Eileen Gleeson/MD Weber Shandwick F.C.C.: I believe the Catholic Church has made a great move in establishing the Communications Advisory Board and appointing Mark Mortell as chair.
Its next great move should be to listen to the advice the board will offer. Listening to and acting on good advice has been the problem in the past, hopefully not in the future. The nature of the organisation that is the Catholic Church means there will be a lot of firefighting involved, but hopefully matched with a good strategy for open and honest communication going forward. And, of course, there's no point in having a perfect strategy if the senior representatives don't adhere to it. That is an extremely difficult thing to manage when there are many people with many views, and none of them shy about espousing those views. The other thing I believe is important to remember is that the public doesn't expect a miracle and it certainly doesn't expect nor want the church to turn into a marketing-led organisation. I believe that people just want to know they are being listened to and to really believe the church is thinking outwards to its community, not inwards to its own agenda.
Gerry O'Sullivan/Director Q4 Public Relations: If the Catholic Church is to restore its credibility, it needs to develop a clear and compelling picture of how it wants to be perceived. While this is easier for a political party or a publicly quoted company to achieve, it is not an impossible objective for the church, especially as Christian faith is very deep-rooted in Ireland. Another papal visit would demonstrate this very clearly.
Credibility has to be earned and it will be a slow build for the church. Before it can begin, the church has to assure us that it has adequate child protection structures and procedures in place for the present and future.
A fresh voice can also help and the new Archbishop-elect of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, is well-positioned to communicate the church message credibly. The church has made a significant contribution through education, the health service and through commentary on justice and poverty issues. These are strong bases from which to rebuild.
The church can leverage its engagement with young couples as most marriages still take place in church and most parents still want their children baptised. The local nature of the church means it is one of the organisations best positioned to help young families through the isolation that has come with prosperity. Done in the right way, this may be what gives the Catholic Church its greatest relevance for people.
Ray Gordon/Director, MRPA Consultants: From a communications perspective, one of the biggest problems facing the Catholic Church is that the manner in which it responded to the scandals has almost done as much to undermine confidence as the fact that the scandals happened in the first place.
All inquiries - even the most legitimate and understandable - were treated as hostile and a "them" and "us" mentality took root, destroying the public credibility of the church, its leaders and their answers.
So if Mark Mortell is going to succeed, he has to change that mentality. He has to get church leaders to understand that the public horror at the scandals does not of itself mean a dislike of the church. He's going to have to get them to stop prevaricating and obfuscating and start to acknowledge the weaknesses at the heart of their institution which allowed these problems to arise.
To start to win back public confidence, the church leaders will have to demonstrate a new openness, transparency and co-operation.
With a new Archbishop of Dublin coming in shortly - untainted by any of the scandals or their handling - the church has a great opportunity to begin to change the way it is perceived. But he has to demonstrate by his actions that things are different now. If they can show genuine regret and a commitment to do better in the future, then people might just begin to forgive. Forgetfulness might be a while longer coming.
Niall O Muilleoir/Director Financial Dynamics: Working with Colm O'Gorman of One In Four for the past year has given me some real insights into the machinations of the Catholic Church - and its response to the scandal of sexual abuse of Irish children by its clergy. In offering advice, I'm confining myself to addressing the one major challenge that must precede external solutions.
That challenge is managerial change. You can only overlay an effective communications solution onto a willing organisation with a cohesive and responsive managerial structure. Doubtless the Hierarchy would be very keen on a clever communications solutions, but I have serious doubts about the will or ability of this managerial team to embrace the necessary behavioural change. The frustrations that brought about the recent collapse of an internal inquiry team of honourable lay people bear testament to that very problem. It's about being part of decision-making before decisions are made. It's about confronting those who exercise real power with their ongoing failures, and ultimately it's about getting unconditional support from all the key stakeholders. The evidence to date is that the pyramid of power that extends from Rome to Dublin to the four ecclesiastical provinces and the 27 dioceses of Ireland is an impenetrable and immutable structure.
Candour, transparency and a demonstrable change in behaviour are key ingredients for a credible new message. First the mandate for change, then the message.