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The Catholic Church - Fame At Last!; Church often in the media
Topic Started: Tuesday, 3. October 2006, 22:58 (310 Views)
Rose of York
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The church is getting a new image.

A couple of years ago Catholics were known for being the anti birth control club whose members worshipped "The Virgin" as some call Our Lady, "going to church because they are forced to", going to the pub straight after church (what is the harm in that?)

Look what has happened:

Pope John Paul's final weeks on this earth, and his funeral attracted much media attention.
The media told the world about the background and personality of Pope Benedict XVI.
The Papal inauguration was televised.
Our Pope was called a Nazi, due to having been forced into the Hitler Youth.
Pope Benedict delivered "the lecture.
Radical muslims threatened the life of the Pope.
Non Catholics on discussion groups discussed the lecture.
Apparently today's plane hijacker was protesting against The Pope.
Panorama have given publicity to scandals of the past.

The non Catholic people have got the message - the Catholic Church is not "Ireland's mission to the United Kingdom (and possibly USA?" We are big. We are significant. The Pope is a Very Important Person.

How can we capitalise on our fame?
Keep the Faith!

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Derekap
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I am thinking hard.

We could of course supply the media with news of positive activity in our parishes, dioceses and countrywide. Not just sit back and hope a reporter stumbles across the items.

I'm still thinking!

Derekap
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Eve
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Would any members like to comment on the coverage the Church, and other denominations, and non Christian faiths, got in 2006?
Howdy Folks. Has anybody seen my husband lately?
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nelly k

I was surprised at the response to the Popes Lecture, you know "that one" my concearn was that this was being used by the Secular Society primarily to have a dig at Moslems and rather than get there own hands dirty or any backlash could be directed at the Pope and the Catholic Church, all in all I dont think that happend , I think secularist or ordinary non denominationals were some what pleased with our Popes lecture, He also stood his ground and just carried on , when would such a heavy hard to follow Lecture ever got into the Press/Media

Our Cardinal in Scotland has been in the Press quite a bit up here in Scotland, so far I would say not doing to bad, given the long standing sectarian issues in Scotland.

Gerry`s point about saying you are a Catholic , a couple of problems,one there is sectarianism in Scotland and elswhere, I do tend to maon about this too much, but like Derek pointed out there then is this daft idea that we make no mistakes ie not human with human failings, and when we fail there is great delight in saying that all Catholics /Christians are like that, but I think you are right we should make it clear at the outset what forms our thinking... but that is a lot of pressure. nelly
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Karin
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Karin
I think as I look back on 2006, the media is FINALLY taking stock of what's been going on in the Church and of course, we have the hysteria over Holy Father's comments about Islam, which were taken way out of proportion. But then I look at the coverage of all the other denominations and I think, well, it's all more balanced than in previous years. I think there has been more flack over the Anglican Church division than anything else, especially with the Episcopalians electing a woman primate. I forsee lots of activity for the media to scramble in 2007!
Karin

Hvaljen Isus i Marija. Kraljica Mira, moli za nas.
"Praised be Jesus and Mary. Queen of Peace, Pray for Us."

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Rose of York
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Cardinal Murphy O'Connor is becoming quite a familiar face on TV news.

Can Jaray and Derek please enlighten me, does my memory serve me correctly when I say we were all very surprised when John Carmel Heenan was seen on TV when he was Bishop of Leeds? In those days (fifties) many people did not think of Catholics as part of mainstream society.

I think the first televised Mass was from Leeds Cathedral, round about 1955, the Requiem for Lieutenant Moorhouse, a National Service officer murdered by terrorists in Egypt.
Keep the Faith!

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Derekap
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I seem to remember that when Fr Heenan became Bishop of Leeds he did increase the PR element of the Church. (He certainly did within the Diocese!) During the Coronation of our present Queen parts of the service were considered sensitively Holy and therefore not televised. Midnight Mass was sometimes televised from abroad but when the first televised Mass in the UK was broadcast from I think, St Anne's Cathedral Leeds (A Midnight Mass [?]) the CofE seemed to forget their sensitivity. Bishop Heenan went on to become Archbishop of Liverpool then Westminster and was appointed a Cardinal.

There were of course one or two predcessors of Cardinal Heenan as Archbishop of Westminster who also put the Catholic Church on the map. Cardinal Newman was one and another, whose name escapes me for the moment, did historic good work among the poor in the East End of London.
Derekap
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PJD

I found all the comments most interesting and very applicable to this topic. Certainly Catholicism has become high profile, not only within the media, but wafting about so to speak in the street.

The only comment I can think of, of my own, relates to ‘fear’. The public are naturally fearful of all these terrorists etc. and I don’t think they trust the Government and certainly not the EU. Indeed many may indeed be becoming very fearful of Governments; especially this one.

As a result of Vatican activities, and disastrous legislation proposed here which prompted our Bishops to ‘up their game’, Catholicism is no longer seen as such a threat [or non-entity] are before. In fact what the Catholic Church says may be regarded by the man in the street as pertinent to his or her protection (subconsciously I mean).

It is too late for Blair to backtrack now; elections will have to be held at some time or another. And in the meantime I can only see Catholicism as advancing - it may become more “mucky” - but if so, so be it [the media like muck].

Rose is right - the Church is getting a new image. How can we capitalise? - proceed as we have been doing, on even keel, onward Christian soldiers as the Salvation Army play in the high street. The Lord demands it!

PJD.

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Rose of York
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More progress.

