Family and friends were joined at the Church last Friday by hundreds of other mourners from patched gangs including the Rebels, King Cobras, Hells Angels, Killer Beez, Mongrel Mob and Two Eight Brotherhood, among others.

The deceased man was Taranaki Fuimano, who died in Auckland Hospital over the weekend after he was found unresponsive in police custody.

Dame Lyndsay Freer, spokesperson for the Auckland diocese told CathNews that the deceased and his brothers and sisters all went to Catholic primary and secondary schools, and members of the family are parishioners at the Grey Lynn parish.

"Pope Francis continues to remind us of God's mercy and love for us all.

"From time to time it is good to remember that the Church care for people includes the temporal as well as the spiritual," she said.

Freer said, one of the marks, a tangible test of the Church's merciful face of God, is its care for other people.

"In Catholic thinking caring for people is labelled a 'corporal (as in bodily) act of mercy', and burying the dead is clearly a work of mercy.

"Burying the dead ranks alongside other corporal works of mercy such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless and visiting the sick."

To aid the funeral process, Police closed roads as hundreds of gang members descended onto St Joseph's Catholic Church in central Auckland for the Head Hunter's funeral.

Although there were no arrests made at the funeral, not everybody was impressed by the police's management of the occasion.

Police kept a low profile, managing traffic in Great North Rd as the outlaws blocked the street once the coffin was removed from the church and into a hearse.

"From our point of view, the [funeral] procession went relatively well.

"Yes, there were roads blocked off and we did have to employ traffic management plans, but our aim, as always, is to ensure that everyone on the roads is safe and is kept safe.

"And that's what we feel that we were able to achieve today," Auckland District Commander Superintendent Karyn Malthus told Checkpoint's Lisa Owen

Source

• TVNZ
• Stuff
• RNZ
• NZ Herald
• NewsHub
• Image: Stuff

Dunn made the comment at a farewell lunch for Dame Lyndsay Freer, who for so long was the voice and face of Catholic Communications in New Zealand, and latterly communications spokesperson for the Auckland Diocese.

Freer has been involved in church communication for over 37 years. The Auckland Diocese on Saturday marked her significant contribution with a light lunch for 40 people at the Pompallier Diocesan Centre.

A once regular in the nation's media, Freer modernised Catholic communications in New Zealand.

Auckland based, she fronted the Church's engagement with media reporters and journalists who regularly contacted her for comment.

Freer showed that modern communication, a subtle art, is conversational, and how something is said is as important as the substance.

An excellent judge of the mood and tone of the message, Freer knew the right touch and the media's ability to receive what she was saying.

There were many times when she did not want to comment, did not want to have her voice or her image associated with a range of topics, yet she fronted, always using the opportunity to sow a seed, make a point or simply to keep the relationship and the conversation open for the next media request.

A professional, she respected the media but in line with Pope John Paul II's catchphrase, she was not afraid.

Emeritus Bishop of Auckland Patrick Dunn led the speeches at the farewell.

Dunn told the gathering that the Church has been very fortunate to have had Freer in this pivotal role for so long.

"The Church in New Zealand was the envy of Churches in other countries," Dunn said.

He commented that other churches were astounded with what New Zealand was able to achieve in having such a competent, talented and articulate person to help explain Church positions in the media.

It was a point reinforced after lunch when a guest commented that Freer gave Catholics and Christianity comfort in their faith and helped give them reason to believe.

Dunn praised former Auckland bishop Denis Browne's inspirational move to employ Freer initially as Auckland's communications spokesperson.

Competence has its detractors

Changing Catholic communications in New Zealand to engage with the media proved a threat to some people in the Church.

Something had changed in and around the bishops' conference.

Dunn explained that there was an idea surrounding the Conference that the New Zealand Church should have a variety of voices presenting the bishop's views to the media.

"I felt at the time that this was a mistake.

"I am now even more firmly convinced that we (the bishops) lost the plot.

"The Church has lost ‘brand recognition' since Lyndsay stepped down from the national role," said Dunn.

Implying the bishops' new model of Catholic communications is a lost opportunity, he suggested it may be a case of the Church talking more to itself than engaging in dialogue with the world.

Dunn says the decision has almost removed the church from the public eye.

Accentuating the positive of the previous communication model, Dunn said Freer epitomised professionalism, competence and respect and cited a recent example of how she even dealt with a media call at 9 pm on Good Friday!

