Gary MacEoin, who has died aged 94, was a journalist, author and human rights activist with a particular interest in Latin America and Third World issues. A one-time candidate for the priesthood, his other abiding interest was the Catholic Church.
He spoke nine languages and was widely travelled, visiting 100 countries. He was at home in the "global village" and marvelled at the Internet, delighting in having the world at his fingertips. It was a far cry from his childhood when news of the outbreak of the first World War took 28 hours to reach his home village.
He was born Garrett Anthony Johnson on June 12th, 1909, in Curry, Co Sligo, the sixth of the nine children of William Johnson, who was the clerk of the petty sessions in the area, and his wife Bridget (née Burke). He adopted the Irish form of his surname in later life.
Educated by the Redemptorists in Limerick, he entered the order to study for the priesthood. Three weeks before he was due to be ordained, the Father Provincial informed him that he would not be accepted into the priesthood. He was given no reason for the decision, which, he was told, was final, permanent and irrevocable.
Continuing his education, he obtained a BA in modern languages from the University of London in 1941. He was later awarded a PhD by University College Dublin and in 1943 was called to the Bar. By this time he was a journalist with the Irish Independent and in 1944 he accepted the job as editor of the Port of Spain Gazette in Trinidad.
He was shocked by the colonialism, racism and exploitation he witnessed on the island. More shocking was the realisation that he was an integral part of the colonial system. He became a determined opponent of social oppression.
In 1949 he moved to New York. There he edited the Spanish-language newspapers, La Hacienda and La Prensa, acted as public relations consultant for the Colombian coffee industry and represented the National Catholic Writers' Conference at the United Nations. He was for two years director of information of the Caribbean Commission.
He wrote for the Catholic Encyclopaedia and magazines such as Sign, Ave Maria and Catholic World and was a long-time contributor to the National Catholic Reporter. In 1963 he became a freelance journalist and wrote for the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Times of London. He also contributed to Time and Life magazines, Reuters and other news agencies.
He covered the Second Vatican Council, an experience that proved catalytic for him. "What was refreshing and renewing was to hear prestigious theologians insist that . . . the survival of the church as a meaningful reality involved the replacement of legalism by the freedom Jesus had proclaimed as the birthright of his followers."
Following the council, he and other journalists founded the Information and Documentation Service, an international network that reported on implementation of the council's decrees. For six years his reports detailed the machinations of the Curia as it fought tooth and nail to prevent any transfer of its powers to the Synod of Bishops.
In the United States he became deeply involved in the movement for church reform, but later had to acknowledge how quickly reformist organisations disappeared "after a brief moment of popularity and influence".
In 1966 he obtained a copy of the report of the Papal Birth Control Commission that the Vatican had intended to keep secret. Published simultaneously by Le Monde and the National Catholic Reporter, it led many to believe that a relaxation of the church's ban on contraception was imminent.
He was in the 1980s one of the founders of the Sanctuary Movement, which helped refugees from areas of conflict in Central America to reach safety in the US. He also organised a series of tours for US citizens who wanted to see at first hand what was happening in Latin America. He continued to report on Latin American affairs into his 90s.
His books include Latin America: The Eleventh Hour (1962), What Happened at Rome: The Council and its Implications for the Modern World (1966), Revolution Next Door: Latin America in the 1970s (1971), Northern Ireland: Captive of History (1974), Memoirs and Memories (1986) and Unlikely Allies: The Christian-Socialist Dialogue (1990).
He compiled and edited The Papacy and the People of God (1998), in which Catholic thinkers gave their views on what was required of the next papacy.
In addition to writing, Gary MacEoin taught and lectured. He was an adjunct professor at Columbia and Fordham Universities, and lectured at more than 50 universities and colleges in the US and Canada. He was visiting fellow and writer-in-residence at St Edmund's College, Cambridge (1987-88). He visited Ireland regularly, most recently in May.
His son, Donald, and his sisters, Kitty and Ita Johnson and Frances Dykes, survive him; he was predeceased in 1986 by his wife, Josephine Delaney MacEoin, and by a daughter, Mary, who died in infancy.
Gary MacEoin: born June 12th, 1909; died July 9th, 2003