“We Ask for Forgiveness”: Reflection on the Abuse Crisis in the Church in Press Releases

Juan Narbona

doi:10.18290/rns2023.0039

Published : 2023-11-22

No. Online First

“We Ask for Forgiveness”: Reflection on the Abuse Crisis in the Church in Press Releases

Juan Narbona

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8563-0655

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rns2023.0039

Abstract

The sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church has been a global phenomenon. As with any crisis, it has also revealed a contradiction between what the Church should be and what, at times, it has been. We can consider crises as a painful and traumatic experience, but one that can serve to rediscover the importance and centrality of the values that have been betrayed. In many dioceses, religious congregations and episcopal conferences, the Church has had to communicate to public opinion the existence of these cases, express its sorrow – especially to the victims and their families – and report on the handling of these cases through press releases. By means of a comparative analysis of various press releases issued as a result of these painful cases, we wish to identify the values that dioceses, episcopal conferences and other realities wish to recover, the feelings expressed and other possible patterns that allow us to identify the reflection carried out internally in each case.

Keywords:

Sexual abuses, press releases, trust, institutional communication

Details

References

Statistics

Authors

Download files

pdf

Altmetric indicators

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

References

Bachmann R. and Zaheer A. (2006), Handbook of trust research Cheltenham, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Benedict XVI (2010), Apostolic Journey to Portugal on the Occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the Beatification of Jacinta and Francisco: Meeting of His Holiness Benedict XVI with Journalists during the Flight to Lisbon (Papal Flight, 11 May 2010).

Berman J. (2020), The Trust Trifecta, Toronto: Iguana Books.

Botsman R. (2017), Who Can You Trust?: How Technology Brought Us Together – And Why It Could Drive Us Apart, London: Penguin.

Bruni F. and Burkett E. (2002), A Gospel of Shame: Children, Sexual Abuse and the Catholic Church, New York: Perennial.

Carroggio M. (2021), Church Communication in the Face of Vulnerability: A Theoretical Framework and Practical Application for Information Management in Cases of the Abuse of Minors, Church, Communication and Culture, 6 (1), pp. 58–79. https://doi.org/10.1080/23753234.2021.1880950.

Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992), Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

Choi J. (2012), A Content Analysis of BP’s Press Releases Dealing with Crisis, Public Relations Review, 38 (3), pp. 422–429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2012.03.003.

Choi J. and Park S. (2011), Influence of Advertising on Acceptance of Press Releases, Public Relations Review, 37 (1), pp. 106–108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2010.09.010.

Covey S.M.R. and Merrill R.R. (2008), The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything, reprint, New York: Free Press.

Cummings L.L. and Bromiley P. (1996), The Organizational Trust Inventory (OTI): Development and Validation, [in:] R.M. Kramer and T.R. Tyler (eds.), Trust in Organizations: Frontiers of Theory and Research, CA: Thousand Oaks: Sage, pp. 261-287.

S. Cyprianus, De Orat Dom, 23: PL 4, 5S3, Hartel, III A, p. 28S.

Edelman (2023), Trust Barometer 2023, https://www.edelman.com/trust/2023/trust-barometer.

Fearn-Banks K. (2016), Crisis Communications, London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/ 9781315684857.

Folkman J. (2022), The Trifecta of Trust: The Proven Formula for Building and Restoring Trust, USA: River Grove.

Horsager D. (2012), The Trust Edge, New York: Free Press.

Li P. Ping (2011), The Rigour–Relevance Balance for Engaged Scholarship: New Frame and New Agenda for Trust Research and Beyond, Journal of Trust Research, 1 (1), pp. 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/21515581.2011.550718.

McAllister D.J. (1995), Affect and Cognition-based Trust as Foundations for Interpersonal Cooperation in Organizations, Academy of Management Journal.

McLaren Y. and Gurǎu C. (2008), Characterising the Genre of the Corporate Press Release, LSP and Professional Communication.

Narbona J. (2021), Inspiring Trust. Church Communications and Organizational Vulnerability, Roma: Edusc.

Nooteboom B. (2002), Trust: Forms, Foundations, Functions, Failures and Figures, Edward Elgar Publishing.

Popper K. (1945), The Open Society and its Enemies, London: Routledge.

Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, November 21, 1964.