By Greg Hazley
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, under pressure to reform after Catholic voters bucked the bishops’ criticism of the Obama administration in this month’s election, has moved to shore up its PR efforts.
Bishops' press conference Tuesday. |
At the Conference’s General Assembly in Baltimore Nov. 14, bishops voted 202-25 to hire a director of public affairs as part of a reorganization of its communications unit.
New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the Conference, said the new post will be aimed to develop a more “international, focused, comprehensive and unified communications strategy.”
The director will be empowered to speak on behalf of the bishops to the media, he added, noting the position with work with the secretary of communications, Helen Osman, former communications director for the Diocese of Austin, Texas, and editor of its newspaper, as well as Msgr. Ronny Jenkins, general secretary.
The Conference-owned Catholic News Service, part of its PR department, said the cost of the PR revamp is around $400K a year, compared with the group’s $220M annual budget.
Catholic voters backed President Obama, 50-48%, over Mitt Romney, despite bishops' criticism of the administration's policies on birth control and gay marriage. |
Bill Huey, Strategic Communications (11/15):
That's right, bishes. Time to turn the calendar from 1612 to 2012, and realize that the GOP is not your natural ally and certainly not the party of your most faithful constituencies.
The president tried to give you a way out of the contraception issue, and instead you went on a constitutional religious liberty campaign. It didn't work.
Now that the U.N. has declared access to birth control a "universal human right," it is even less likely to work.
You don't suffer from a communications problem, you suffer from a doctrinal problem, and until it is resolved, you will not be able to communicate effectively. |