The secular media catches a lot of flak for the way it covers the Church — but perhaps the answer isn’t flak, but flacks. In other words, hiring someone to do a little PR for the Catholic Church.

Zenit has an interesting interview with the Church’s communications director in Denver, who describes her own efforts to reach out to the mainstream media and put in a good word for The Word:

The Church must avail of the secular media and thus reach a broader audience than religious sources can offer, said the Denver Archdiocese’s director of communications.

In this interview, Jeanette DeMelo, who works under the direction of Archbishop Charles Chaput, discusses the role of the diocesan communication’s office in spreading the Gospel.

Q: The Church document, “Aetatis Novae,” says that it is essential for every diocese and bishops’ conference to have a pastoral plan for social communications. What are the main objectives of your communications department?

DeMelo: The success of evangelization depends on our effectiveness to communicate a message and publicize it. The job is done in various ways.

Our office takes Mark 16:15 — “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature” — as our starting point.

We help all of the various offices of the archdioceses spread the Gospel by helping them with the techniques of communicating.

Our archdiocese has a weekly newspaper that is a primary means for communicating the message of the archdiocese, whether it is from the Family and Life office, the office of evangelization, or the office of the archbishop.

In the newspaper, we communicate the message of those offices, as well as the stories that happen all over the archdiocese in parishes, families’ homes and Catholic organizations.

Another principal means of communication is our Web site. We try to put new material up daily. We also put the archbishop’s columns and his public statements on the Web site, because we know that many people are using the Web to seek out this information.

Q: Public relations play a big role in communications. What is the status of your department’s relationship with the local newspaper, radio and television stations?

DeMelo: The relationship with secular media is a huge part of my job. I believe it is essential for the Church to be engaged with the secular media because there is only so much we can communicate through our own means.

We need to reach a broader audience because what the Church is called to do is to proclaim the Gospel to all people, not just to fellow Catholics.

When I first came to Denver, the way I developed the relationship with secular media was to make appointments with various newsrooms and the staff of the newspapers and television stations.

We asked them to tell us what kind of news was interesting to them and what they expected and hoped for in a relationship with the Catholic Church.

We also told them about our schools and some background about what kind of material we could give them, as well as how to get in touch with us when they needed quotes or experts on life issues, education, parenting, or marriage and family.

Our office has also done a lot of work with the secular media with the issue of immigration.

We are constantly sending them statements by the archbishop, letters to the editor, or op-ed pieces.

Most recently, on the feast of Corpus Christi, we had both newspapers covering a procession that went through the Capital Hill neighborhood around the cathedral.

They did a pretty in-depth story on the feast of Corpus Christi. I thought that was an accomplishment to get the Eucharist in the secular newspaper.

Hop back up to the link for the rest. People like Jeanette DeMelo are the unsung heroes of the Church — doing the messy work of bringing the gospel, somehow, to the pagans in the MSM. (Excuse me. The pagans are calling me into a meeting. Must dash. I hope to return soon with my head still attached to my neck…)