Medinger acquires media company

Daniel L. Medinger, under whose direction The Catholic Review won more than 350 national and regional awards, resigned as associate publisher and editor Feb. 9.

Mr. Medinger, 57, and his wife, Patti, have acquired Advertising Media Plus, formerly a subsidiary of The Cathedral Foundation.

He was editor of The Catholic Review since 1986, making him one of the longest-serving editors in the history of the newspaper and its predecessor, The Catholic Mirror.

Mr. Medinger’s departure was announced by Monsignor Richard W. Woy, the vice president and chairman of The Cathedral Foundation Board.

“This has been a great privilege, to be here for 24 years,” Mr. Medinger said in remarks to his former staff.

He recalled purchasing the organization’s first electric typewriter in 1986.

“That’s a sign of how long I have been here,” he said, “or how much has changed.”

Under Mr. Medinger’s leadership, The Cathedral Foundation, a Catholic communications company in service of the church, enjoyed considerable growth.

It paid off debt the newspaper had acquired in the two decades after the Second Vatican Council, and created new businesses that helped stabilize the foundation. Among others, those enterprises included a printing service; a book publishing house; marketing software designed for advertising and circulation programs used by other diocesan newspapers; a relationship with L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper; and Advertising Media Plus (AMPS).

In 2002, The Catholic Review moved from offices in the Catholic Center to a three-story building in Mount Vernon. Mr. Medinger noted that the property was fully paid for at his departure.

The Catholic Review is currently distributed to approximately 60,000 households, making it Maryland’s largest paid weekly.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore will conduct a national search for a new associate publisher and editor. Chic Davis, the advertising director of The Catholic Review, will fill those positions in the interim.

The Catholic Review will profile Mr. Medinger in its Feb. 19 issue.

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