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Cardinal Gregory urges Catholic media professionals to present stories and facts ‘wed to the truth of the Gospel’

At left, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, is interviewed by Paula Gwynn Grant, secretary of communications for the Archdiocese of Washington, during a June 9 videotaped presentation for the 2021 virtual conference of the Catholic Media Association. (Screen capture/Andrew Biraj)

At a time when this nation is struggling to fight a pandemic and address social strife and racial injustice, the Catholic media have the important task of presenting news truthfully and in light of the Gospel values taught by the Church, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, archbishop of Washington, told Catholic media professionals June 9.

“Our Catholic communications community has to realize that not only are they people who have to get the truth, the stories (and) the facts out there, but they have to wed it to the truth of the Gospel,” Cardinal Gregory said.

The cardinal spoke on communicating Catholic unity and the gift of diversity in a video dialogue with Paula Gwynn Grant, the secretary of communications for the Archdiocese of Washington and a member of the Catholic Media Association’s Board of Directors. The talk was presented during the Catholic Media Association’s annual conference. For the second year in a row, the conference was held virtually due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The cardinal said the Catholic Media Association “is not just an association of professionals – that it is – but it’s an association of professionals who believe.”

“It’s not so much just making sure you get the story right, that’s a principal activity, but it’s a matter of getting the story right and bringing into the story the fact that we are a resilient people, we are people on a journey that leads us, summons us, to Christ Jesus and summons us together,” Cardinal Gregory said.

Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, speaks during an interview with Paula Gwynn Grant, secretary of communications for the Archdiocese of Washington, that was part of a June 9 videotaped presentation for the 2021 virtual conference of the Catholic Media Association. (Screen capture/Andrew Biraj)

Cardinal Gregory said those working in the Catholic media “really have to say, ‘This is not the last word. The last word is to be found in the Gospels and in the Church’s ministry, in the history of the Church.’ That has to be factored into telling of the story, which I think my associates in the Catholic communications community really have done extraordinarily well during the pandemic, but even before.”

In its coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, Cardinal Gregory said the Catholic media “provided a platform to encourage people to engage their neighbors.”

“Certainly, here in the Archdiocese of Washington, we have seen just a tremendous uptick in services to help people who are in need of food or clothing or some other need that probably a year and a half ago they never would have thought they needed,” the cardinal said. “I am very proud of the people of the Archdiocese of Washington … and how they stepped up to help their neighbors.”

He said it was the Catholic media’s coverage of the Church’s outreach and “generosity of spirit” that “allowed our neighbors to realize they are part of a larger family.”

“The pandemic was not a respecter of age, race, color, religion, ethnicity. But some communities, because they are living on the periphery like Pope Francis likes to say, have greater need,” Cardinal Gregory said. He added that some immigrant communities, elderly and people of color “simply found themselves too often in need of things that they probably never anticipated they would be” in need of.

“The poor … always live on a bubble, and the pandemic broke the bubble for a lot of poor people,” Cardinal Gregory said. “I was so proud that we were able to do so much, but I know so much more needs to be done. The work of the Church certainly is to provide hands-on assistance, but the work of the Church also has to embrace looking at the reasons behind why so many of these communities are disproportionately impacted.”

Beyond its reporting of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Cardinal Gregory urged the Catholic media to stress that in the face of racial tension and social injustice, “as people of faith we need to speak out.”

“Even before the pandemic – and there was life before the pandemic, if we can remember it – I think we as a society were beginning to feel at times hopeless,” he said. “That is we were facing so many social, political, ethnic (and) racial challenges that at some moments I am sure all of us must have said, ‘Where is this going? Where are we going?’”

He said that in these times the Catholic media face “the challenge of restoring hope – not restoring so much as perhaps enhancing hope – to remind people we are not doing this alone. We are a people in journey together.”

“Sometimes in trying times you do feel alone, you feel like you’re trying to climb this mountain all by yourself. But, because we are people of faith, we believe we are a family moving towards the Lord together,” he said. “Sometimes we need to hold the hand of the one that is weak, sometimes we need to encourage the one that is slow, and sometimes we need to tell the one that is moving ahead, ‘We need to be with you, so slow down. Don’t move so quickly that you forget there are people all around you who are going in the same direction.’”

Pointing to the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the cardinal said Catholic media coverage of such events is vital because “absolutely it is pro-life, because it involves the lives of people who are poor, people who are engaged in activities that threaten and challenge them.”

