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PDF versionWhere are the 'talking heads' on global affairs in religious life?
by John L Allen Jr on Feb. 22, 2010
Over the weekend I was in Baltimore, where a prominent men’s religious order brought together a few people to talk about how they can be more effective communicators. This was an off-the-record brainstorming session, but I can pass along one point I made, which is something I’ve long wondered about and something broadly applicable to religious congregations both of women and men.
Here’s the question I posed: When a crisis erupts in some obscure corner of the world, why isn’t a man or woman religious automatically in the mix along with the ex-general, the retired diplomat and the aid worker on “Good Morning America” and “The News Hour” explaining what’s going on? Why aren’t religious writing opinion pieces in the New York Times and Foreign Policy magazine outlining what the issues look like from the perspective of people who actually live there? In other words, why isn’t the press culture in America in the habit of tapping religious in the same way we pursue talking heads from other walks of life presumed to have some kind of global expertise?
Underlying these questions is a conviction, born of my experience of travelling the world as an American journalist and needing to learn a lot about places in a hurry. Invariably, the best read on local realities in a given spot I’ve ever received has come a member of a religious order who’s served there at length, and who still has wide contacts there on the ground. I’m not talking about insights just on the Catholic church, though religious can certainly offer that too, but a working knowledge of basic political, social and cultural forces – the kind of stuff that the American media typically ignores until something big breaks, and then scrambles to buy up.
Whether it’s Nigeria, or the Middle East, or the Peruvian Andes, the best “intelligence briefings” I’ve ever had in advance of those trips have been offered by members of religious orders, and they have also always served up the best set of local contacts once I actually got there.
The difference between talking to an American diplomat in a given place, for example, and a member of a religious order, is that the diplomat can give you the perspective from the big city and among the social elites; the man or woman religious, however, knows what the realities are on the street and in the bush. There’s really no other institution in the world that collects and fosters that kind of understanding quite like religious orders in the Catholic church, and yet my impression – one echoed by others this weekend in Baltimore – is that religious orders often don’t realize quite what an asset they’ve built up, simply by being themselves.
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No doubt the explanations for this situation are complicated, and there’s plenty of “blame,” if that’s the right word, to go around. On the side of the press, it’s just not part of the culture of the mainstream secular press to take religion especially seriously, so reporters often don’t work at establishing relationships with leaders in religious life the way we do with politicians and diplomats and financial experts. To tell the truth, many reporters at major American newspapers and TV networks may not even know what a religious order is, let alone what they do. The idea that a Catholic priest or nun in America, therefore, might have some special insight on Burundi, or Bolivia, or wherever, may seem counter-intuitive to network producers and op/ed page editors.
On the side of the religious, of course, there’s a whole cluster of reasons why they’re not more aggressive about marketing their global expertise, some of them spiritual, some cultural and practical. Certainly one element, however, is that – hard as it may be to believe in this age of shameless self-promotion – many religious simply don’t quite “get it” that they’re sitting on top of a vast reservoir of global knowledge with real cash value.
Naturally, commenting on the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, or explaining what the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda is all about, for the sake of secular news outlets in the West, isn’t quite the same thing as making disciples and building the Kingdom of God. It can, however, serve as a foot in the door for those higher-order pursuits, and sometimes I fear that religious men and women spend an awful lot of time looking for such a foot in the door without fully realizing what a powerful one (and, to repeat, what a “bankable” one) their communities already possess.
From the point of view of a religious order, the benefits of becoming a more regular part of the media mix seem reasonably obvious. Not only could a veteran missionary probably offer a more accurate and balanced impression of what’s going on around the world – in itself, a real service – but millions of people might be introduced for the first time to the Missionaries of Africa, or the Capuchins, or the Sisters of Mercy. That might not only entice a lot of folks to want to learn more, but a few might find themselves thinking, “That’s the kind of man or woman I want to be.”
That, of course, is how vocations are born.
To religious orders pondering communications strategy, therefore, I offer this simple bit of input: You don’t necessarily have to build new delivery systems, or develop new content. In reality, the world’s biggest networks and print outlets would actually be thrilled to offer you vehicles for the particular expertise you already have – if only they knew you have it, in the moment when it’s at a premium.
Figuring out how to let the rest of the world in on this “secret” about religious life, therefore, seems like something worth thinking about.
So I guess what you're really
So I guess what you're really saying, Mr. Allen...
"...many religious simply don’t quite “get it” that they’re sitting on top of a vast reservoir of global knowledge with real cash value."
"...(and, to repeat, what a “bankable” one) their communities already possess."
..is that all these women and men religious are actually living their vow of POVERTY seriously because these PECUNIARY considerations don't even factor into their perceptions of their world and ministry!
p.s. But Cardinal Rode et al. are convinced that there's a CRISIS in religious life in the contemporary church:
http://ncronline.org/news/women/rod%C3%A9-religious-orders-are-modern-cr...
