We were nearing the end of the interview. I had interviewed our retired
former bishop, (now the late Bishop Kenneth Povish) for a story in our
diocesan magazine publication (faith Magazine). He had also been my recent
guest on a local public affairs radio broadcast that I had guest-hosted
for five years. I usually did between ten and fifteen shows a year on the
Saturday morning AM frequency broadcast, and I always tried to have a
"Catholic -based" show as much as possible. Bishop Povish had written at
least a weekly column for someone-somewhere for nearly the last fifty
years. "What don't we, "as Catholics" do very well?", I asked. The
open-ended question wasn't intended to be controversial as such, our
topics had as usual ranged far and wide. What Bishop Povish said however,
clearly flummoxed me. "Well Ron, to be honest, we don't do media well"
"What-what do you mean?" I said perplexedly. He continued, "The
Methodists, the Baptists, the evangelicals get it, but often we Catholics
just don't get it." As I looked at him confusedly, he went on: "In
general, we just don't know how to use media, and how to use it
effectively to reach as many people as we can, to spread the Gospel, to
promote our causes, to define who we are, what we say, what we teach and
why!" I picked up the obvious dangling thread and pulled it. "Why?" I
asked him, "Why do you think we lag behind the others?". "We just don't
get it!", he said. "We need to put more resources behind communication,
not less, and stop feeling so apologetic about it."
Although he has now passed on to glory, Bishop Povish was right. It seems
that few dioceses really do "get it"-"it" being the understanding and role
that communications plays and what a comprehensive aggressive diocesan
orientation towards media can do for the ministries it provides to the
People of God. In truth, many of them do one thing or another and they
often do it quite well. Yet, what is missing is a basic understanding from
a diocesan director or individual ministerial framework of the role that
media plays and it's importance in the Church's presentation of itself to
the larger community.
In truth, all dioceses and archdioceses have a communications director
whose responsibilities (while admittedly varied) do involve direct contact
with local media outlets. This is not to suggest a usurping of the role
that the communications director plays, but perhaps rather what is needed
is a more comprehensive understanding and utilization of the media by
diocesan directors of various offices within the structure or
infrastructure of the diocese or archdiocese. For example, platforms for
writing or publishing, radio and even television exposure are all around
us, and may require only minimal effort to surface and impact.
Regrettably, few of us seize upon such opportunities. Authors such as Frs.
Cyprian Davis, Clarence Williams, Raymond Brown and Diana Hayes and other
national and international theologians are well enough known. Yet, local
newspapers, national magazines and the like are always looking for good
stories, points of view and opinion pieces, told from a particular
contextual view-what is decidedly missing are the Black and
African-American writers to tell those stories! How often do Black
Catholic writers and journalists make the effort to tell their stories in
these national magazines like America, US Catholic, The Catholic Digest,
etc.?
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