Breonna Taylor was a 26-year-old African American resident of Louisville, Kentucky, who in March of last year was struck by five bullets and killed by police officers who forced their way into her apartment in a botched drug investigation. The fact that none of the officers were charged with homicide led to mass protests and calls for police reform.

George Floyd was a 46-year-old African American resident of Minneapolis, Minnesota, who was murdered in May 2020 by police officer Derek Chauvin, one of several police officers who attempted to arrest Floyd on suspicion of passing counterfeit money. Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, leading to his death. A medical examiner determined Floyd's heart stopped during that time and the death was ruled a homicide. The event sparked national and international protests and a renewed call for police reform. Chauvin was convicted this past April of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Cardinal Gregory also pointed out that last week marked the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre.

The Tulsa Massacre took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921 when mobs of white residents attacked black residents of that Oklahoma city, destroying their homes and businesses. It is estimated that up to 300 persons were killed in the attacks, more than 800 were hospitalized with injuries and about 6,000 were held against their will.

“I would say to my Catholic media people one of the things that you do, you should do, you are doing, is tell the whole story,” he said. “That is one of the things that we can be overwhelmed with because some of these stories – whether they go back 100 years to Tulsa or they’re only a year old in Minneapolis – the events are awful, but the response should allow people to say ‘I can do something. I have a voice.’”

He noted that when he was a young school boy “the Tulsa Massacre was not one of those events that made it into history … only recently has that episode, as sad as it is, gained the attention of the American people and people of color.”

He added that as tragic as the story of that massacre is, “it sparked a certain sense of pride at being Catholic. For example, I read that the cathedral in Tulsa was one of the places where Black people who were fleeing the violence could go to.”

“So, 100 years ago there were Catholics, and I presume white Catholics, who stood up in the face of great violence and hatred and said to their neighbors, ‘Come here. You are safe with us’,” Cardinal Gregory said. “I was very proud of that, and I think we as Catholics should be proud of that. Did we do enough? No. Did all Catholics respond positively, generously? No. But the Church wasn’t silent. The Church was there as an island of safety for the people that came and sought protection.”

He said the Catholic media should “continue – as it is doing now – to highlight the positive dimensions (and) tell the whole story.”

“Part of the whole story is the tragedy, the awful events of violence, the hatred, injustice, the social bigotry,” the cardinal said, “but telling the whole story involves people who stand up and respond maybe in quiet, unnoticed ways, but ways that are noticed by the people who are touched by those moments of outreach and caring.”

Paula Gwynn Grant, secretary of communications for the Archdiocese of Washington, asks Cardinal Wilton Gregory a question during a June 9 videotaped presentation for the 2021 virtual conference of the Catholic Media Association. (Screen capture/Andrew Biraj)

Cardinal Gregory spoke to the importance of Catholic media, saying “Our Church has not always had the loudest voice, but we have a voice."

He pointed to the fact that he has written a column for the newspaper of every diocese and archdiocese in which he has led as bishop, including a regular column now for the Catholic Standard and Spanish-language El Pregonero newspapers of the Archdiocese of Washington.

He began column writing more than 25 years ago when he served as the bishop of Belleville.

“At first I didn’t want to do it – I’ve done English 101 in college when you’ve got that weekly essay you have to do,” the cardinal joked. “But over the years, I have found it a very useful way to communicate with people.”

Calling his column “a bite-size piece,” Cardinal Gregory said his pastoral letters “are longer, thematic,” but his columns average about 600 to 800 words. “People can read it quickly. It’s long enough to pursue an issue … but it’s manageable. You can read it while you are having your coffee,” he said.

He encouraged the Catholic media to continue to offer “the stories that are winning the hearts of people, the stories that are inspiring young Catholics, whether they be young white Catholics, young Black Catholics, young Hispanic Catholics.”

“These stories are the source of encouragement and faith practice that are now inspiring young people … transmitting the faith to the next generation,” the cardinal said. “These stories are producing young Catholic men and women who are offended by injustice, attracted to social progress, and looking for ways to wed their Catholic faith with the world they see around us that so desperately needs correction.”

Renewing what he called “my deepest respect for our Catholic media,” Cardinal Gregory said, “You have a challenging job, I have a challenging job, but you have one that also asks you to sort through all of the human mess, but never to be overwhelmed by it, never to be broken by it.”

He also prayed that journalists in the Catholic media continue to do their reporting “honestly, courageously, joyfully” and that they realize “in the work that they do, they are the evangelists the Lord is using at this moment.”

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