Tag Archives: media

Idiot Box

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Churches Go Commercial To Spread Their Message
TV Campaigns Bring Denominations to Homes
By Alan Cooperman, Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 11, 2004; Page A01

"What burst into the Cleveland marketing executive's head that night in January 2002, however, was not a message from the Almighty. It was a slogan for a television advertising campaign. Beginning this fall, the United Church of Christ plans to spend $30 million to promote itself using the line that came to Buford in his sleep — 'God is still speaking' — to reflect its willingness to reinterpret the Bible and embrace such innovations as same-sex marriage and openly gay ministers."

I just love this:

The Episcopal Church, for example, has faced an insurrection by conservative parishes since its ordination of a gay bishop in New Hampshire last year. But marketers see an opportunity.

"Among 20- to 30-year-olds, everybody's heard of the gay bishop. And in focus groups, the words that keep coming up are that we are a 'progressive,' 'open' and 'nonjudgmental' church," said Daniel B. England, the church's director of communication.

Progress requires a goal to be meaningful. An open mind is like an open trap – it's only useful when it closes on something. Nonjudgemental, in this context, really means unwilling to discriminate between right and wrong.

Catholic Radio in Pittsburgh

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My buddy Russ wanted people to know about this.

I’ve talked to some of you about this and know others are regular listeners to Catholic
Answers, the radio show on from 6-7pm on WPIT 730 and WZUM 1590. Just want to give
a heads up that Catholic Answers, after next month, may no longer be able to continue
its broadcasting on WPIT. WPIT is the stronger of the two signals, extending far
beyond Pittsburgh and not as subject to weather conditions as is WZUM. It is also
on a Protestant station, which is why I think it is a great asset to Pittsburgh.
Many non-Catholics come across the program and have the opportunity to learn about
the Faith. My family in Maryland and other friends around the country don’t have
the good fortune of having any Catholic broadcasts on the radio.

Unfortunately, Catholic Answers has to pay for that time slot and will not be able
to support it without more help from Pittsburgh listeners. I know what a wonderful
help the program has been to me in understanding the apologetic arguments for the
Faith and for the uplifting support that it gives to those of us wanting to really
live it fully. The good news is they only need 100 people or so to become Radio
Club members, which involves a monthly donation, to continue broadcasting. If you
happen to be in a situation where you can make a sacrificial offering or know folks
that are, please check out the Radio Club at http://www.catholic.com/radio/benefits.asp
(Please mention WPIT as your station). And please pray for that ministry, it’s kicked
off a lot of new Catholic stations and programs around the country. It’d be great
to someday have a Catholic station for every Protestant station on the dial. Also,
if you haven’t seen the Forums at www.catholic.com they are pretty interesting,
lots of good discussions going on.

Debatable

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Here’s a great editorial in the St. Paul Pioneer Press about opening
up the presidential debates to more participants.

Return
to old-style presidential debates

Few folks realize that the U.S. presidential debates have been quietly taken over
by the two dominant political parties and retooled in secret to give the major parties
advantage, to exclude third-party candidates and to limit actual debate.

That’s What I Said

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It seems at the religious media are catching up to the story about sexual abuse
in schools I posted on June
21.

Media
Quiet About Teacher Sex Abuse

(AgapePress) – Most of the media covered the sex abuse scandal within the U.S. Catholic
Church with diligence and zest — and rightfully so. The U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops found in its report on the scandal that nearly 11,000 cases of sexual abuse
occurred by priests and deacons over a 50-year period.

So why has the media been nearly silent over a draft report commissioned for the U.S. Department of Education, which states that between 6 percent and 10 percent of the nation’s school children have been sexually abused or sexually harassed by school employees and teachers?

Still Learning

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As bloggers go, I’m still basically an infant. I haven’t been doing this very long
and I don’t really associate with the blogging crowd outside of a few sites on my
blogroll. In other words, I’m still learning a lot about this crazy little thing
called blog.

For instance, I’m just now discovering just how important comments are. I don’t
get many, so I suppose it’s understandable that I missed their full worth. Anyhow,
it seems clear that a blog without a comments system is only half a blog.

There is, IMHO, a fascinating discussion going on at GetReligion
about the impact, or lack thereof, of stories about the global priest scandal in
the Dallas Morning News.
There a few folks on my blogroll who I’d love to see weigh in on the issue, including
(but not limited to) Narwen,
Pontificator,
Fr. Mike, and
Jeff Miller,

The
Catholic gun didn’t go off: Silence greets Dallas News series

Once there was a man who lived in a lighthouse on the foggy Atlantic.

That’s the start of a very, very old sermon illustration. I thought of it this past
weekend as I read the first chunks of the sprawling Dallas Morning News reports
on the globalization of the clergy sex-abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church.