Not to sound incurably naive, but is nothing truly sacred anymore?
The religion I grew up in, Roman Catholicism, continues to experience the crucible from hell. Clergy abuse, coverups and now the-butler-did-it, aggravated-theft, Vatican leaks. What’s a Church to do?
Well, apparently what any other embarrassed, seemingly blind-sided contemporary organization–sectarian or not–would do. Go on a media offensive.
First, change the subject: Thank you, Obamacare. Position health-insurance-that-covers-birth-control mandates for Catholic-affiliated hospitals, charities, universities and social-service agencies as a mortal sin. And in an effort to mitigate female outrage, characterize it as an attack on religious freedom.
Then upgrade public relations wherewithal. For further verification of such a need, note the clergy-abuse-scandal message that Pope Benedict XVI sent to Irish Catholics via a sports stadium video earlier this month. “How are we to explain the fact that people who regularly received the Lord’s body and confessed their sins in the sacrament of Penance have offended in this way?” rhetorically asked the Pontiff. “It remains a mystery.”
A “mystery”? Anyone think that recruitment, an increasing challenge and limited to the celibate-male demographic, might be problematic?
So who does the Vatican hire to improve its PR approach? Turns out it’s a guy named Greg Burke, a member of the uber conservative Opus Dei movement, who will help to shape the Vatican’s message. He’ll be a senior communications adviser. What are his media credentials? He had been the Rome-based, Fox News correspondent. Honest.
This sounds more like a sin for the confessional than a good-faith strategy for the media.