"Talkback hosts, newspaper reporters or TV news producers sometimes do not know who to call if they want a quick and always ‘immediate' comment from the Church.

"I thought it ironic that, even after her retirement, Radio NZ still phoned her at 9pm on Good Friday for some comments on how church attendances were going with the change to the Orange Covid Traffic Light.

"Lyndsay had no idea where to refer them at that hour so made a quick comment herself which was then quoted on radio news bulletins for most of Holy Saturday morning!"

"It proves my point that the NZ Catholic Church does need to rethink our media strategy," said Dunn.

Speaking with CathNews afterwards, a guest agreed with Dunn, saying the people of God are blessed with many God-given gifts and posed the question why we (the Church) are not using them.

"Seminaries teach people the likes of philosophy, scripture and theology. They encourage an interior life of prayer. Ordination is no guarantee bishops and priests have skills other than what the seminary taught them," she said.

Also at the lunch was media trainer and RNZ host, Jim Mora, who commented that people in the media who might not be sympathetic to the message respected Freer, the messenger, because of her expertise, professionalism and her manner in relating to them.

Long-time media training specialists and now friends of Freer, Brian Edwards and Judy Callingham also joined the occasion.

Pope Francis, in a 2020 message to the Catholic Press Association, urged Catholic media to build bridges, defend life and break down visible and invisible walls that prevent dialogue and truthful communication between individuals and communities.

At the initial outbreak of Covid-19, Francis commented "recent months have shown how essential is the mission of the communications media for bringing people together, shortening distances, providing necessary information, and opening minds and hearts to truth."

Additional sources

• Supplied
• Vatican News

The funeral was for gang member Taranaki Fuimaono, 43, who died in police custody and was facing drug charges.

The massive gathering forced authorities to cordon off parts of Grey Lynn, a central suburb, and divert buses from the area "as a precaution to ensure the safety of members of the public in the area".

While most people behaved within the road rules, Auckland's Inspector Jacqui Whittaker says camera footage led to 16 drivers being held accountable.

The charges include antisocial behaviour driving while disqualified, driving while forbidden and sustained loss of traction.

All 16 are due to appear in various Auckland area District Courts in the coming weeks.

Whittaker thanked members of the public who came forward with information and footage for their assistance in the investigation.

Intervening on the day of the funeral procession would have put other road users at risk, she added.

"Police decision making when it comes to these types of events will always be about community safety. The driving behaviours of some presented a real risk to those involved, as well as other road users, and will not be tolerated.

"If you choose to put other motorists at risk through dangerous driving activity, such as sustained loss of traction, you can expect the police to hold you to account and your vehicle may be impounded."

As these matters are before the court, police are not in a position to comment further.

A day following the funeral Auckland District Commander Superintendent Karyn Malthus spoke with Checkpoint's Lisa Owen saying that "From our point of view, the [funeral] procession went relatively well.

"Yes, there were roads blocked off and we did have to employ traffic management plans, but our aim, as always, is to ensure that everyone on the roads is safe and is kept safe.

"And that's what we feel that we were able to achieve today".

Source

• Stuff
• NewsHub
• Image: NewsHub

Auckland diocese spokeswoman Dame Lyndsay Freer said many of Auckland's 189,000 Catholics had not received the ashes as they usually would on Ash Wednesday. This was because of the Covid alert level 3 then alert level 2 restrictions.

At level 2 only 100 people could gather and in Auckland the number was generally too restrictive.

The region has now moved to COVID alert level 1, enabling Catholic congregations to gather together again.

"Lent still began on Ash Wednesday, that 40-day period leading up to Easter did begin," Freer said.

The day involves prayer and fasting, and services where priests apply ashes to believers' foreheads. The ashes symbolise repentance and the dust from which Catholics - and many other Christians - believe God made people.

"Lent is a very special time in the life of the church, it's one of the most important times in the annual calendar.

"It will be wonderful to be able to get back to normal."

Even a short lockdown was a big deal for Catholics, Freer said. May Catholics attend at least one mass a week, while some attend every day.

Most of the other observances of Lent had gone ahead as usual, Freer said.

Source

• Stuff
• Image: Catholic Diocese of Auckland

Long before the advent of television, St Thomas Aquinas said, "faith comes from hearing", and the Catholic Church in New Zealand, once again, at least for a limited time, had a face and a voice.

