Communicating Church in the Technological era
Media and technology have changed the culture and society. This is a hidden power which naturally creates both challenges and opportunities in forming the people of God. The Pope Paul VI said that we will be guilty before God, if we do not use the modern means of communication for the proclamation. Pope John Paul second was known as media savvy Pope who was a powerful media person during his life-time and even after his death. He wrote in his apostolic letter Rapid Development, “Many challenges face the new evangelization in a world rich with communicative potential like our own. Because of this, I wanted to underline in the Encyclical Redemptoris Missio that the first Areopagus of modern times is the world of communications, which is capable of unifying humanity and transforming it into – as it is commonly referred to – “a global village”. The communications media have acquired such importance as to be the principal means of guidance and inspiration for many people in their personal, familial, and social behavior. We are dealing with a complex problem, because the culture itself, prescinding from its content, arises from the very existence of new ways to communicate with hitherto unknown techniques and vocabulary.” (Rapid Development 3)
It is high time for the church to use the media in proper ways for the process of evangelization. It is the central nervous system of our society. (Marshal MacLuhan). Not that we have to be negative or allergic to modern media but we have to be keen to learn modern media language and technology to present ourselves to the public. The church has to understand the secular technological language to give a moral and ethical consciousness to the media. For the Church, the human person and his dignity is the prime concern as the human is created in the image of God. The modern Popes encourages the Faithful to use the internet, e-mail, SMS, Orkut, Facebook, Twitter and all other modern media techniques to spread the Good News.
In general media is always neutral; it is neither good nor bad. “By exposing their secrets and powers, we restore our ability to predict and perceive the often unintended consequences of using new media and new methods. This understanding of media is crucial to forming God’s people with discernment, authenticity and faithfulness to the gospel.” (Shane Hipps: The Hidden power electronic culture)
Media’s hostility on Catholic church: When reporters do cover matters of faith, no institution is more frequently reviled than the Roman Catholic Church. During 1994, it drew the most evening news stories (103), and the hostility communicated in these stories was obvious to viewers. When the U.N. Population conference was convened in Cairo to promote worldwide contraception, abortion, and sexual liberties for adolescents, the news media openly attacked the Catholic Church for its justifiable opposition to this agenda. Typical of the media’s disgust was this reports from ABC’s Jim Bitterman: "Vatican representatives at the population conference were today being cast in the role of spoiler, their stubborn style angering fellow delegates…Thousands of activists who came here to push causes from the environment to women’s rights have been ignored as the representatives from 182 nations spend their time and energy on the abortion issue."
The Role of the Church Media
The church media has the role of formation, participation and dialogue. Formation of consciousness in truth, goodness and unity is the fundamental duty of the church media. Its major role can be said in the active participation in the problems in society (in its cultural, economical and political dimensions). The church media cannot be indifferent to the human right problems in the community or society. In a global village context and in the pluralistic milieu the church media should promote dialogue: Dialogue within the community and between the religions.
Media is called the watch dog of the society and it is the fourth estate in the democratic political system. But today it is not merely a democratic institution but also profit making industry. In making profit their interest is to entertain the people. That’s why Malcolm Muggeridge said that media is interested in “infotainment” (information and entertainment), Recently another similar word “obituotainment’(obituary and entertainment) is coined in the media after the television event of the burial of Michael Jackson, the King of the pope-music. Victor Navasky says, “No supplicated student of the press believes that objective journalism is possible. The best one can hope for is fairness, balance, neutrality, detachment.”
What the Church expects from the media is clear from the words of Pope John Paul II, “The mass media can and must promote justice and solidarity according to an organic and correct vision of human development, by reporting events accurately and truthfully, analyzing situations and problems completely, and providing a forum for different opinions. An authentically ethical approach to using the powerful communication media must be situated within the context of a mature exercise of freedom and responsibility, founded upon the supreme criteria of truth and justice.”
In the information era where we breathe with technology the Church people have to learn to listen to the media, to deal with the media and utilize them properly. The church media has to use a secular language with an open mind and inculcate our faith in given context without the modern temptation of being indifferent to the problems of the society or becoming fundamentalist. Solidarity and integral development of human person and society are our prime motifs. As I have highlighted the case of United States where the media treat the Catholic Church with rivalry, here in Kerala the Church faces almost the same problem. The language and image that the secular media use are sometimes tarnishing the good image of the Church. And it creates confusion in the mind of the viewers and readers. What we need is to either to have our own news channels and newspapers to deal professionally the allegations or to get our people trained in the media professionalism to be employed in secular media system. And above all the Church leaders should develop media consciousness.