Wow! John, this is one
Wow! John, this is one message with which I totally agree. Of course, members of religious communities (missionary or not in their works) often don't communicate their reflections, opinions, experiential knowledge in public forums because they feel their time is better used for continued direct service. Like so many other issues, this one is complex. Especially with our present introduction to the misery of Haiti I find it easy to commiserate with someone "on the ground" whose responses are somewhat terse with reporters who may interrupt water/food distribution or wound cleansing in order to get "background"? I saw this happen in stories about the refugee camps in Kenya, Darfur, Southeast Asia.
Rather than writing letters to editors, op-ed columns, etc some religious are beginning to write their experiences in memoirs and other books. Three come immediately to mind: Sr. Dianna Ortiz book on her torture in Central America (and its aftermath), Mercy Sr. Marilyn Lacey's THIS FLOWING TOWARDS ME: A STORY OF GOD ARRIVING IN STRANGERS and recent bios of Notre Dame Sr. Margaret Stang, Amazon martyr who died at the hands of destroyers of rain forest and its indigenous peoples.
I think your article is a great first step in suggesting to religious communities that the types of communications you advocate are important factors in fulfilling their missions and carrying out their charisms. Sooner or later some will be recognized as experts and will be tapped as talking- head resource. Perhaps you'll continue to needle religious communities to speak to people other than "the choir" when they think of the ministry of communications. Perhaps on-the-ground articles and letters to the editor may begin to appear in "secular" venues. I will always hope....
We know this first-hand in
We know this first-hand in South Bend, where the Holy Cross order is prevalent. Holy Cross priests, brothers and sisters all have missions in various parts of Africa and Asia, even in the Middle East. We often benefit from their knowledge and experience because they generously teach in the community education and Forever Learning courses we're fortunate to have around here. I've heard about Uganda and Kenya and Bangladesh in whole semester courses offered by these brave souls who can't quite accept being retired and who miss their communities overseas. Their missions haven't ended if they're still letting someone know about these places and people, both their plight and their treasure, and how we can help if we want to. I subscribe to Maryknoll's magazine as well, and I'm sure there are similar publications of other missionare orders, which provide all kinds of inside knowledge about people and places all over the world. Once a missionary, always a missionary, I guess. Lucky for us.
Those Catholic religious who
Those Catholic religious who might be tapped for their insights and expertise by major networks and international media are also aware enough of how easily they might misspeak, or be misinterpreted back at their religious headquarters or even higher up. Catholic religious therefore know that in order to survive to do God's work, they should let the Vatican or the head of their religious order figure out the language of a well-edited statement for the media, days or months after the media's need has come and gone.
But it's a good idea. Maybe some religious are savy enough to stick their necks out in an unrehearsed interview.
Many corporations usually have a clear and practical policy that if something happening on the ground, company workers are to keep silent and let the company's press officers handle the inquiries by, and interviews with, the media.
The corporation's press officer is kept in the policy loops at headquarters; local managers know to alert headquarters and the press officer when a new event occurs; and the press officer is less likely to make a misstatement in an intitial interview about a new story, and is knowledgable in damage control when he or she does make a misstatemnent.
Right now, the Vatican and most religious orders are at the beginning of a long learning curve when it comes to whether and how to deal with the media's needs for instant responses to Breaking News.
Not all corporations, of course, adhere to this generalization. Toyota went off in another direction. And there is the long story of the U.S. tobacco companies.
Whenever our religious do get
Whenever our religious do get the chance to appear in/on the media, they invariably do so in mufti! What you are calling for, Mr. Allen, is for witnessing. So who cares if Sister Bonnie or Brother Bill can deliver running commentary on world events when they are indistinguishable from any old other Bill and Bonnie out there?
Recall those Selma days, dear boomers of the Church, when nuns in full habit and priests in clerical garb grabbed world headlines as they lead Civil Rights marches. These people were instantly recognized--the world knew who they were and where they were coming from. Witnessing!
For the past forty-plus years, Catholic clergy and religious have been both in the world and of the world.
Yeah! When a crisis erupts in
Yeah! When a crisis erupts in remote parts of the world, don't send in the doctors or the diplomats - instead, send someone really useful, like some missionaries, so they can save the victim's souls and then kidnap their children!
ANOTHER WAY OF LOOKING AT
ANOTHER WAY OF LOOKING AT THIS: For the religious who are living in a crisis situation and where governments are not happy that the Gospel is being lived out, their presence would be short-lived. Or, worse scenario, their own lives would be short-lived. Less importantly is having a religious being referred to as "a talking head." Without love and a real sense of purpose and intention to the message and those who would listen, we could simply be a sounding gong or a clashing cymble. This comes from a sister whose bachelor degree is in Communications. Who really remembers what the talking head is saying until the next story?
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