BUFFALO, N.Y. — A directive from Buffalo's Catholic Bishop sets out new rules of engagement between church employees, notably priests, and the media.
The policy from Most Rev. Michael Fisher, dated April 24, primarily, directs that employees refrain from speaking to reporters until first contacting the Diocesan Office of Communications "who will either address the request directly or collaborate with the employee to supply response to the inquiry,"
Diocesan Communications Director Joe Martone insisted that this is not an attempt to control church employees, and stated further to state that this should not be construed as a "gag order".
"What we are really trying to do is not to stifle communication of the diocese we're trying to coordinate it," Martone told 2 On Your Side, while noting the policy is not entirely new.
"It's basically an expansion on the policy we've had in place for a long time," he said.
The policy, according to Martone, previously applied to Catholic Center employees. However, now it applies to pretty much everyone working for the church, including priests, deacons, seminarians, or catholic school employees, who are no longer free to speak with the media unless it's first cleared through his office first.
"We're concerned about misinformation that's getting out in the diocese," said Martone. When asked what kind of "misinformation" was being disseminated, Martone said some of it entailed "half-truths" regarding the sale of church properties, school closures, and "buildings that have been rumored to have been sold or to be offered to certain groups which were untrue."
The church has been peddling assets in order to raise revenue to pay settlements as part of the priest sex abuse scandal that forced the diocese into bankruptcy.
2 On Your Side contacted a priest who in the past whose often been glad to speak with us on a variety of topics to ask his thoughts about this expanded media request policy.
However, he told us we would need to go through Martone's office.
"We need to coordinate the message," said Martone. "This means that if you contact priests, the priests will communicate with us, with our office, to make sure that the message is complete, accurate and factual."