On Monday, November 22, 2010, Jack Valero gave a presentation about Catholic Voices: putting the case for the Church in an era of 24-hour news. All interested are invited. Jack valero is coordinator of Catholic Voices and has been press officer during the Papal Visit in September 2010.

2. He is the Communications
Director of Opus Dei in Britain. He
is also Coordinator for Catholic
Voices, a group of Catholics
trained to speak to the media
about Catholic issues and news
stories, and Press Officer for the
Beatification of Cardinal Newman
in September 2010.
The presentation was given on November 22, 2010
at Centrum de Oude Gracht
Keizersgracht 218 B
1016 DZ Amsterdam
for more information mail to
Jack Valero

3. For an introductory video, presented during the presentation, see:

4. Seeking to raise the voice of the Catholic
Church in the public square, especially in
the media and in public debates

5. I appeal in particular to you, the lay faithful, in accordance with your
baptismal calling and mission, not only to be examples of faith in public, but
also to put the case for the promotion of faith’s wisdom and vision in the
public forum. Society today needs clear voices …
Benedict XVI, 16 September 2010, Bellahouston Park

6. To train Catholics in the art of speaking about their
faith in media interviews and public debates.
 Authoritative but not official
 Theologically and ethically well versed
 Trained in media skills
What’stheidea?

7. Where did idea come from?
 Intelligence Square
Debate
 Announcement of
Pope’s Visit
 Da Vinci Code
Response Group
(2006)

8. Coordinators
 Austen Ivereigh
 Jack Valero
 Kathleen Griffin

9. Steps
 With blessing of Bishops’
Conference but
independent from it
 Approach potential patrons
and supporters
 Fundraising
 Launch February 2010:
Press Release
 Guardian, Zenit, Catholic
Herald,
The Tablet

10. Choosing the speakers
 90 applications in 2 weeks
 45 interviews
 10 minutes each: personality, ability, catholicity
 4 interviewers: 3 coordinators plus journalist
 25 people selected
 21 finished training

13. The Team
 Students
 Mothers
 Barristers and solicitors
 Psychiatrist
 Pharmacist
 Lobbyist
 Management Consultant
 Tax Advisor
 Former Anglican Vicar

14. Training Programme
 Briefing sessions every two weeks
 Media Skills Training
 TV/Radio studios training
 3-day retreat

15. Neuralgic Issues
 Equality Legislation and Freedom of Conscience
 The Church and Politics
 Clerical Sexual Abuse
 Population, Development, AIDS
 The purpose of human sexuality
 The Church and Science
 Assisted Dying
 Embryo Research
 Anglicans
 Holiness and canonisation

16. Briefing Sessions
1. Briefing paper
2. “Grilling” of
Experts
3. Reframing
4. Practical
Exercises
5. Post-briefing
paper

17. Reframing
 What is the case against the Church?
 What is the positive intention?
 How do you connect to the positive intention
and answer the case against the Church? ie What
is missing in the case against the Church?

18. Media Launch
 Introduced our
speakers to media
outlets
 Media launch on 2
September
 Able to place CVs in
BBC, ITV, Sky,
Channel 4 and others

19. Potential errors in Church
Communications
 Scepticism or hostility:
defensiveness
 “Us and them”
mentality: anger
 Naiveté: the media as a
place to be evangelised

20. We love the media
 Positive about the media
– believe in
accountability of Church
 Anti-Catholic?
 Appreciate the
constraints
 Admire its principles
and purposes

21. • TV and radio appearances
• Team details
• Supporters
• Q&A

22. Papal Visit
 More than 100 radio
and TV interviews in
September 2010
 70 of them in 4 days of
visit
 Taken part in debates
 Written articles in
media

23. In the media
 “One of the big innovations of this
Papal tour” – Reuters
 “A well-articulated, mildly
conservative opinion on almost all
central issues under discussion
during the Papal trip” – Robert
Pigott, BBC
 “One of the most creative recent
efforts” by the Church to improve
its communications – John Allen
 “Personable, well-informed,
competent, agreeable in manner,
persuasive…” – William Oddie

24. “These people are real apologists for some of the worst excesses
of the Catholic Church. Some of them are very skilled at
presenting Vatican dogma as though it were benign rather
than lethal. Sometimes it seems that they are prepared to
sacrifice their own thinking in order to propagandise for the
Pope. When you hear them distorting facts and sometimes lying
outright, you wonder what motivates them to want to defend
such anti-human teachings.”
Terry Sanderson
President, National Secular Society

25. Support
 Many emails of support received
 Bishops
 Members of the team feel privileged to have
been able to serve the Church in this way

26. Elements of success
 We believe in the
media
 We understand news
 Light not heat
 Witnessing, not
winning
 Authoritative but not
official

27. Continuing the project
 The CV Speakers bureau
 Book
 Website
 Blog

28. Catholic Voices Academy
 A network of committed Catholics
 Pope’s call in Westminster Hall for Catholics to take up
presence in public square
 Seek dialogue between faith and reason
 Develop existing network of speakers and train new ones
 Provide ongoing formation

29. Members of Academy
 CV speakers
 Experts
 Catholics in the
media
 Public Affairs
professionals
 Benefactors

30. Activities of the Academy
 Regular closed-door briefings
 Public lectures or debates
 Occasional dialogues with Church opponents
 Further training courses in Britain
 Bespoke workshops and briefings
 Helping similar groups abroad

31. Long term
 Promoting the vocation of the Catholic Communicator
 Nurturing Catholic public intellectuals
 Reviving the art of apologetics in an era of 24-hour
news

32. 'I want a laity, not arrogant, not rash in
speech, not disputatious, but men [and women]
who know their religion, who enter into it, who
know just where they stand, who know what
they hold and what they do not, who know
their creed so well that they can give an
account of it, who know so much of history
that they can defend it. I want an intelligent,
well-instructed laity - I wish...to enlarge
[their] knowledge, to cultivate [their] reason,
to get an insight into the relation of truth to
truth, to learn to view things as they are, to
understand how faith and reason stand to each
other, what are the bases and principles of
Catholicism...'
John Henry Newman