Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Another Vatican misstep

It's just been announced that the Vatican has engaged a FoxNews correspondent, Greg Burke, to help improve its communications strategy.

If their intent is to copy FoxNews' strategy of distorting the truth in hopes of improving their image, then maybe this is a savvy, but deplorable, marketing choice.   There's no question they've been looking pretty bad lately -- with the sexual abuse scandals and the cover-ups, tales of leaked documents and financial mismanagement -- and, in my opinion, terribly misplaced values in chastising nuns for spending too much time in soup kitchens and helping the sick and not enough time fighting abortion and marriage equality.

But wouldn't you think the spiritual leaders of a world religion that has more than a billion members would be soul-searching and cleaning up their act, rather than white-washing and distorting it?

Please tell me how I'm wrong to believe that something is out of whack with a religious hierarchy that hides and protects its pedophile priests but chastises its nuns for feeding hungry people.

The best they can come up with is hiring a FoxNews man to help improve their image?

Let's hope they're also searching their souls to try to understand how they got it so wrong.    So far, there's little evidence of it.

Ralph

1 comment:

  1. If Greg Burke really wants to help the Vatican's image, he will help them understand how many Catholics distrust Opus Dei, the Legionnaires, and other groups which are perceived as secretive and aimed at imposing a narrow concept of Roman Catholicism.

    Then he will convince them to put their sincere appreciation of the contribution of women in action by publicly pursuing a goal of making the Curia 50% female within 24 months.

    At the same time he should urge the pope to make the heads of the 100 largest communities of women religious papal electors and disqualify as elector any cardinal working for the curia or not otherwise leading a diocese.

    As soon as these goals are set, Greg should resign, in pursuance of goal one.

    Tom in U City

    ReplyDelete