NCR Staff

Executive Editor Michael Farrell has been appointed editor of the National Catholic Reporter.

NCR Publisher and former NCR Editor Tom Fox made the announcement July 1.

Farrell came to NCR in February 1980. His first title, trends and reviews editor, allowed Farrell to exploit a background that embraced theology, philosophy and the arts.

In 1983, he moved for a year to NCR's West Coast Bureau in Los Angeles, where he wrote news stories and features on religious and secular trends.

In 1984, back in Kansas City, he became editor of the Forum section, which included features, essays, book and movie reviews, letters, columns and other expressions of opinion.

In 1990, he became senior editor, with wider responsibility for the overall quality and appearance of the paper.

Farrell visited and reported from the Soviet Union before the fall of communism; from South Africa before the fall of apartheid; and from Holland, Belgium, Ireland, Kenya, Italy and elsewhere. He has also been an NCR columnist for 16 years.

On Jan. 1, when Fox became publisher, he appointed Farrell executive editor, with overall responsibility for day-to-day operations of the newspaper.

"Michael is the right person to lead NCR as the paper moves toward a new century and a new and exciting era in the church," Fox said. "He is both a gifted editor and writer and understands the church deeply.

"Michael and I have worked closely over the last 17 years. Our titles and roles may be changing but our close collaboration is assured."

National Catholic Reporter, July 18, 1997

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