Media and technology have changed the culture and society. This is a hidden power which naturally creates both challenges and opportunities in forming the people of God. The Pope Paul VI said that we will be guilty before God, if we do not use the modern means of communication for the proclamation. Pope John Paul second was known as media savvy Pope who was a powerful media person during his life-time and even after his death. He wrote in his apostolic letter Rapid Development, “Many challenges face the new evangelization in a world rich with communicative potential like our own. Because of this, I wanted to underline in the Encyclical Redemptoris Missio that the first Areopagus of modern times is the world of communications, which is capable of unifying humanity and transforming it into – as it is commonly referred to – “a global village”. The communications media have acquired such importance as to be the principal means of guidance and inspiration for many people in their personal, familial, and social behavior. We are dealing with a complex problem, because the culture itself, prescinding from its content, arises from the very existence of new ways to communicate with hitherto unknown techniques and vocabulary.” (Rapid Development 3)
It is high time for the church to use the media in proper ways for the process of evangelization. It is the central nervous system of our society. (Marshal MacLuhan). Not that we have to be negative or allergic to modern media but we have to be keen to learn modern media language and technology to present ourselves to the public. The church has to understand the secular technological language to give a moral and ethical consciousness to the media. For the Church, the human person and his dignity is the prime concern as the human is created in the image of God. The modern Popes encourages the Faithful to use the internet, e-mail, SMS, Orkut, Facebook, Twitter and all other modern media techniques to spread the Good News.
In general media is always neutral; it is neither good nor bad. “By exposing their secrets and powers, we restore our ability to predict and perceive the often unintended consequences of using new media and new methods. This understanding of media is crucial to forming God’s people with discernment, authenticity and faithfulness to the gospel.” (Shane Hipps: The Hidden power electronic culture)
Media’s hostility on Catholic church: When reporters do cover matters of faith, no institution is more frequently reviled than the Roman Catholic Church. During 1994, it drew the most evening news stories (103), and the hostility communicated in these stories was obvious to viewers. When the U.N. Population conference was convened in Cairo to promote worldwide contraception, abortion, and sexual liberties for adolescents, the news media openly attacked the Catholic Church for its justifiable opposition to this agenda. Typical of the media’s disgust was this reports from ABC’s Jim Bitterman: "Vatican representatives at the population conference were today being cast in the role of spoiler, their stubborn style angering fellow delegates…Thousands of activists who came here to push causes from the environment to women’s rights have been ignored as the representatives from 182 nations spend their time and energy on the abortion issue."
The Role of the Church Media
The church media has the role of formation, participation and dialogue. Formation of consciousness in truth, goodness and unity is the fundamental duty of the church media. Its major role can be said in the active participation in the problems in society (in its cultural, economical and political dimensions). The church media cannot be indifferent to the human right problems in the community or society. In a global village context and in the pluralistic milieu the church media should promote dialogue: Dialogue within the community and between the religions.
Media is called the watch dog of the society and it is the fourth estate in the democratic political system. But today it is not merely a democratic institution but also profit making industry. In making profit their interest is to entertain the people. That’s why Malcolm Muggeridge said that media is interested in “infotainment” (information and entertainment), Recently another similar word “obituotainment’(obituary and entertainment) is coined in the media after the television event of the burial of Michael Jackson, the King of the pope-music. Victor Navasky says, “No supplicated student of the press believes that objective journalism is possible. The best one can hope for is fairness, balance, neutrality, detachment.”
What the Church expects from the media is clear from the words of Pope John Paul II, “The mass media can and must promote justice and solidarity according to an organic and correct vision of human development, by reporting events accurately and truthfully, analyzing situations and problems completely, and providing a forum for different opinions. An authentically ethical approach to using the powerful communication media must be situated within the context of a mature exercise of freedom and responsibility, founded upon the supreme criteria of truth and justice.”
In the information era where we breathe with technology the Church people have to learn to listen to the media, to deal with the media and utilize them properly. The church media has to use a secular language with an open mind and inculcate our faith in given context without the modern temptation of being indifferent to the problems of the society or becoming fundamentalist. Solidarity and integral development of human person and society are our prime motifs. As I have highlighted the case of United States where the media treat the Catholic Church with rivalry, here in Kerala the Church faces almost the same problem. The language and image that the secular media use are sometimes tarnishing the good image of the Church. And it creates confusion in the mind of the viewers and readers. What we need is to either to have our own news channels and newspapers to deal professionally the allegations or to get our people trained in the media professionalism to be employed in secular media system. And above all the Church leaders should develop media consciousness.
