On the Media

With the church's engagement in media still a topic as crucial as it's often neglected, recent weeks have seen two significant interventions by senior prelates on the fray and how to both view and approach it.

The first came from the leader-in-waiting of the US bishops -- the bench's current vice-president, Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, who's all but assured (per the body's unbroken tradition) of succeeding Cardinal Francis George in the top post come November 2010.

Kicanas' remarks came at the late June plenary of the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management, a group of lay business leaders seeking to ensure best practices in matters administrative.

The veep's fulltext is posted... and here below, part one (of six) of fullvideo; click here for the rest.



For the record, while the Roundtable's theme this year focused on "clarity, candor and conviction" in church communications, when it came time for the event's keynoter to take questions, the press in attendance "were kicked out"... a practice less in keeping with candor than another "c" word, just without the white smoke... and the red-hats.

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Meanwhile, one of the US hierarchy's more fearless voices went out with a flourish the night before undergoing back surgery last week, calling for a closer look at the media and challenging its audience to "refuse to be stupid."

Best read in full, here's Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput's address to his hometown Legatus chapter on "Catholics and the Fourth Estate."

As always, emphases original:

No stranger to special assignments on the Holy See's behalf, Chaput was recently deputized by Rome to oversee the North American leg of the global apostolic visitation of the Legionaries of Christ, which begins today.

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