It is not news that faith-based organizations have been active in voicing their opinions on matters of political and socio-economic concerns. What is news, however, is the
diversity of organizations that have banded together in regard to communicating their views on these matters.
Recently, this strength in numbers approach has ranged from issues on a regional level (the union of Jewish, Muslim and Hindu organizations agitating for the updating of
California school textbooks in their depiction of non-Christian cultures), on a national level (the multitude of voices across different religions weighing in on the immigration
debate), and an international level (the same multitude of voices expressing concern on global warming).
One can easily credit the force of this messaging and the ability to build bridges between very different theological cultures to the Religion Communicators Council
(RCC). Founded in 1929 as
the Religious Publicity Council, the RCC today encompasses more than 500 communicators from 60 different organized faiths. While interpretations of faith varies widely
within the membership, there is a common ground which all can share.
"It is a time of coming together to learn from each other," says Shirley Whipple Struchen, executive director of RCC. "We have found people join the organization because they
want professional development, and because of the networking and the fellowship we provide."
Headquartered in New York and with 13 national chapters, the RCC has found itself at a significant turning point within faith-based communications. The RCC membership has
three challenges before them: Internal communications to their respective congregations, external communications to a secular media, and outreach to corporate America to aid in
re-enforcing its social responsibility endeavors.
Attention, Faithful
Strangely, inter-congregational communications remains a major problem for many religious organizations. "The national bodies can do PR," says Struchen. "At the local level,
though, it is often another story. I can speak from example of the Protestant churches - many times a minister will come into a church, get a lot of material handed to him and is
told to do something with it. The minister will then hand it to the administrative assistant or secretary and say: Here, put this together into some kind of a newsletter."
To assist in the basics of internal communications, the RCC publishes "Speaking Faith: The Essential Handbook for Religion Communicators." Now in its seventh edition, the
handbook offers (pardon the pun) the alpha and omega of communicating to congregations. The aforementioned newsletter production issue was a particularly popular topic with RCC
members, resulting in a few live teleconferences and the subsequent production of a how-to video.
But that is not to say that all faith groups are in need of such help. Struchen notes many individual congregations are actually ahead of the curve with their own podcasts,
RSS feeds and blogs. But trying to level the playing field for this industry sector remains an intriguing challenge to her.
"In our annual conference, we have a divide in sessions from a 101 to a 404 course," she continues. "We have 20-year veterans and younger, just-out-of-college first job types.
It is not that the latter group doesn't have the skills; they just don't have the experience. So they look to use for that aspect of professional development."
The Sacred And Profane
Getting the religious communicators themselves up to speed is one thing. Getting the media focused on these communicators is another matter. Struchen notes that many faiths
do not have a single individual as a recognizable authority figure, such as Pope Benedict XVI of the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, many journalists are uncertain about whom to
contact when seeking commentary on behalf of a particular faith as a whole.
"Most of our faith groups have a board," she says. "For example, the United Methodist Church has a Council of Bishops. The head of the Council can talk and he would make
statements for the Council of Bishops, but he doesn't speak for the total church. The only group that speaks for the total church meets every four years."
To encourage secular media's greater interest and understanding in these issues, RCC sponsors its annual Wilbur Awards honoring the coverage of faith-based issues in
newspapers, magazines, books, broadcasting and film (new categories including online media are being planned for next year's ceremonies). Major media ranging from NBC's
"Meet the Press" to the Boston Globe and Time Magazine were honored last month at the 2006 ceremonies.
Struchen observes that many of the Wilbur Award winners are highly appreciative of their honor since coverage of religious issues are rarely recognized by other media award
programs. "I think this is often given to people who aren't recognized a lot in the public arena," she says.
But even so, she adds there are still areas where secular media needs improvement. "We see very little in the media that is positive about our Islamic colleagues," she says.
"I am working with the Islamic Society of North America on that."
Corporate Channeling
As corporate America expands its social responsibility programs to include faith-based organizations, Struchen's agenda includes helping the RCC membership build new
relationships with the corporate sector. She acknowledges this is an area where the RCC needs to place a greater focus.
"We have not and we need to," she says. "That is the area we need to be. We need to have more partnerships and it is one of the things I'm looking at."
At the same time, Struchen offers advice to corporate communicators who are only now reaching out to their colleagues in the faith-based realm. "Listen a bit more closely
because there is a wide diversity of faith groups," she advises. "Try to listen to a large group of people. We can help find voice and contacts with different people."
(Interviews with other association leaders can be found at the PR News article archives at http://www.prnewsonline.com.)
Contact: Shirley Whipple Struchen, [email protected].