The PR-approved and properly spun covenant

The PR-approved and properly spun covenant

Much was made of Bishop Tod Brown of the Diocese of Orange, California, nailing a 7-point covenant to the door of his cathedral, evoking the image of Martin Luther mailing his 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral. Except in this case, the bishop is nailing them to his own door.

The covenant outlines the diocese’s plans for its response to the Scandal, and it’s written in the typical soothing language of such documents. But what really should grab our attention is that the document was formulated with assistance of public relations firm to whom the diocese paid $90,000. The whole thing is one big act of spin. I’m sure the PR people told Bishop Brown that he had to do somethign dramatic that would garner press attention and that would make it seem like he’s rebelling against the old ways and striking out on a new path of leadership. Except that’s his own cathedral door he’s nailing that document to. Is rebelling against his own authority?

Also, notice that there’s nothing in there about conversion and evangelization. There’s one sop to the actual mission of the Church and it’s not even fully formed: “We will lead the rededication of the Diocese of Orange as an Ambassador of Godn than Republicans, the odds are that more Republican babies are born than Democrat.

Of course, that may break down if you consider socio-economic factors, i.e. poor people having more kids than rich people and so on. But all that says is that Republicans have to do a better job reaching out to poor people, especially poor Catholics, that is the large immigrant Hispanic population.

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