Media is forum for Church dialogue with world

- WCR photo by Ramon Gonzalez Archbishop Richard Smith extended an invitation to dialogue with the local media.

By GLEN ARGAN
Western Catholic Reporter
Edmonton

Archbishop Richard Smith has issued an open invitation to local media to talk to him on issues affecting Church and society.

“It’s no secret to anyone for me to say that the Church wants to be part of that dialogue,” Smith said at a Nov. 4 breakfast with 16 representatives of local media outlets.

“I’m happy to work with you and to help you in any way that I can.”

The archbishop then fielded questions from reporters on a wide variety of topics at the breakfast at Sutton Place Hotel in downtown Edmonton.

Topics, topics, topics

They asked him about the U.S. presidential election that day, the University of Alberta’s deliberation of whether to remove any mention of God from its convocation exercises, the effects of an economic downturn, whether Catholic schools should continue to be tax supported, the health of the local Church and other topics.

Smith gave frank answers to some questions and to others, like one on the roots of crime, he said, “My honest answer to that is I don’t know.”

He quoted Pope John Paul II to highlight the importance of the media in forming attitudes in society. “The media is the crossroads of the great social questions of the day.”

Then the archbishop went on to tell the media representatives, “You have a tremendous potential to affect our society for the good.”

The Church, he said, has the experience of 2,000 years of proclaiming the Gospel that it wants to bring to the discussion of societal questions.

It appreciates the central place of the media in dealing with those questions and believes that it is important for the Church to have access to the media, he said.

The Church and media can work together and help one another, he said.

By hiring Lorraine Turchansky, a former news editor for the Prairies region with The Canadian Press, as the archdiocese’s first full-time communications officer in April, Smith has backed up his words with action.

Edmonton joins Toronto, London and Montreal as Canadian dioceses with full-time communications staff.

“Part of our mission is to reach out to people – not only in our archdiocese, but to the community as a whole,” Turchansky said in an interview.

Build the profile

Along with doing internal communication work in the Church, Turchansky helps to build the Church’s profile through the media.

“Anytime we can get the archbishop’s face and his message out in the media is good.”

She helps journalists find the right people to talk with when they are working on projects about the Church as well as providing them with the information they need.

As a former journalist herself, she is well aware of the pressures reporters face, including tight deadlines and a shortage of time to do the research.

“Part of the role is to be a spokesperson for the archdiocese,” she added.

So far, she said, she has had no conflicts with reporters. “The fact is I’m trying to help them. I want to err on the side of transparency.”

Turchansky also hopes to provide media training next year to priests and Church staff who want it.

“People are often not comfortable speaking with the media,” she said. Some priests who can give an excellent homily to 1,000 people may “freeze up” when facing a TV camera.

Turchansky also wants to make the media breakfast an annual event.

“I got some fairly positive response from people who were there,” she said. Some were happy to have an event with a prominent person who did not have any agenda to promote on that day.

As for Archbishop Smith, he says, “This is something I am quite happy to be part of.”

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