The Vatican Takes on ‘Pettiness and Lies’
By ANDREW ROSENTHALThe Roman Catholic Church has been getting a lot of press lately, much of it negative: The priest sex abuse scandal won’t go away (on Friday, a former cardinal’s aide was convicted of covering up sexual abuse by priests under his supervision); the pope’s butler leaked private documents alleging corruption in Vatican finances (he was then arrested); and church leaders are cracking down on nuns for daring to buck doctrine.
So the Vatican has done what all powerful institutions do in this sort of a situation – it’s hired a new press consultant. Because none of these cases reflects an actual problem. (As the pope’s right-hand man, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, put it last week, the media are guilty of “pettiness and lies.”) It’s all just a matter of getting the message right and getting it out there more efficiently.
This job, which has to be the last prize in the 2012 public relations career lottery, is going to Greg Burke, a 52-year-old correspondent for Fox News who has covered the Vatican since 2001. Much is being made of the fact that Mr. Burke is the first person hired to work on the Vatican’s public relations who came from outside the Catholic news agencies, although he is a numerary of the Opus Dei movement, which means that he is celibate and gives the church most of his income.
Mr. Burke will not be the spokesman for the Vatican. His job will be “to formulate the message and try to make sure everyone remains on message.” Asked how he would handle something like the pope’s decision to reinstate a schismatic, Holocaust-denying bishop, he said: “I think at that point you say, ‘We have a train wreck coming here.’”
Mr. Burke added: “I don’t have an answer for you on how I’d stop the train, but I’d try.”
Stop scratching on holidays
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
So the Vatican has done what all powerful institutions do in this sort of a situation – it’s hired a new press consultant. Because none of these cases reflects an actual problem. (As the pope’s right-hand man, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, put it last week, the media are guilty of “pettiness and lies.”) It’s all just a matter of getting the message right and getting it out there more efficiently.
This job, which has to be the last prize in the 2012 public relations career lottery, is going to Greg Burke, a 52-year-old correspondent for Fox News who has covered the Vatican since 2001. Much is being made of the fact that Mr. Burke is the first person hired to work on the Vatican’s public relations who came from outside the Catholic news agencies, although he is a numerary of the Opus Dei movement, which means that he is celibate and gives the church most of his income.
Mr. Burke will not be the spokesman for the Vatican. His job will be “to formulate the message and try to make sure everyone remains on message.” Asked how he would handle something like the pope’s decision to reinstate a schismatic, Holocaust-denying bishop, he said: “I think at that point you say, ‘We have a train wreck coming here.’”
Mr. Burke added: “I don’t have an answer for you on how I’d stop the train, but I’d try.”
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Home > LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
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