Paul Ormonde (born 7 February 1931) is an Australian journalist and author who wrote for ''
The Herald'' (Melbourne) and the ''Catholic Worker''. He is a member of the post-Labor split Catholic group which opposed
B. A. Santamaria
Bartholomew Augustine Santamaria, usually known as B. A. Santamaria (14 August 1915 – 25 February 1998), was an Australian Roman Catholic Anti-communism, anti-Communist political activist and journalist. He was a guiding influence in the found ...
and "The Movement", later the
National Civic Council
The National Civic Council (or NCC) is a Conservatism in Australia, conservative Christian lobby group in Australia, founded by B.A. Santamaria in the 1940s. The NCC publishes a weekly magazine, ''News Weekly''.
The NCC promotes policy based on S ...
. He was particularly interested in links between political and religious affairs, specifically the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and the
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...
. Ormonde was associated with the Catholic peace movement
Pax Christi
Pax Christi International is an international Catholic peace movement. The Pax Christi International website declares its mission is "to transform a world shaken by violence, terrorism, deepening inequalities, and global insecurity."
History
...
and the
anti-Vietnam War movement
Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War (before) or anti-Vietnam War movement (present) began with demonstrations in 1965 against the escalating role of the United States in the Vietnam War and grew into a broad social move ...
of the 1960s and 1970s.
Early life
![Jack Lang 1930 01 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Jack_Lang_1930_01_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Ormonde was born in Sydney to
James Patrick Ormonde, a New South Wales senator from 1958 until his death in 1970, and Margaret May Ormonde (née Fraser).
He grew up in a family of journalists and
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...
activists. Originally his father was a journalist with the ''
Labor Daily
The ''Labor Daily'' was a Sydney-based journal/newspaper of the early to mid 20th century. An organ of the Australian Labor Party, it was published in Sydney by Stanley Roy Wasson after the ailing ''Daily Mail'' was absorbed by Labor Papers Ltd, w ...
''. In his youth, Ormonde was subject to the daily political conversations about
Jack Lang and the
Lang Labor
Lang Labor was a faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) consisting of the supporters of Jack Lang, who served two terms as Premier of New South Wales and was the party's state leader from 1923 to 1939.
Following the expulsion of the N ...
party. His father supported Lang until 1939, when he reversed his support and threw in his lot with the anti-Lang and anti-communist Labor Party. Ormonde followed his father in the journalistic profession. He was 28 when his father was elected to the Senate.
Journalistic career
Ormonde completed journalistic training at ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' (Sydney) in the early 1950s before moving to Melbourne where he worked as reporter, sub-editor and feature writer on the ''
Sun News-Pictorial
''The Sun News-Pictorial'' (known as ''The Sun'') was a morning daily tabloid newspaper published in Melbourne, Victoria, from 1922 until its merger in 1990 with '' The Herald'' to form the ''Herald-Sun''.
''The Sun News-Pictorial'' was part ...
'' and ''The Herald''.
He was also public relations officer for Radio Australia
ABC Radio Australia, also known as Radio Australia, is the international broadcasting and online service operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Australia's public broadcaster. Most programming is in English, with some in Tok ...
in the 1960s before returning to newspaper journalism. Much of his political and religious writing appeared in the ''Catholic Worker'', an independent lay journal, where he was a member of the editorial committee from 1959 until the journal ceased publication in 1976.[
In 1967 he became foundation chairman of Pax Christi, a group of Catholics who formulated policies on peace and war, which were oftentimes in conflict with the prevailing views of church authorities in Australia. After the 1968 convention of Pax Christi, he edited and wrote a contribution for the book ''Catholics in Revolution''.]
He has since written for the Jesuit publication '' Eureka Street'' and ''Online Catholics''. Ormonde's exposure of the tactics of The Movement invited ferocious attacks from its members and the Catholics who believed in its goals and ''modus operandi''.
Public relations work
Between 1982 and 1992 he was head of public affairs for Carlton & United Breweries. On leaving CUB he set up his own public relations consultancy.[
]
Semi-retirement
Since 1992 he has concentrated on commissioned reviews and commentaries, particularly for The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
, and The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
.[ Notable subjects during this period include articles on the life of the melbourne publisher ]Lloyd O'Neil
Lloyd Reginald Terrence O'Neil (born 24 June 1937) is a former Australian politician. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 1983 to 1993, representing the South Australian seat of Grey for the Australian Labor Party (ALP).
Early ...
(founder: Lansdowne Press), on the catholic intellectual Niall Brennan (Obituary 2005), the correspondence of B.A. Santamaria (2007) and Jeffrey Archer's book ''The Gospel According to Judas
''The Gospel According to Judas'' is a 2007 novella by Jeffrey Archer and Frank Moloney which presents the events of the New Testament through the eyes of Judas Iscariot.
Reception and significance
In her book ''The Historical Jesus and the L ...
'' (2007).[
]
Books
Ormonde is the author of a number of books including:
''The Movement''.
DESCRIPTION:''(The Movement) "saved Australia" from the "''red menace''", fought the "''yellow peril''", started the rift that split the Labor Party and the Catholic Church, turned layman against Bishop, and caused the greatest scandal in the history of Catholicism in Australia. This body of Catholics, acting with the moral and financial support of the bishops, secretly operated in one of the country’s largest political parties and most of the country’s major industrial unions. The movement damaged the credibility of the Church and the condition of Australian democracy''.
''A Foolish Passionate Man'' (biography of Jim Cairns
James Ford Cairns (4 October 191412 October 2003) was an Australian politician who was prominent in the Labor movement through the 1960s and 1970s, and was briefly Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister in the Whitlam government. He is best re ...
)
DESCRIPTION:''James Ford Cairns (4 October 1914 - 12 October 2003), Australian politician, was prominent in the Labor movement through the 1960s and 1970s, and was briefly Deputy Prime Minister in the Whitlam government. He is best remembered as a leader of the movement against Australian involvement in the Vietnam War, for his affair with Junie Morosi and for his later renunciation of conventional politics. He was also a prominent economist, and a prolific writer on economic and social issues.''
''Santamaria: The Politics of Fear'', (Paul Ormonde Ed.)
DESCRIPTION:''Santamaria's whole life was a testimony to his belief that the ways of the world – whether with invincible military might, twisted propaganda, or the manipulation of people's most bigoted fears and prejudices – provided the only realistic defence of Catholic truth, as he understood it, against worldly enemies.
Ormonde edited the book and wrote the last chapter of James Griffin's:
Daniel Mannix, Beyond the Myths.[
]DESCRIPTION:''(This) biography is unique for exposing the Archbishop's human flaws, previously avoided or brushed over by other biographers. Giving Mannix credit for his many achievements, Griffin analyses controversies such as conscription in the Great War, State Aid for Catholic schools and his association with entrepreneur John Wren.''
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ormonde, Paul
Australian political journalists
20th-century Australian journalists
20th-century Australian non-fiction writers
1931 births
Living people