Here’s another bit of Catholic-centric content I recently did for a client.
It’s an example of how you can take a big topic that’s in the news and bring it home for your readers.
Think of this a lesson in Catholic philosophy and email marketing – all rolled into one!
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Am I alone in this, or does the topic of “war” come up a lot these days?
You know why and where …
And the footage is beyond brutal.
Between the videos and the reports, the whole mess is simply heartbreaking, but …
Is there ever a time when there’s a good reason to fight a war?
FAITH FIRST
The short answer is yes, but it’s complicated.
You see, there’s a concept in the Church called a “Just War.”
Most Catholics can probably tell you that such a thing exists, but how many people do you know can actually explain what it means?
If you need more than one hand to count up all those folks, then congratulations, because you’re well connected!
My guess is that a majority of Catholics don’t know that much about what makes a war just.
In theory, there are many moving parts to this, at least according to the Angelic Doctor.
Here’s an introductory note from The Summa Theologiae by St. Thomas Aquinas:
“St. Augustine says in a sermon on the son of the centurion [Ep. ad Marcel. cxxxviii]: “If the Christian Religion forbade war altogether, those who sought salutary advice in the Gospel would rather have been counselled to cast aside their arms, and to give up soldiering altogether. On the contrary, they were told: ‘Do violence to no man . . . and be content with your pay’ [Luke 3:14. If he commanded them to be content with their pay, he did not forbid soldiering.”
Aquinas wants us to look at three main points when we’re trying to decide if a war is just:
1 – The decision to take up arms must be made by a sovereign authority.
2 – The motive has to be a just cause.
3 – The combatants must have morally right intentions.
That’s a pretty generic overview, so feel free to read more of the Summa for a deeper dive.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I know about me, and …
I have a hard time going through some of the “thicker” parts of the Summa, so getting some extra context helps.
EWTN has a great article about the Just War Theory, with some commentary by Venerable Bishop Fulton J. Sheen.
The National Catholic Register has an informative write-up, as well, from a couple of years ago.
And if you like getting your information by video, here’s a good one. You might notice the content is a little “out of season,” but don’t worry – it’s about the substance of the content, not when it was made.
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This client is in an overcrowded niche, so what are we doing with content like this?
The answer is two-fold.
For starters, we’re providing readers with relevant material about the Catholic Faith, because it’s informative and formative, and …
We’re doing it an entertaining way. How do we know we’re hitting the mark?
Because readers are responding well, and we’re getting fantastic feedback. We’re talking about producing the kinds of emails here that people actually look forward to reading.
The second part of this is positioning.
We’re working to set this individual apart from the crowd by offering up a perspective that’s hard to find amongst the competitors.
In marketing, it’s called the “Unique Selling Proposition,” that element of your business, whether we’re talking about a service provider or even a brick-and-mortar place, that sets you apart from everyone else.
In this case, our focus is Catholicism, but it doesn’t have to be.
You’re USP can hone in on one of the specialized parts of your service, a distinctive element in your production process, or something novel about the product you offer …
It can even refer to the market you serve.
There are plenty of ways to do this, but what kind of marketer would I be if I spilled all the beans here?!
Send me an email at [email protected].
Stay holy my friend, and God bless.