Making a statement

Over the past few weeks the bishops of Southern Africa have issued a series of statements addressing a variety of political concerns. These were timely, well reasoned and reflective of the Christian conscience.

In their statements, the bishops deliberated and commented on the crises in Iraq and Zimbabwe, on President Thabo Mbeki’s “state of the nation” address, on the budget, and other matters. In doing so, the bishops expressed concerns that are integral to our Catholic faith: issues of peace, justice and regard for the poor.

Besides these communiqués, several agencies of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC), such as the Justice & Peace and Aids departments, regularly issue statements on pertinent issues.

Alas, the secular press has a deplorable record of disregarding statements issued by or on behalf of the bishops’ conference. Some editors seem to be informed by a perception that the Church lacks credible insights or, indeed, relevance.

This was borne out by the secular coverage of Pope John Paul’s diplomatic endeavours to prevent a war in Iraq. These were mostly reduced to cliché, as in “Pope John Paul II again called for world peace”. Of course, that is precisely what the Holy Father did. However, as readers of this newspaper will know, the pope did much more than just appealing for peace–he was an active party to the diplomatic initiatives aimed at finding a resolution to a political impasse. For the most part, the secular press ignored the papal efforts in favour of hackneyed (and meaningless) one-liners.

It is fair to say that the secular media generally treat episcopal statements in a similar supercilious manner: nice (and perhaps, to them, predictable) noises, but largely irrelevant.

Of course the bishops’ messages are not irrelevant. Nor are they invariably lost. The various offices of the bishops’ conference will have communicated the Catholic concerns to the relevant protagonists. In this, the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office, under the guidance of Fr Peter-John Pearson, plays an important role (one that, incidentally, is the envy of other churches). At the very least, SACBC statements will communicate to politicians and other roleplayers the Church’s position on the issues of the day.

Episcopal statements also aim to help form the conscience of the faithful. In this respect, the Catholic media fulfil an important function. Alas, too few Catholics avail themselves of the benefits of the Catholic press. For this reason, it is imperative that the Catholic message should be heard in the mainstream media–print and broadcast.

In their social communications mission, it is here that the bishops need to take an important step. The Anglican Church in particular may serve as a model of how to effectively communicate the Christian message (one that is devoid of some of the fundamentalist excesses of our pentecostal brethren). Although numerically smaller than the Catholic Church, the Anglican communion enjoys disproportionate media coverage. This has less to do with preferential treatment accorded to that church by editors, than with effective media management.

It helps little to protest that the media are hostile towards the Catholic Church, or Christianity in general. To be heard, the bishops must find ways to persuade editors that their views are credible, relevant and of interest to the consumers of the secular media (many of them Catholic).

The Church has a sound message. It deserves to be widely disseminated.