ROME
Headlines from the Catholic World
Rome, Italy, May 2, 2014 / 04:04 am (CNA/EWTN News).- At a communications conference in Rome this week, Cardinal Timothy Dolan offered his own observations on how to communicate effectively, emphasizing the importance of addressing hard issues.
Pope Francis “has given us a good example,” the Archbishop of New York told CNA April 29. “He’s very shrewd, he’s very savvy. He’s what we need.”
“He says, ‘how do we get the message out’,” the cardinal stated, noting that although “he can stand at his window and talk,” he says that “I probably reach more people than the 100,000 in the square if I tweet a message.” …
Cardinal Dolan then said that “if we are going to be effective in our ministry of communications, (then) we are never afraid to tell the truth, even when we are dealing with bad news.”
“What we hear over and over again is that people want and expect utter honesty and transparency from the Church,” highlighting that if a priest is removed from ministry or there are accusations of sexual misconduct “our people want to hear about it first from us,” and not the secular media.
Drawing attention to how “we’re almost never criticized for someone’s misbehavior,” the cardinal explained that “what we are criticized for, and rightly so, is if we attempt to cover it up or if we say nothing,” adding that “to be proactive in the truth is a good strategy.”
The New York archbishop also observed that “every communications outlet has a bias, a slant,” which is natural and to be expected, but that as Catholic communicators we “should also have our own bias.”
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