UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by David Clohessy on June 14, 2012
The LA Times reports that some of America’s bishops feel they need more professional public relations help. Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston apparently agrees, saying “We need more help and sophistication in our messaging.”
We think that’s ridiculous. Shame on O’Malley for backing this irresponsible notion.
Each bishop has long had a PR department. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has long had a PR department. Almost every Catholic institution of any size – school, university, non-profit – has long had PR staff.
The problem is a lack of substantive reform, not a lack of professional spin-meisters. If bishops would listen more often and take more decisive action – especially in clergy sex abuse and cover up cases – they wouldn’t have to worry about public relations.
O’Malley’s right that last year’s bishop report on abuse, done with the help of a few individuals at John Jay College, was no public relations coup for church officials. That’s because it was largely a “garbage in-garbage out” document, devised and done primarily with public relations in mind.
An honest, independent accounting of the crisis – paid for by bishops but conducted entirely by independent professionals – would certain be “good PR” for the prelates. But we’ve yet to see that and no one’s pushing or planning for that.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.