Catholic Church launches image campaign a week late
The Catholic Church's image campaign is starting a week late after it came under massive criticism and was revised. Despite all the cases of abuse, it is focusing on "More good news".
The posters and documents were sent to around 2,000 Catholic parishes in Switzerland on Tuesday, said Simon Spengler, spokesman for the Bishops' Conference, to the news agency SDA. They should have gone into the post a week earlier, but were revised because the "good news" came at the worst possible time for the Church in times of "bad news" about cases of abuse.
According to Spengler, the following points were changed: the sermon by former Auxiliary Bishop Peter Henrici, the intercessions and the accompanying letter by Einsiedeln Abbot Martin Werlen. They were all supplemented with statements and references to the abuse cases. An accompanying letter also explains why the Church is sticking to the campaign despite these circumstances.
As the Bishops' Conference writes in a press release, the campaign as part of the annual Media Sunday on May 16 is intended to "encourage critical reflection on the media and also face up to criticism itself". However, it is not limited to posters and church services - after all, it is not about image, but about action. On the campaign website, the church therefore wants to collect good news from good deeds "and thus set a small counterweight to the media world, which measures the value of news by conflicts and scandals".
According to Spengler, the following points were changed: the sermon by former Auxiliary Bishop Peter Henrici, the intercessions and the accompanying letter by Einsiedeln Abbot Martin Werlen. They were all supplemented with statements and references to the abuse cases. An accompanying letter also explains why the Church is sticking to the campaign despite these circumstances.
As the Bishops' Conference writes in a press release, the campaign as part of the annual Media Sunday on May 16 is intended to "encourage critical reflection on the media and also face up to criticism itself". However, it is not limited to posters and church services - after all, it is not about image, but about action. On the campaign website, the church therefore wants to collect good news from good deeds "and thus set a small counterweight to the media world, which measures the value of news by conflicts and scandals".
