Brand image is important

It is strange that, so often, when I start laboriously composing throwing a post together, some other blogger posts much more eloquently on the subject a mere hour or so before I am ready to click on 'publish'.
That's life I suppose, so fulsome credit to Jeffrey Tucker of
The Chant Cafe for summarising all that I have said in one picture.

There will be some who will not like commercial applications being made to the faith but I hope that this post will not be regarded as being too offensive.
You see, there are times when perhaps, we, or the powers that be, need to take a long hard look at the Church and to try to see it as others see it.

So throw a metaphorical log on the fire and bring your battered armchair closer while I attempt to explain and expound.

Heinz Baked beans is a popular and successful brand. Why? Well, first and foremost the product (the beans and the sauce that they are in) are of good quality. That is, overstating the obvious, critically important.
But we can't see the beans or the sauce when the can is sitting on the supermarket shelf...so how do we make a decision as to whether we want to try a can to see what the contents are like?

Well, tradition plays a role here. Or maybe reputation might be a better word in this context.
 Most people have grown up with the range of Heinz products - from the cradle to the gravy!
It is globally well known brand and, in general, well appreciated. You pay a slightly higher price for it than a non conformist brand but you have to pay for quality in the commercial world.

Next, there is the familiar label and logo - that shouts 'beans' and 'quality' at us. It is also as familiar to us as it would have been to our parents, grandparents and so on. Yes, really. Continuity is everything, the label may have changed imperceptibly every decade or so, just to keep pace with the developing world but it is still eminently recognisable as Heinz whether it is a 1911 tin or a 2011 one.

A little battered and faded but still
recognisable as the same quality product
that begat the beans we eat today

You see, continuity is good, recognition as to what the brand and product is about is good...it leads people into trying it if they have not already done so and it keeps those who know the brand loyal to the brand.

So (and this is where the post takes a sudden turn that, hopefully, you did not see coming) what sort of Catholic brand image do you project to those around you?

Are you instantly recognisable as a Catholic?

Do you have that element of continuity? The Hermenetic of Continuity?

Are you true to the original teachings of Christ?

And as to Holy Mother Church - what sort of image does she project?

I know what sort of image she projects in England & Wales; a dithery, unspecific organisation that, in answer to critical questions just shrugs and says "Who knows what's in the future?" - an organisation that does not seem to hold true to its hermeneutic of continuity, an organisation that is lacking.

Please understand that those comments are not directed at those laity who make a stand for the faith, who pray outside abortuaries or who go on pilgrimages or undertake arduous feats out of love for mankind (well done David Aron for completing 184 gruelling miles).

My remarks are directed at those in authority within the church, the priests who dress in tracksuits to go about their business, the nuns who have forsaken the cross and, of course, the Bishops who, above all others, should be cementing the image and setting the pace.

David Aron to Complete His 184 Mile Walk for Good Counsel

This man deserves a beer and more, but donate to Good Counsel!

David Aron aims to complete his 184 mile along the Thames Path Walk to raise money for the work of the Good Counsel Network today.

David began his walk on Friday 7th October. He plans to attend the Old Rite mass for the Good Counsel Network this evening at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane in Central London.


He has walked about 25 miles a day to complete the walk and has had to carry his sleeping bag, tent etc. Please sponsor David, and help the Good Counsel Network to protect more babies by giving support, friendship, food and housing to more expectant Mothers by clicking on to his JustGiving page.

Taking steps to save life in the womb

                                                                       
David Aron is a young man setting out on a solo walk along the historic River Thames, 184 miles in total from 7th to 14th October - and all to raise funds for The Good Counsel Network, an organisation that works hard on behalf of the unborn and those considering abortion. David needs our prayers and....
....our money.
It is a most worthy cause; at first thought, I envied David the route that he is taking, along the beautiful Thames Valley (being TV, that's Thames Valley, raised myself) but then I remembered that, at the seaward end of the river, it becomes a tad bleaker and the riverside pubs disappear. And then I thought...184 miles? Stone the crows!......where's the sponsor button!

Here is the link for donations www.justgiving.com/davidaron and here is a Thames verse to speed him on his way...

Twenty Bridges from Tower to Kew -                                         Wanted to know what the River knew,                                       Twenty Bridges or twenty-two,                                  For they were young and the Thames was old                                        And this is the tale that the River told:-                                      "I walk my beat before London Town,                                        Five hours up and seven down.                                   Up I go till I end my run                                           At Tide-end-town, which is Teddington.                                         Down I come with the mud in my hands                                                   And plaster it over the Maplin Sands.                                        But I'd have you know that these waters of mine                                        Were once a branch of the River Rhine,                                      When hundreds of miles to the East I went                                            And England was joined to the Continent.                                     "I remember the bat-winged lizard-birds,                                         The Age of Ice and the mammoth herds,                                         And the giant tigers that stalked them down                                        Through Regent's Park into Camden Town.                                        And I remember like yesterday                                     The earliest Cockney who came my way,                                 When he pushed through the forest                                                                         that lined the Strand,                                         With paint on his face and a club in his hand.                                              He was death to feather and fin and fur.                                              He trapped my beavers at Westminster.                                                 He netted my salmon, he hunted my deer,                                                 He killed my heron off Lambeth Pier.                                         He fought his neighbour with axes and swords,                                  Flint or bronze, at my upper fords,                                             While down at Greenwich, for slaves and tin,                        The tall Phoenician ships stole in,                                             And North Sea war-boats, painted and gay,                                         Flashed like dragon-flies, Erith way;                                         And Norseman and Negro and Gaul and Greek                                      Drank with the Britons in Barking Creek,                                  And life was gay, and the world was new,                                   And I was a mile across at Kew!                                       But the Roman came with a heavy hand,                                         And bridged and roaded and ruled the land,                                         And the Roman left and the Danes blew in -                                         And that's where your history-books begin!" Rudyard Kipling