Catholic media has role in building up unity of believers, prelate says
By Julie Asher
Catholic News Service
NEW ORLEANS – Catholic media “should strive to build up the unity of believers” and also must speak “to those who are not members of our community,” the head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications said in a speech in New Orleans on 4 June.
Archbishop Claudio Celli made the remarks during the closing banquet at
the Catholic Media Convention, sponsored by the Catholic Press
Association of the US and Canada and the Catholic Academy for
Communication Arts Professionals.
The Archbishop attended the entire 2-4 June convention, including a
dialogue session between North American Bishops and Catholic media
professionals.
“It gives me great pleasure to be with you again this evening as we
celebrate the professionalism, the commitment to excellence, the gifts
and the achievements of the people and the institutions who are the
backbone of the Catholic media in North America,” he said at the
banquet.
A fundamental element of the identity of the Catholic media is that it
“has a particular role to play in the Church’s basic mission of
evangelisation,” he said.
“The communication of the good news of God’s love for all people, as
expressed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is what
unifies and makes sense of all the other aspects of the life of the
Church,” he said. “This is particularly true of evangelisation:
communication is not simply one dimension of evangelisation; without
communication there can be no evangelisation,” the Archbishop said.
“The mission to announce the word of God is the responsibility of all
the disciples of Jesus Christ by virtue of their baptism.
“The awareness must be deepened in every parish, and in every Catholic
community and organisation: they must find ways to bring the word of God
to all.”
He said it is important that the Catholic media be accessible “to those
who may not share our beliefs,” including other Christians, those of
other religions, nonbelievers and “those who may have left faith behind
in the course of their lives.”
He praised all forms of media – newspapers, magazines, radio,
television, books, video, digital and online outlets.
Regarding social media, he said those new forms of communication
“undoubtedly offer the Church a greater opportunity to disseminate the
Word of God more widely and more directly.”
“It is possible, using the new technologies, to present the timeless
message of God’s love for His people more attractively and in ways that
may engage new audiences,” Archbishop Celli said. “We must never forget,
however, that (in) spreading the Good News (we) need to proceed heart
by heart.”
The Catholic media must support the Catholic community,” he said, “in
particular, offering them news and analysis of a type they would not
find easily in other media,” he said.
“This does not mean turning a blind eye to problems, also within the
life of the Church, but it does mean trying to locate them within a
horizon of interpretation that is not hostile to faith or to the
Church,” he said.
He said that, as some have pointed out, new media can sometimes lead to a
polarisation of opinion rather than greater mutual understanding.
“It is natural that debates about faith and morals should be full of
conviction and passion but there is a growing risk that some forms of
expression are damaging the unity of the Church and, moreover, are
unlikely to draw the curious and the seekers to a desire to learn about
the Church and its message,” he said.
Archbishop Celli praised the winners of Catholic press awards announced
that evening, saying the high standards “encouraged by these awards
means that those who work in this important mission can hold their heads
high in the company of their fellow professionals in the rest of the
media.”
He said the “greatest asset we have in our communications mission is the
generous and competent commitment of so many people.”
“You can buy technologies, technical services and certain types of
expertise; the enthusiastic and gracious personal dedication of so many
people is a God-given gift and blessing,” Archbishop Celli said.