AUCKLAND, Sunday: PR exponent Deborah Pead has entered the debate on Wellington Cardinal John Dew’s decision to discontinue the “Father” honorific, and encourage other NZ priests to do the same.
In the wake of the jailing for six years of his Australian counterpart, Cardinal George Pell, for sexual offences against young boys, Dew told the media that dropping the word Father could be one action the church could take to mitigate the damage.
But that excuse simply doesn’t cut it for Pead – herself a lapsed Catholic – who told Sunday News reporter Steve Kilgallon at the weekend: “They are dreaming if they think dropping Father is going to deliver anything meaningful to them.
“Fixing the reputation of the Catholic Church is the most terrifying PR job on the planet – but also the most exciting one.”
“There should be a whole suite of activities. They need not just a rebrand but almost to rebirth the organisation.”
She said as a young woman she realised that calling a priest Father implied “we were their children, and were forced to obey”.
“Fixing the reputation of the Catholic Church is probably the most terrifying PR job on the planet – but also the most exciting one,” Pead said. “What a challenge!”
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