Around about five years ago the Catholic Church in New Zealand opted for a new model of communications, and rather than the face and voice of one spokesperson, it looked to spread the load and bring more spokespeople to the fore.

At the time, spreading the load, new faces, new voices, different faces, different voices, different ways of seeing the Church through the media, sounded like quite a good plan.

It probably still is, but I'm beginning to wonder if it is too adventurous a plan for a small country, because in the five years or so since Catholic Communications closed the Church seems to have become faceless and voiceless.

Yes, there have been numerous media releases, Tweets and Facebook posts. There's even been an occasional media comment by a bishop or Church spokesperson, but they seem to have mainly fallen on deaf ears.

Media relations is a special skill

I think it's generally true that most organisations prefer the media to tell 'their' version of the truth. The Church, which prides itself on truth, is no exception.

Church truth, its belief and practice, is often somewhat nuanced as evidenced by Anthony Faiola of the Washington Post who reported recently on Pope Benedict's last public mass.

Describing Benedict's movements, Failoa wrote in the Washington Post: "He walked with a gilded cane in the shape of a cross" as people cheered "Long live the Pope!"

The "gilded cane in the shape of a cross" was actually a crozier, the shepherd's staff that symbolizes a bishop's role as the leader of his flock.

Sometimes it seems the media just doesn't 'get' the nuance of the Church.

The Church may not have a monopoly on the media not understanding its stories and events, but living in a post-Christian focussed society, it's kind of understandable the media doesn't have religious experts, understanding for example, Church theology, philosophy, history and liturgy.

The former Cardinal, Jorge Bergoglio, was often described as a shy man with an aversion to journalists, but on the day of his inauguration as Pope, Francis acknowledged the work of the media representatives, greeting them as "My dear friends".

His comments were greeted with cheers and several reporters shouted "Viva!".

Pope Francis clearly understands the importance of a relationship with the media, but it is likely to be rare that he meets with them.

As well as using media statements and social media to engage with society, the media also want a face, a person to relate to and with whom they can build a relationship and trust.

Pope Francis will generally use a Vatican spokesman to tell the Church's story and to keep the relationship alive.

For many years the Catholic Church in New Zealand fostered relationships with the New Zealand media. However by remodelling its communications, it seems to me we may have lost some impetus, lost our edge, lost our important perspective in a post-modern society.

For example I find it interesting that the New Zealand media is now preferring former TV reporter and now Anglican priest and communications spokesman Jayson Rhodes or a myriad of faceless university academics to talk about the church and matters of interest to the church and society.

It's perhaps timely to again recall Thomas Aquinas', "faith comes from hearing", and ask whose faith, and what is it that people are hearing?

I guess it's now no secret that I'm applauding the personal initiative of Auckland Bishop, Patrick Dunn, to send Lyndsay Freer to Rome to cover the Papal conclave and election of Pope Francis.

My reading of the situation is it seemed that after Dame Lyndsay arrived in Rome the New Zealand media seemed better informed, that she seemed to ease their way though something generally quite foreign to them, and the people of New Zealand and the Church both benefitted from her skill.

In today's world, the Church is regarded as somewhat counter-cultural, and as such the cultural void brings with it a great opportunity.

There is something unique about how the Church relates to the media as distinct from that of PR spokespeople from politics and the public sector generally.

Church media spokespeople are distinct from 'public relations' spokespeople in politics and business. As a result, there are a number of factors the media and New Zealanders expect from Church media spokespeople, that I think makes this specialist role worthy of further re-consideration:

• to be immediately available
• to be well educated with respect to catholic theology, history, liturgy and practice
• to be informed and if necessary to be able to arrange to get the right person to speak at short notice
• to be able to speak to New Zealand society in a way appropriate to the medium
• to have a warm and personal manner
• to have a sense of humour
• to be relaxed under pressure
• to engage in conversational style
• to be able to think on their feet while fronting the nation's media
• to be across development in new media and apply them appropriately to the Church's message
• and ultimately, to be credible.

When I look back at this list of skills and abilities that a professional Church media spokesperson needs, and match them against the opportunities to effectively outreach into to the wider New Zealand society through the media, I can only conclude this is indeed a specialist task requiring a full time media office for the Catholic Church in New Zealand.

- John Murphy is a Marist priest working in digital media at the Marist Internet Ministry, New Zealand.