Burke’s Blog

The Catholic Church and the Catholic laity are good at a lot of things - marketing Catholicism is not one of them.  There are very good reasons for this.  Quite frankly, I don’t think it’s an altogether bad thing.

First of all, Catholicism is not a commodity - it is an all-encompassing faith and world view to which there is no competition.  If you want the wisdom of the Saints, the Sacraments, and the confidence that comes with the teaching authority of St. Peter (Mt. 16: 19), then there are no other options.  In other words, there has never been a need to market Catholicism - it is there for all seekers to find.

This is not to say that there are no other religions to choose from.  Just drive the U.S. Interstate highway system through the southern and mid-western United States, and you will see hundreds, if not thousands, of billboards advertising evangelical churches that want your business. I am wary of any religion that has to advertise in this manner - you should not have to “sell” God.

In America, people often get reduced to nothing more than consumer units.  Americans sometimes do not understand how to seek out those things that are not advertised or do not understand how to desire less material “stuff.”  This is one of the reasons I think it is so hard for some Americans to understand Catholicism - because it is free and not continuously advertising itself.

Of course Catholics have made a business of peripheral items such as books, music, prayer cards, Rosaries, and jewelry, etc.  But even these are often unstylish and not marketed very well - people either know that they already want them and seek them out or people go through life never being sold on the idea of buying them.  I think this is a good thing in one sense - it keeps unethical practices out of the distribution of these goods.

But selling peripherals, entertainment, and media is very different than advertising and marketing the religion itself.  Catholicism is completely free, and most priests take some vow of poverty.  There are many Wallmart-sized evangelical churches that have ATMs in the pews and in the lobbies.  I pray to God that no Archbishop ever approves of this.

There is no huge market for Catholic music, film, or art really either.  Again, there are cultural reasons for this.  There is an upcoming conference to discuss Catholic media marketing, and I am excited to see the fruits of these sessions . If you live in or Near Michigan you should definitely look into going on April 19, 2008 .

My next blog entry will cover why Protestants have been able to distribute their contemporary music much more efficiently than Catholics.  Please sign up for my RSS feed to be sure to read this article.