By Deb Christian
CHICAGO (April 1, 2017) — Fr. Manuel Dorantes (Fr. Manny) has been a student of philosophy, a seminarian, a journalist-in-training, a graduate student (MBA), and is now a Catholic priest serving the Archdiocese of Chicago. He speaks at least three languages fluently. In 2015 he was tapped to be liaison and translator to the Spanish-speaking media when Pope Francis visited the U.S.
Amid a communication and media storm, Fr. Dorantes accomplished his tasks and learned some lessons about how to be an effective faith communicator. He shared those with RCC members during a workshop at the 2017 RCC convention. Is there a formula to follow for efficient, effective communications? Faith + Action = Results.
The workshop was titled: Communication Lessons Learned from Hosting the Pope in the U.S. The seven lessons he cites are both media strategy and how to live. He also noted that he sees all these in Pope Francis and gave examples and anecdotes from his visit to explain each item.