Ralph Matthew McInerny (February 24, 1929 – January 29, 2010) was an American author and philosophy professor at the University of Notre Dame. McInerny's most popular mystery novels featured Father Dowling, and was later adapted into the Father Dowling Mysteries television show, which ran from 1987 to 1991. He sometimes wrote under the pseudonyms of Harry Austin, Matthew FitzRalph, Ernan Mackey, Edward Mackin and Monica Quill.

Academic career

McInerny wrote his PhD dissertation entitled The Existential Dialectic of Soren Kierkegaard under Professor Charles De Koninck at Laval University in Quebec, Canada. He was Professor of Philosophy, Director of the Jacques Maritain Center, and Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He taught there from 1955 until his retirement in 2009. McInerny was also a Fulbright Scholar, receiving educational funds from the Fulbright Commission Belgium. He served as president of the Metaphysical Society of America in 1993. McInerny's brother Dennis, also a philosophy professor, believes that his brother's greatest legacy is not to be found in his novels, but in his adherence to scholastic and Thomistic beliefs.

Personal life

McInerny was a Catholic. He attended Nazareth Hall Preparatory Seminary for high school. He married the former Constance Kunert January 3, 1953, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She preceded him in death on May 18, 2002. The McInernys had four daughters and three sons, one of whom, Michael, predeceased Ralph. McInerny died of esophageal cancer on January 29, 2010. Those daughters who survived him were: Cathleen Brownell of North Barrington, IL, Mary Hosford of Baltimore, MD, Anne Policinski of Wayzata, MN, and Beth McInerny of St. Paul. MN. The surviving sons were David of Overland Park, KS and Daniel of Waco, TX.

Fiction

Father Dowling

Sister Mary Teresa (all as Monica Quill)

Andrew Broom

Notre Dame

Rosary Chronicles

Other novels

Collections

Poetry

Anthologies edited

Non-fiction

Philosophy and theology

Biography

Instruction