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Catholic Voices

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Catholic Voices is a communications project to train ordinary Catholic men and women to speak on television and radio about controversial issues related to the Catholic Church. The project started in Britain in 2010 but has now spread to over 20 other countries.

Austen Ivereigh and Jack Valero with Cardinal Vincent Nichols during a Catholic Voices event

History

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Catholic Voices was founded by Austen Ivereigh and Jack Valero in 2010 to prepare the State visit by Pope Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom in September of that year to beatify Cardinal John Henry Newman in Birmingham. The project had the blessing of the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Archbishop (later Cardinal) Vincent Nichols.

The announcement of Pope Benedict's visit in March 2010 caused controversy in Britain. Some people did not want the visit to take place or at least they thought the state should not pay for it.[1] They considered that the views of Pope Benedict were not in line with modern British values. The areas mentioned included the clerical sex-abuse crisis, HIV/AIDS in Africa, gay rights, abortion and birth control, the role of women in the Church and in society, etc.

Ivereigh and Valero thought the controversy would be a good opportunity to explain the real position of the Catholic Church on all these various issues given that the media would want to hold the conversation between the protestors and the Church. They saw a need for Catholics to be well informed about the Church and its doctrines, and good in communicating these in modern media settings in the fast-moving 24-hour news cycle.

An October 2009 Intelligence Squared debate on “The Catholic Church is a force for good in the Church” [2] had been massively lost by the Catholic side, which convinced the project founders of the need for better trained speakers.

A call was put out for volunteers to be trained and 20 were selected from the more than 90 who applied to form part of the project. The training took place between March and July 2010, with the help of Kathleen Griffin, formerly a BBC producer for Woman's Hour, who joined Catholic Voices as a third coordinator.[3] In early September, presentations were made to the BBC and other media companies, and a debate was held in Conway Hall between Catholic Voices and Humanists UK. As the visit approached, members of Catholic Voices were asked to comment on news stories related to the Papal Visit.[4][5]

During the time of the Papal Visit 16–19 September 2010,[6] members of Catholic Voices appeared in more than 100 news programmes.[7] Despite some protests in Oxford Street,[8] Pope Benedict’s visit was generally considered to have been a media success.[9]

Soon after the Papal Visit, debates between Catholic Voices and Humanist groups took place in London.[10][11] Catholic Voices continued to train groups of Catholics around the country[12][13] and organise debates. In 2013, they held a public debate on same-sex marriage and in 2016 on Brexit.[14] There were many media calls at the time of the Papal transition from Pope Benedict to Pope Francis in 2013.[15] Many Catholic Voices TV appearances are included on their YouTube Channel.[16]

Seeing what the project had achieved in the UK, groups of Catholic Voices started in over twenty other countries, including Ireland,[17] Mexico [18] and the USA,[19] some of which are still active, such as Chile,[20][21][22] Bolivia,[23] Malta,[24][25][26] and France.[27][28] Ivereigh and Valero set up the groups but, once established, they have run as independent entities in each country. There is a meeting of Catholic Voices groups every two years in Rome.[29][30]

Communications method

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The method of Catholic Voices is based on finding common ground, seeking the positive intention of the other in any discussion and starting the conversation from there.[31][32]

It starts with what is called the “frame”, i.e. the set of assumptions and prejudices about a person or institution when there is a news story involving them. When the frame is strong, what people hear most of all is the frame. In that case, and if the frame is negative, the way the speaker talks about an issue will determine whether they reinforce the frame or step out of it. Only by stepping out of the negative frame will their message be heard. This is what has been called “reframing”: stepping out of the frame where one has been placed.

Once the frame is understood, the next step is to look for the common values, the things that all parties agree on, with the idea of starting the response from there.

The reframing process then has these three steps

  • What is the frame? What do they think of me, of us?
  • What is the positive intention or common ground between us? Of the several things the other side want, which ones do I totally agree with?
  • What is my message and how do I connect it with the common value?

This method involves listening carefully to the other without assuming that one knows their intention. It also demands clear explanations on one’s own part so that the message can be understood. It has been summarised in the ten principles of communication of Catholic Voices.[33]

The method has been found useful to debate controversial subjects such as abortion,[34] same-sex unions,[35] immigration,[36] or gender identity issues. It is explained in detail in the book How to Defend the Faith Without Raising Your Voice, originally written in 2012 and revised and expanded in 2015.[37] The book has been translated and adapted into Portuguese,[38] French,[39] Italian[40] and Spanish.[41] An Irish version[42] has also been produced.

