Scottish Catholic Observer


The Scottish Catholic Observer is Scotland's only national Catholic newspaper, founded in 1885. It features news of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland as well as regular international church news and reports from the Vatican. The paper is owned by The Catholic Herald newspaper group.
Weekly editions contain local, national and international news, opinion pages, letters, education news and reviews in addition to regular reader competitions. The paper also lists births, deaths and marriages across Scotland. Much of its exclusive news is later picked up by the mainstream media.
The paper carries regular features on Scottish Catholic life and history, weekly columnists alongside an Ecumenical coverage which keeps readers up to date with Scottish Inter-Church dialogue and projects.
The Scottish Catholic Observer was redesigned and relaunched in 2008 with editor Liz Leydon, a former Scotsman journalist, and manager Rebecca Rigg. In June 2016, deputy editor Ian Dunn took over as editor, who was succeeded by his deputy Daniel Harkins in 2018.
Notable former reporters include SNP MP Brendan O'Hara, war correspondent Francis McCullagh, and Kevin McKenna, columnist for The Observer and former deputy editor of The Herald and executive editor of the Daily Mail in Scotland.

History

The Scottish Catholic Observer was created in 1885 as the Glasgow Observer. Its first edition was published on 18 April 1885 by the Glasgow Publishing Company at 58 Renfield Street, Glasgow. It was shortly afterwards bought by Irishman Charles Diamond, who would use it and the Preston-based Catholic News as the basis of The Catholic Herald.
The newspaper's early years were overseen by the Glasgow-born managing editor David John Mitchell Quin, who was recruited by Charles Diamond from the English-based Catholic Times.
In March 2016, the newspaper was put up for sale by its owners for a reported fee of £350,000.

Editors