T.V. Evangelization

[Tepeyac]

While I had TV on turned to the spanish language channel, commercials from the Mormons aired twice within about an hour. One was on offer for a free item (can’t remember if it was a brochure or a dvd) on “how to be happy”, another was like a public service message and showed a happy family. Does the Catholic Church do anything like this? I know we have EWTN and that works in its own way, but do we air commercials on mainstream television, or make free TV offers for things like videos, brochures, or books (the Bible, the Catechism)? Are there any Catholic groups out there that do something like that?

 

[GeorgeSword]

I’m not aware of any Catholic groups that do this, but I think we probably should.

 

[fabricdragon]

i suspect the Catholic Church is wary of doing so, because no one wants to be associated with the groups who are best known for “advertising” for new recurits.

thats not to say its always a bad idea, just …well… its been primarily used by people we dont want to be associated with

 

[GeorgeSword]

i suspect the Catholic Church is wary of doing so, because no one wants to be associated with the groups who are best known for “advertising” for new recurits.

thats not to say its always a bad idea, just …well… its been primarily used by people we dont want to be associated with

Well… you may be right, but I still think we should try and take advantage of all mediums to evangelize.

 

[fabricdragon]

oh i agree we should make use of all possible media (in fact the Pope has discussed the “new media” and evangelization… )and there have been several articals on it by Greg Willits of rosaryarmy dot com… (the Catholics next door program)

its just the kind of “advertising” that others do? well frankly it has a bad history. again, not to say it couldnt be used!!! but its too easy to push the wrong buttons and associate us with the wrong kind of people (others who have abused the media)

 

[Tepeyac]

i suspect the Catholic Church is wary of doing so, because no one wants to be associated with the groups who are best known for “advertising” for new recurits.

thats not to say its always a bad idea, just …well… its been primarily used by people we dont want to be associated with

That’s an interesting point I hadn’t thought of, but maybe we should take the risk of bad associations and do it anyway?

My concern is that with the commercials on spanish t.v. is that they’re being aimed at a largely Catholic audience.

 

[CalCatholic]

While I had TV on turned to the spanish language channel, commercials from the Mormons aired twice within about an hour. One was on offer for a free item (can’t remember if it was a brochure or a dvd) on “how to be happy”, another was like a public service message and showed a happy family. Does the Catholic Church do anything like this? I know we have EWTN and that works in its own way, but do we air commercials on mainstream television, or make free TV offers for things like videos, brochures, or books (the Bible, the Catechism)? Are there any Catholic groups out there that do something like that?

www.catholicscomehome.org/ has runs a few commercials throughout various parts of the country and are planning to run more. You can find a sample on this site, they did a very nice job.

 

[Tepeyac]

CalCatholic, thanks for the link!