Saw this report of the Archbishops presidential address -

http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2005/10/10/1128796467112.html

Unbelievable. She has put the most negative spin possible on it. The address was full of hope and optimism, and she makes it sound like the AB is about ready to pull up stumps.

The media are terrible sometimes, aren’t they..?

G’day Craig,

I think the article did a fair job of saying what the AB said. We have to realise that the media can only reprt on the facts as they see it, a non christian reporter isn’t going to get fired up about the facts of the gospel unless they start to come to be convicted by what he said.

BTW I thought last night was aboslutely terriffic.

craig b

I have to disagree CB. It seems to me that she strung together all the most negative points.

I would be interested to hear other opinions??

G’day,

I can understand where you’re coming from Craig S, but I also empathise with what Craig B said. I had no expectation that the SMH would write a favourbale and postive report after PFJ took up the fight against secularism (which for me was the highlight of the session).

Yours in Christ,
Mark

What about this line -

Since 2002, church attendances in Sydney have grown 3 per cent, bucking the trend of declining membership but falling short of the diocese’s goal.

Which goal had it fallen short of exactly?

G’day Craig S.

I agree that our churches have grown 3%, remember though that is 3% growth of our past church numbers and not 3% growth / increase of the population. At least I’m sure that was what was meant

To the secular world imagine if a business was trying to achieve what we are planning & praying to happen with that result, they would think not so good yet......

I think it is good that indeed she did report the churches are at least growing, and when she reports next year they have grown by 5% or 6% or even more then that will create more publicity in that we are not irrevalent to the world and it is not dying.

cb

I didn’t object to the 3%, but rather the fact she said it “fell short of the churches goal”. Did we have a growth goal for 2005? I dont recall one in the speech (which I read online).

In the wash up I think todays SMH and DT reporting of Synod is a massive step in the right direction. And we shouldcongrgatulate the press for moving in the right direction.

We can only expect secular journos to approach us from critical standpoint and to hold church leaders accountable (though Craig S is right that there was never a goal for 2005.. so they need to get their accountability measures right!).

The complaint in the past is that the media have ignored the central point of PFJ’s comments and focused on mere side issues. So in the past we would have just got the 5 sec sound-byte on IR reforms on the news.

That’s why I think today press coverage is great.

Take the DT headline “Why we reject God”.... At least it gets people talking about God (rather than just the IR reforms!)

The complaint in the past is that the media have ignored the central point of PFJ’s comments and focused on mere side issues. So in the past we would have just got the 5 sec sound-byte on IR reforms on the news.

Well, I have to agree with you there Jeremy. Although I note that a few stories have exclusively quoted the 5 seconds PJ spent on IR and ignored the rest.

I thought the DT report was much better than the SMH. The DT even mentioned “ignorance of the gospel” as one of the issues facing the church(!!)