Thought for St Paul's

I'm not sure that I can add much that is new to the current St Paul's Cathedral and 'tent city' debate but I do want to offer my opinion, albeit briefly. A few years back I was thrilled to be invited to work on a couple of marketing and audience development projects for the Cathedral which I enjoyed very much. It became clear to me just what a complex and multi-faceted organisation St Paul's is, with very many distinct yet inter-related audiences: volunteers, visitors, worshippers, partners, associates, funders, supporters and the wider Church of England community. At that time communication was of course, taking place with all the Cathedral's audiences though not necessarily in a strategic , integrated manner. Also at that time, as part of my consultation, I learned about the St Paul's Institute too which was already leading discussion and debate around justice and finance, morals and money. The lack of connectivity between the various Cathedral 'departments' was clearly an opportunity to be grasped. I think that the absence of this 'cross departmental thinking' and communications foresight has clearly contributed to the terribly difficult circumstances that the Cathedral now finds itself in, not only the PR difficulties but also the resignations and unhappiness amongst the clergy. Like thousands of others, I do sincerely hope that a peaceful solution can be found soon so the protesters can leave their camp in front of Wren's masterpiece and St Paul's, one of the most famous and beautiful cathedrals in the world, can also move on and continue to campaign for equality and social justice.