By John Thavis - Catholic News Service
Friday, 30 April 2010
With workshops such as "Benedict XVI, sexual abuse and The New York Times" on the program, it wasn't surprising that a conference of Catholic communicators in Rome provoked more interest than usual this year.
But those expecting a round of media-bashing were disappointed. Most of the April 26-28 discussion focused on how the church itself should be more transparent, more proactive in communicating and more journalist-friendly if it wants to get its message out on clerical sex abuse.Sponsored by the Opus Dei-run Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, the conference over the years has become a regular networking event for hundreds of church communications personnel, including diocesan spokespersons.
The new round of disclosures on priestly sex abuse, which has taken the Vatican by storm, has also impacted these local Catholic media professionals, most of whom are lay people.
One might have expected the workshop on The New York Times to have served up a welcome scapegoat. The newspaper's recent reporting on the sex abuse cases has been criticized as unfair by several high church officials.
Instead, Diego Contreras, the dean of the Holy Cross university's communications faculty, began the session by saying that overall, the press has had a positive role in bringing sex abuse to light and helping make it a priority issue for the church.
He then offered a "just the facts" presentation. Over the past seven weeks, he said, The New York Times has run 65 news reports on the church and sex abuse in its print edition -- including 10 on page one -- as well as 12 op-ed pieces, one editorial, one interview and 29 letters.
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