I wonder why none of these images were included in the new statement from the Australian Catholic Bishops on the cost of our living?

The Australian Catholic Bishops have a tough job selling their statement on the cost of “our” living. The stories about the impact of this crisis don’t come from their personal experience. The popular public image of episcopal lifestyle is evident in the images above.Of the six Bishops on the Bishops Commission for Social Justice, Mission and Service three have personal social media pages on Facebook. Of those three only one to date has promoted this week’s launch of the statement.A survey of the Bishops online news feeds fails the pub test on thier promotion of this statement.

Let’s look at the statement and the launch event:

The livestream of the launch (see link above) was not a good production. An edited version is available here. The entrenched sexism of the Church is on show when the woman who introduces and closes the production is not named. Even more bizarre is that the edited clip still carries a link to the original version of the livestream conplete with audio glitches and a 6 minute musical intro!!!

Both the original livestream and the edited production show poor insight into disability by not providing audio for the acknowledgement of country and the prayer. Preferential option for the visual?

The launch gave us two comfortable white blokes who I suspect have not had to worrry about the cost of living trying to sell the message . The set was an Ikea failure with an extension cord running behind the comfy chairs.

The conversation between Bishop Tim Harris and Dr Jerry Nockles was stilted and reading the script from their folders diminished any sense of familiarity with the statement. Can someone tell Bishop Tim Harris that most of us stopped defining others as “non catholics”” a long time ago. Has he ever heard of people of good will?

There is nothing in the statement we don’t know from data and basic theology 101. Hopefully the references to the preferential option for the poor might shake the pews and rattle a few cathedrae.

The most powerful take away from this statement is the prayer at the end. Let’s hope it is shared across social media pages in our communities.