Comments on: Kudos: Media Finally Reports That Catholic Church Has a PR Problem With Sex Abuse

By: kmc

kmc — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 00:24:18 +0000

The good news is that they are " willing to admit " a need for a new PR strategy. If you or your organization had ever been under constant attack you may get caught in a rut of "only" defending and apologizing. This admission is a sign of humility and strength.
Hopefully, the new media professional from Fox @ the Vatican will work out. It would not be easy to balance the two simultaneous tasks of continuing to offer healing and compassion for abuse victims, and, maintaining a positive momentum for a better future.

By: Fitasafiddle

Fitasafiddle — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 02:31:22 +0000

It is not a PR problem that these bishops have. It is a Conscience problem. They don't have any. All the PR in the world won't change that.
I find it comical some of the comments here condeming SNAP. Without the success of SNAP, the pedophile priests, too many to count, and their cowardly enabling bishops, too many to count, would still be having a heyday with our children and our money. No one can make a priest out of a pedophile, not the "onotologically" changed ecclestiastics, not even the pope himself. And no one can make a priest out of a pedophile enabling bishop. The real question is this: What are these roman collared men who are either pedophile priests and bishops or their enablers, doing on altars?
And how does roman catholic ritual written by and performed by pedophiles and their enablers affect the innocent of the earth?
Just wondering.

By: Ronnie B.

Ronnie B. — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 04:12:27 +0000

If the Church would not have paid people without an accused priest being found guilty first, the damage would have been far less. Whether those payments were made to sweep the problem under the rug, or if they were made in the spirit of compassion, to spare a victim further trauma by not forcing them to prove in open court , their claims, who can say? No matter, the strategy backfired.

By: Pat

Pat — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 01:59:02 +0000

Thank God someone sees that the bishops have a PR problem.

By: Publion

Publion — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:10:55 +0000

In regard to this bit about 'if only the bishops had called the police': this has now become one of the comebacks to be added to my list above.

But it's part of the Correct dogma that nobody anywhere paid attention to this type of claim until victim-advocacies started their agitation. So there's a question as to just what might – and might not – have happened if the bishops 'called the police'. Or if the parents or anybody else called the police.

Also, since anybody can now 'call the police', then shouldn't we be seeing a huge uptick in calls to the police? And yet by all extant numbers we are seeing exactly the opposite.

And even when cases are brought – and there have been comparatively very few – the cases demonstrate all the difficulties of such sex-abuse type cases: there is an evidence problem and in the case of claimants and accusers a credibility problem. Look at the current Philadelphia case on that site and read through the reporter's daily analyses, especially the recent ones now that the jury appears unable to reach a decision in this hugely-publicized trial.

I think folks should spend more time looking at what's happening in the actual trials and not on the horror stories – and until they are proven they are just that, 'stories' – that fill the minds of many commenters.

By: Vern

Vern — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 03:15:48 +0000

Great post.

Now it's the bishops turn.

By: TheMediaReport.com

TheMediaReport.com — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 02:00:21 +0000

Thank you for commenting. I invite you to take a look at our page, "Five Fast Facts About the Media's Catholic Church Sex Abuse Story."

By: davince

davince — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 01:13:19 +0000

Oh poor bishops. They brought this trouble down upon themselves by their gross failure to stop criminals who sexually abused children. The trials are still goin on around the world. It is not an American problem, as first publicized by the Vatican. It is not an Irish problem as it then became the domain of English speaking countries, which included Canada, United States, Ireland and Australia. It is a global problem that encompasses over 40 countries around the world.
If any corporation had this problem they would have been branded and international supporter of child abuse. No PR country in the world is going to fix what the hierarchy of the Catholic Church has done to protect criminals, move them and keep them from justice.
If they would have acted like normal human beings and called the police, there wouldn't be a clergy sex abuse scandal.

By: Charlene

Charlene — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 22:20:38 +0000

Are victims content to remain being victims? You mean the milliions of dollars the "victims" are rolling around in hasn't removed them from the status of being "victims"? Gee, I would have thought they want to get over being "victims" unless they think there is some more money to be gotten from the Catholic Church. As long as SNAP or VOTF are their advisors, they will remain "victims." However, less and less support is coming their way.
Yes, the bishops do need help in a PR campaign to show what the Church has done and continues to do to protect children. How about a bit of support for wrongly imprisoned priests such as Fr. Gordon J. MacRae whose innocense is about to be proven? How about showing some piety for the priests who have been tossed out of their parishes solely on the word of an individual (s) seeking money? The bishops have got to realize that money has been at the root of the Church's problem. Public schools, Jewish rabbis, coaches,etc. are constantly being accused, but they don't make the news. Why? They don't have the deep pockets that the Catholic Church has. Plus, the bishops don't ask for proof. The attorneys for "victims" have become millionaires because the bishops just pay them and hope they'll go away. I wonder when the bishops will realize that their haste to pay without demanding proof of a crime is the reason people are coming out of the woodwork. And they will continue to do so until the bishops call a halt to such nonsense!
It's time for one bishop to stand up and tell the others, "It's time to stop handing out money like it's candy! We need to stop throwing our priests out, and at least be present to the guilty as well as the innocent ones. We will never know who is innocent if we continue to treat them all as guilty. An accusation does not mean automatic guilt, and we bishops have got to recognize that as a start!"
When will we hear those words??

By: Kay4Justice

Kay4Justice — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 18:20:45 +0000

The Catholic church has a problem with sex abuse. Yes, that they do. The problem is that priest and nun predators committed crimes against children and eventually got caught. Then their superiors either re-victimized the victims with intimidation or tried to buy them off, all while denying that they had/have a problem. Leadership in this cult does not know the meaning of the words truth and/or justice. The only PR they need is to come forward, admit to what they have done (which is no mystery), spend some time in jail for the laws they have broken and start over. That's not going to happen. Better to walk away and not risk even one more child.