{"id":22554,"date":"2013-04-25T06:18:39","date_gmt":"2013-04-25T10:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=22554"},"modified":"2016-09-30T16:51:53","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T20:51:53","slug":"the-cooler-more-welcoming-side-of-the-catholic-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/04\/the-cooler-more-welcoming-side-of-the-catholic-church\/","title":{"rendered":"“The cooler, more welcoming side of the Catholic Church” \u2014UPDATED"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s how the Diocese of Brooklyn describes its new ads for \u201chipster Jesus.\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

From CNN:<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ads around Brooklyn bring a new meaning to Joan Osborne\u2019s lyrics, \u201cWhat if God was one of us?\u201d<\/p>\n

In a new ad campaign launched by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn this month, people in the borough and neighboring Queens have a new way to view Jesus: \u201cThe Original Hipster.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ads feature the bottom half of a man \u2013 meant to be Jesus \u2013 wearing robes with a pair of dirty red Converse sneakers peeking out from the bottom.<\/p>\n

In a news release<\/a><\/strong>, the diocese refers to Seth Meyers\u2019 joke on \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d that Converse sneakers are why more Catholics are returning to the church, and says the marketing campaign is \u201cshowing a cooler and more welcoming side of the Catholic Church.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooklyn\u2019s Williamsburg neighborhood, near Queens, is considered to be the \u201cunofficial East Coast birthplace of hipsterism,\u201d as a 2012 article in Forbes put it.<\/p>\n

Monsignor Kieran Harrington said he understood the importance of relating to the people of the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus appears (in these ads) like people of the L train,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat is a hipster anyway? Someone who stands against the (mainstream) culture. Jesus stood against the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ten months ago, the conversation started about creating such a campaign to let people know there are a variety of different faces who attend the church.<\/p>\n

Harrington says these particular ads were a collaboration with the ad and PR agency Ruckus. Now they are found in places where the church doesn\u2019t usually advertise, including bus stands, restaurants and gyms.<\/p>\n

The ads have generated online buzz in Salon, the Gothamist and other sites, and traffic on the diocese\u2019s website has gone up 400%, Harrington said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more. \u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/strong> The Wall Street Journal<\/a><\/strong> has more of the story behind the ad:<\/p>\n

Last fall, the Diocese approached Ruckus, a small advertising firm that has also worked on projects with the Westville restaurant chain, Honda motorcycles and Undies.com.<\/p>\n

Church leaders wanted help attracting Catholics back into the pews and recruiting new parishioners.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you take a look at Brooklyn, it is one of the most diverse places on Earth. And we wanted to let everyone know they were welcome in the Catholic Church,\u201d said Msgr. Harrington, who calls St. Joseph\u2019s in Prospect Heights home. \u201cWe took a look at the community that might be most alienated by the church and that was hipsters.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But hipster wasn\u2019t the original word used by church officials. They told Ruckus that they simply wanted to target young people who are questioning authority\u2014particularly the moral authority of the church.<\/span>\u201cWe want to cut through a lot of the noise and say, \u2018Hey, you know what? Jesus Christ is reaching out to you,'\u201d Msgr. Harrington said.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was the Ruckus team of six, led by Chief Executive Josh Wood, 31 years old, that first threw out the idea of a hipster during a \u201cMad Men\u201d-style brainstorming session in their offices on West 35th Street in Manhattan. \u201cWe were tossing around ideas and talking about the concept of Jesus walking around as your everyday New Yorker, and someone on the team just started talking about him wearing Chuck Taylors, and it evolved,\u201d Mr. Wood said.<\/p>\n

The Diocese is upfront about the fact that it wanted an ad that would make some noise.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That\u2019s how the Diocese of Brooklyn describes its new ads for \u201chipster Jesus.\u201d From CNN: Ads around Brooklyn bring a new meaning to Joan Osborne\u2019s lyrics, \u201cWhat if God was one of us?\u201d In a new ad campaign launched by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn this month, people in the borough and neighboring Queens […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[176,29],"tags":[11204,11182],"class_list":["post-22554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brooklyn","category-media","tag-brooklyn","tag-media"],"yoast_head":"\n"The cooler, more welcoming side of the Catholic Church" \u2014UPDATED<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"That's how the Diocese of Brooklyn describes its new ads for "hipster Jesus." 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