The Boston Globe is reporting this morning that the Boston archdiocesan spokesman is stepping down. A bunch of papers are picking up the story and even the Associated Press. I’m not sure what the big deal is.
Fr. Christopher Coyne was thrown into the then-unofficial job of archdiocesan spokesman back in 2001-2002 when the Scandal first broke. At the time, the official spokesman was Donna Morrissey, a young laywoman who has since left to work for the American Red Cross. But there two problems: first, as usual, the layman was kept out of the loop. It was obvious that Morrissey was often sent to speak to the press without having been given the whole story herself. Second, when the media wants to show the face of the institutional Catholic Church, they want someone with a Roman collar under his face. Donna didn’t fit the mold, so Fr. Christopher Coyne was brought in, and he provided the added benefit of being able to speak authoritatively on Church teaching.