References

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  1. ^ Walker, Peter (15 September 2010). "Pope's visit: pontiff should not be 'honoured' with state visit". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  2. ^ "The Catholic Church is a Force For Good in the World". Intelligence Squared. London. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  3. ^ "Catholic Voices, providing media training to UK Catholics". Rome Reports. Rome. 12 July 2010. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  4. ^ "Foreign Office apologises for Pope 'condom' memo". BBC News. London. 25 April 2010. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  5. ^ "Freedom of religion 'essential' for society". BBC Radio 4 Today. London. 4 September 2010. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  6. ^ "Pope Benedict XVI in the UK". The Papal Visit. London. 16 September 2010. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  7. ^ Valero, Jack (2011). "Who Know where They Stand. Catholic Voices and the Papal Visit to the UK". Edusc.
  8. ^ Mcveigh, Tracy (18 September 2010). "Protest the Pope rally sees 10,000 march through London's streets". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  9. ^ Willey, David (20 September 2010). "Pope's visit is deemed to challenge stereotypes". BBC News. Rome. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  10. ^ Twiston Davies, Huw (28 October 2010). "Papal visit inspires Catholic-Humanist discussions". Catholic Herald. London. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  11. ^ Sims, Paul (20 December 2010). "Careless talk?". New Humanist. London. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  12. ^ Arco, Anna (5 November 2010). "Catholic Voices to become permanent academy". The Catholic Herald. London. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  13. ^ "Catholic Voices Training Day". The Dominican Friars – England & Scotland. Oxford. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  14. ^ Roberts, James (16 June 2016). "EU Referendum: Remainers waver in Catholic debate in Westminster". The Tablet. London. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  15. ^ "Changing voices". The Tablet. London. 9 January 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  16. ^ "Catholic Voices UK". Catholic Voices. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  17. ^ West, Ed (17 February 2012). "Irish 'Catholic Voices' is established". The Catholic Herald. London. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  18. ^ "Catholic Voices Mexico: Communicators prepare for Pope's visit". Rome Reports. Mexico. 6 March 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  19. ^ "Catholic Voices USA names Boston media leader as new head". Catholic News Agency. Boston. 31 August 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  20. ^ "Representante de Voces Católicas: En Chile en estos momentos la Iglesia Católica está descabezada". 24 Horas. Santiago, Chile. 18 May 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  21. ^ Lobos, Sofia (11 November 2019). "Voces Católicas lanza un mensaje de paz para Chile: "somos parte de la solución"". Vatican News. Ciudad del Vaticano. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  22. ^ Herrera-Espaliat, Felipe (20 March 2021). "Voces Católicas elabora una contundente propuesta para sanar el 'Alma de Chile'". Religion Digital. Santiago de Chile. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  23. ^ "La Iglesia en Bolivia crea un "hospital de Campaña" gracias a 143 obras". Vatican News. Ciudad del Vaticano. 5 June 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  24. ^ Xuereb, Matthew (16 August 2018). "'We are here to give Catholics a voice'". Times of Malta. Malta. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  25. ^ Vella, Matthew (31 October 2019). "Do not submit to gentleman's clubs demands on sex work, Catholic Voices says". Malta Today. Malta. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  26. ^ "Catholic Voices Malta says parts of Equality Bill 'vague'". The Independent. Malta. 13 June 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  27. ^ "'A victory for victims and for the church'". France24. Paris. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  28. ^ "Notre-Dame Fire : "It has become a symbol of the unity of the faith world"". France24. Paris. 16 April 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  29. ^ "Organization that's improving how the Church is portrayed in media meets in Rome". Rome Reports. Rome. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  30. ^ "Catholic Voices global meeting: "It's not about defending the Church, because they're not attacking us."". Rome Reports. Rome. 25 April 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  31. ^ Allen Jr, John L (21 April 2018). "Catholic Voices succeeds by reframing arguments rather than retorting". Crux. Rome. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  32. ^ "The Catholic Voices approach to defending the Faith". NZCatholic. Rome. 2 September 2017. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  33. ^ Diez Bosch, Miriam (16 October 2017). "Catholic Voices has drawn up "10 commandments" — best practices for defending the faith". Aleteia. Rome. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  34. ^ "Catholic Voices: Peter Smith on abortion clinic in Belfast". BBC Breakfast. 29 July 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  35. ^ "Catholic Voices explains why the Church does not bless same-sex unions". Rome Reports. Rome. 6 May 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  36. ^ Thompson, Brenden (4 September 2015). "Our response to the refugee crisis will be judged by history". Catholic Voices. London. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  37. ^ Ivereigh, Austen (2015). "How to Defend the Faith Without Raising Your Voice: Civil Responses to Catholic Hot Button Issues". OSV.
  38. ^ Ivereigh, Austen (2014). "Como Defender A Fe Sem Levantar A Sua Voz". Quadrante.
  39. ^ Ivereigh, Austen (2016). "Comment répondre aux questions brûlantes sur l'Eglise". Editions de l'Emmanuel.
  40. ^ Ivereigh, Austen (2016). "Come difendere la fede (senza alzare la voce): In tv, tra la gente e sui social". Lindau.
  41. ^ Austen Ivereigh; Yago de la Cierva; Jack Valero (2019). Cómo defender la fe sin levantar la voz: Más respuestas a las preguntas desafiantes de hoy. Palabra.
  42. ^ Kelly, Michael (2018). "How to Defend the Faith Without Raising Your Voice". Columba Press.
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