as the first female editor of the Irish Catholic, Ryan told the Sunday Tribune that "it is a signal of how women are taking a stronger stance in all social matters, including religion".

In 1994, while writing about her television appearance on The Late Late Show in which she debated the dissident priest Pat Buckley, Nell McCafferty of the Sunday Tribune remarked that Ryan could "shoot a look that would scald at 40 paces". In an interview with the Irish Independent in 1995, journalist Joan Brady noted that Ryan "had become a familiar face and voice as radio and television programmes regularly debate issues which concern the Church and our predominantly Catholic population". In that interview, Ryan expressed views on divorce and contraception which were not in agreement with the hierarchy of the Catholic Church at the time.

Ryan resigned from The Irish Catholic in 1995 after criticism from the bishop of Cashel and Ossory and the archbishop of Dublin about an editorial she wrote on Pope John Paul II and his stance on capital punishment. She stated that she was only permitted to write editorials that were approved by the paper's management; earlier that year she wrote an editorial questioning the freedom of the religious media in Ireland on foot of the dismissal of Father Kevin Hegarty as editor of Intercom. She was succeeded as editor by David Quinn, and remains the only woman to have been editor to The Irish Catholic.

Later activities

Following her resignation from The Irish Catholic, Ryan became involved with the Pilgrim House Community religious group, acting as a director. The group, which was described as "controversial" and "cult-like", operated a care home which was the subject of investigations by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). Ryan was one of the signatures of a public apology to the group's founder Helena O'Leary that was placed as an advert in the Irish Times in June 2008. The advert, in which the signatories apologised to O'Leary for their "dishonesty", was the subject of some media interest and was described by the Irish Times as "mysterious and dramatic".

With her husband, Benedict Hogan, Ryan also ran the organisation Protect Children Against Incest (also known as Protect Children From Incest) with the asserted goal of exposing "incest and the families and individuals who try to cover it up". Among their actions have been handing out leaflets (which made accusations of incest against members of a "well-known local family") and storming the altar during mass at Kill O'The Grange church in Dun Laoghaire in 2004 (accusing the priest of not preventing "adverse publicity about their group").

The Pilgrim House Community, of which Ryan was a director and which had received over €1m from the Health Service Executive from 2010 to 2015, reportedly closed in early 2015 following inspections by HIQA.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 O'Shea, Ken (17 January 1993). "The Irish Catholic gets its first female editor". Sunday Tribune. p. 3 – via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk. Bridget Anne Ryan, the paper's first female editor [..] said "It is a big step [..] it is a signal of how women are taking a stronger stance in all social matters, including religion." A 26-year-old graduate of journalism at Rathmines College, Ms Ryan [is] from Borrisoleigh in Co Tipperary
  2. 1 2 3 Power, Joseph (14 January 1993). "Woman Is Editor". Irish Independent. p. 8 – via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk. The Irish Catholic has appointed its first woman editor [..] Co Tipperary-born Bridget Anne Ryan, 26, has been with the newspaper since 1989 [..] After training as a journalist with the College of Commerce in Rathmines and winning the Irish Goods Council's "Young Journalist of the Year" award in 1984, she joined the editorial team [..] from the trade magazine "Today's Grocer," where she had been Assistant Editor
  3. 1 2 Callanan, Helen (15 October 1995). "The End of the Ryan Line". The Sunday Tribune. p. 5.
  4. ↑ Hegarty, Kevin (1996). "The Church and the Media". The Furrow. 47 (2): 75–80. ISSN 0016-3120. Bridget Anne Ryan as editor of The Irish Catholic tried to free it from the stodgy grip of pious devotionalism and defensive conformity. For her pains she was sidelined from the heartland of the paper, so much so that she felt compelled to resign
  5. 1 2 Anne Ryan, Bridget (30 June 2008). "For abusing the trust of our spiritual guide and then abandoning her, I am sorry". The Irish Times. Retrieved 4 February 2026.
  6. 1 2 3 Coyle, Colin (15 March 2015). "'Cult like' charity for disabled to close after critical inspections"". thetimes.com. Retrieved 14 October 2026. The Pilgrim House Community, a religious charity that has been described as "cult-like", is to close after inspections by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) criticised its standards. The centre [..] told the HSE, which has given it more than €1m since 2010, that it is closing down [..] Bridget Anne Ryan, a director of the company [..] said the group had formally notified the HSE and Hiqa of its decision to close last month
  7. ↑ McCafferty, Nell (15 May 1994). "End Of A Million Pound Fantasy". The Sunday Tribune. p. 5 – via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.
  8. ↑ Brady, Joan (7 July 1995). "Enthusiastic Voice of Catholicism". Irish Independent. p. 13 – via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.
  9. ↑ McDonald, Dearbhail (27 June 2004). "Church property row forces editor to quit". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  10. ↑ Byrne, George (28 January 1995). "Watching The Station Doing The Stations". Irish Independent. p. 33 – via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk. Such was the surprise at Kevin Hegarty's dismissal that Bridget Ann Ryan was moved to pen an editorial in The Irish Catholic questioning the freedom of the religious press, give that Intercom was hardly calling from transvestism and bestiality to become compulsory for the clergy
  11. ↑ "New Editor Is Appointed". Evening Herald. 24 November 1995. p. 9.
  12. ↑ O'Regan, Eilish (17 December 2014). "Why were disabled care home patients brought to Poland, Belgium, Israel by controversial religious community?". Irish Independent. Retrieved 4 February 2026.
  13. ↑ O'Brien, Carl (28 June 2008). "A mysterious and dramatic apology". The Irish Times.
  14. ↑ Oakley, Richard (8 February 2004). "Gardai quiz couple over incest taunts". thetimes.com. Retrieved 14 October 2026. Three weeks ago Ryan and Hogan handed out leaflets [..] that contained unfounded allegations of incest involving a respected local family [..] produced by an organisation calling itself Protect Children Against Incest [..] In an interview, they said their organisation, now called Protect Children From Incest, was set up to "expose incest and the families and individuals who try to cover it up"
  15. ↑ Oakley, Richard (22 February 2004). "Health boards review care at Pilgrim House". thetimes.com. Retrieved 5 February 2026. The two recently handed out leaflets at a mass in Trim, Co Meath, accusing a well-known local family of incest [..] Ryan and Hogan also stormed the altar during a mass at Kill O'the Grange church in Dun Laoghaire three weeks ago, accusing the priest of failing to stop adverse publicity about their group