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=16592

Quote:
 
Pope's op-ed on Christmas published in Financial Times

“The birth of Christ challenges us to reassess our priorities, our values, our very way of life,” writes Pope Benedict XVI in an op-ed column that appears in the December 20 issue of London’s Financial Times.

The Pope’s column—an unprecedented appearance by a Roman Pontiff as an essayist in a secular newspaper—focused on the spiritual meaning of Christmas, drawing a distinction between heavenly and earthly kingdoms. “Jesus is presented to us as King David’s heir,” the Pope observed, “but the liberation he brought to his people was not about holding hostile armies at bay; it was about conquering sin and death forever.”


http://visnews-en.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-pope-in-financial-times-christmas.html

Vatican Infornation Service News
 
Thursday, December 20, 2012
THE POPE IN THE FINANCIAL TIMES: CHRISTMAS IS A TIME FOR CHRISTIANS TO ENGAGE WITH THE WORLD

Vatican City, (VIS) - The "Financial Times" daily newspaper has today published an article by Benedict XVI entitled "A time for Christians to engage with the world". According to an introductory note from the Holy See Press Office, "The Pope's article for the Financial Times originates from a request from the editorial office of the Financial Times itself which, taking as a cue the recent publication of the Pope's book on Jesus' infancy, asked for his comments on the occasion of Christmas. Despite the unusual nature of the request, the Holy Father accepted willingly.

"It is perhaps appropriate to recall the Pope's willingness to respond to other unusual requests in the past, such as the interview given for the BBC, again at Christmas a few months after his visit to the United Kingdom, or the television interview for the programme 'A sua immagine' produced by the RAI, the Italian state broadcasting company, to mark the occasion of Good Friday. These too have been opportunities to speak about Jesus Christ and to bring his message to a wide forum at salient moments during the Christian liturgical year".

Below is the full text of the Pope's article:

A time for Christians to engage with the world
"'Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God,' was the response of Jesus when asked about paying taxes. His questioners, of course, were laying a trap for him. They wanted to force Him to take sides in the highly-charged political debate about Roman rule in the land of Israel. Yet there was more at stake here: if Jesus really was the long-awaited Messiah, then surely He would oppose the Roman overlords. So the question was calculated to expose Him either as a threat to the regime, or a fraud.

"Jesus’ answer deftly moves the argument to a higher plane, gently cautioning against both the politicisation of religion and the deification of temporal power, along with the relentless pursuit of wealth. His audience needed to be reminded that the Messiah was not Caesar, and Caesar was not God. The kingdom that Jesus came to establish was of an altogether higher order. As He told Pontius Pilate, 'My kingship is not of this world.'

"The Christmas stories in the New Testament are intended to convey a similar message. Jesus was born during a “census of the whole world” taken by Caesar Augustus, the Emperor renowned for bringing the Pax Romana to all the lands under Roman rule. Yet this infant, born in an obscure and far-flung corner of the Empire, was to offer the world a far greater peace, truly universal in scope and transcending all limitations of space and time.

"Jesus is presented to us as King David’s heir, but the liberation He brought to His people was not about holding hostile armies at bay; it was about conquering sin and death forever.

"The birth of Christ challenges us to reassess our priorities, our values, our very way of life. While Christmas is undoubtedly a time of great joy, it is also an occasion for deep reflection, even an examination of conscience. At the end of a year that has meant economic hardship for many, what can we learn from the humility, the poverty, the simplicity of the crib scene?

"Christmas can be the time in which we learn to read the Gospel, to get to know Jesus not only as the Child in the manger, but as the one in Whom we recognize God made Man.

"It is in the Gospel that Christians find inspiration for their daily lives and their involvement in worldly affairs – be it in the Houses of Parliament or the Stock Exchange. Christians shouldn’t shun the world; they should engage with it. But their involvement in politics and economics should transcend every form of ideology.

"Christians fight poverty out of a recognition of the supreme dignity of every human being, created in God’s image and destined for eternal life. Christians work for more equitable sharing of the earth’s resources out of a belief that, as stewards of God’s creation, we have a duty to care for the weakest and most vulnerable. Christians oppose greed and exploitation out of a conviction that generosity and selfless love, as taught and lived by Jesus of Nazareth, are the way that leads to fullness of life. Christian belief in the transcendent destiny of every human being gives urgency to the task of promoting peace and justice for all.

"Because these goals are shared by so many, much fruitful cooperation is possible between Christians and others. Yet Christians render to Caesar only what belongs to Caesar, not what belongs to God. Christians have at times throughout history been unable to comply with demands made by Caesar. From the Emperor cult of ancient Rome to the totalitarian regimes of the last century, Caesar has tried to take the place of God. When Christians refuse to bow down before the false gods proposed today, it is not because of an antiquated world-view. Rather, it is because they are free from the constraints of ideology and inspired by such a noble vision of human destiny that they cannot collude with anything that undermines it.

"In Italy, many crib scenes feature the ruins of ancient Roman buildings in the background. This shows that the birth of the child Jesus marks the end of the old order, the pagan world, in which Caesar’s claims went virtually unchallenged. Now there is a new king, who relies not on the force of arms, but on the power of love. He brings hope to all those who, like himself, live on the margins of society. He brings hope to all who are vulnerable to the changing fortunes of a precarious world. From the manger, Christ calls us to live as citizens of his heavenly kingdom, a kingdom that all people of good will can help to build here on earth".


I do believe the message is getting through, that the Pope is THE world wide leader of Christendom.
Keep the Faith!

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