റോമാ സെമിനാര്‍

Church communication in non-Christian cultures

Church communication in non-Christian cultures is a relevant theme for discussion in the very life situation of continents like Asia and Africa. In the Universal Church, communication in the pluralistic cultures is functioning effectively. Of course, its roots are in the very Logos, the Incarnated Word in the human history. By inserting Himself into the Jewish context and in the Levitical rituals, Jesus communicated new ways of the Kingdom of God to their culture. He transformed the time and place by His earthly presence. So, any communication of the Church in the non-Christian cultures has to begin from the incarnated communication formula of Jesus, the Super Communicator.
At the outset, let me clarify the word ‘culture.’ Culture as the ideal, is the embodiment of perfect and universal values. Culture, as documentary, is that which human thought, language form convention and experience are recorded. Culture, as social way of life, already expresses the structure of feeling of a social group. Cultural pluralism is grounded in differentiations of consciousness and stages of meaning and values constituting a culture. Culture, as superstructure, functions to provide control of meaning, norms, and conditions for social infrastructure. Culture itself is within the higher context of religious value. In a Christian culture, there is the value system that is built up, form the Christian faith and morals. Cardinal Georges Cottier says that in the concept of Christendom, ‘when a society is composed of a majority of Christians, in such circumstances, it happens that the faith will inspire also the temporal order, namely the sphere of culture and the legal and political forms.’ In this context he says that evangelization in multi-religious context need not be confused with Western Christendom. In different cultural context and various social and civil situations, the diversity and specificity can be very positive. So the Church can speak of Indian, African or Chinese Christendom. Cardinal says, “the documents of Vatican II express simple openness to multi-faceted reality and the factors that shape it in the current historical phase: the context of a global and plural world, that entails coexistence between communities and people having the most diverse cultural and religious identities. But this openness towards earthly orderings is the distinctive trait that has marked the Christian presence in different societies in sui generic fashion and people having the most diverse cultural and religious identities.”
In India where the soul factor is in the very root of the soil, culture itself is defined within the higher context of religious values. As common to all human subjects trans-cultural, invariant across all peoples, the structure of human conscious intentionality grounds (1) the concept of communication, (2) the transcendental method by which all cultures are made, monitored, disciplined, developed, (3) hence the possibility of intercultural communication. The very basis of our communication is presenting to our fellow beings the true Christian image of everything we speak and act. The fact is that there is only one Church and the Church of Christ remains the same for today and for eternity. But in a multi-religious culture, the Church communicators should not stick to only one fixed way of expressing the image of Christ by using exclusive language that alienates others from us. We should not give the impression that Christianity is the prerogative of the few. But our communication system and style should open all the windows and doors for other people to enter into. Fr. Roderick Vanhogen, the founder of the Star Quest Production Network (www. Sqpn.com) comments the possibility of Catholic New Media: ‘Just like God piqued the curiosity of the Magi by showing them the Star, which eventually put them on a quest that ended in Bethlehem, we try to make people that don’t share our religious culture curious about the Catholic Faith, not by forcing it upon them, but by highlighting the Christian elements in popular books and movies, like The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, even Star Wars of the Pirates of the Caribbean.’ Church media can also very prudently make use of other religion’s sacred books and epics to fight against the aggression, terrorism and other evils. In a non-Christian culture, there is always a space for convergence in humane values and human rights.
“The role of the Church has long been to inform the meaning of human life and to uphold the moral fabric of society. The Church does this by providing an interpretation of human life which becomes an explanation that individuals depend upon to cope with life issues that are difficult to comprehend or accept.” As the chief editor of Sathyadeepam (True Light), a vernacular weekly started in the year 1927 and the most circulated Catholic weekly in India, I can show many examples in which the secular media have taken up many moral and social issues which we published in the Christian context. Recently, an article published in Sathyadeepam about the extravaganza in parish feasts (which sometimes becomes scandalous) by Bp. Thomas Chakiath, the auxiliary bishop of Ernakulam - Angamaly, was taken up by the secular media. First, it was taken up by Malayala Manorama, the largest circulated newspaper in the territory with a circulation of 1.5 million. They made this a news item and then it was taken up by Mathrubhumi, second largest circulated newspaper with more than a million copies. His question was: “Can belief really be authentic when it is popularized like the latest consumer products of fashions?” He was speaking the same language of Dietrich Bonhoefer who said the popularization method in devotions as “cheap Grace”. His message of simplicity in celebrating parish feasts was taken up even by Hindu newspapers in order to rectify the perverted ways of celebrating temple feasts in a bombastic style by spending millions of Indian rupees. The Bishop proposed that the real devotion is to consider the poor and the marginalized, and make use of the money, whether of the Church or of the temple, for their wellbeing. The real message was very biblical that human person is to be considered in the image of God.
The Church communications can be done through different humanitarian projects that the dioceses or any Christian groups undertake. For Example, Ernakulam Archdiocese (Kerala, India), some years back, took up a great project of getting the names registered for eye donation after one’s death. The project was successfully taken up in many of the parishes that there were thousands who were ready to donate their eyes. All the newspapers gave enough coverage for this humanitarian aspect of the Catholics, and some of the major newspapers wrote even editorial on the generosity of the people. This became a model for other communities, and also the message was spread out that the Christians are not only preaching gospel but they are also really living it., Finally this message was very well carried out to the other non-Christian religious communities. This is a best symbol that refers to a range of meanings of Christianity and Christian way of life to others.
In our modern information era, all the communities, races and religions have understood very well the power of media. In any pluralistic society, there are communication centers for each group or religion. In the Indian context almost every section of religions has its own T.V channel or newspaper or other means of communication. The communication systems are maximized by the empowerment of multiple centers of communication with the various levels of the society. They are using these channels in order to put the issues based on their community. At the same time, in order to catch up other sections they also keep a very positive approach in dealing with other religious programs and stories. Except some newspapers and channels which are directly or indirectly under the control of extreme Hindu groups and explicitly show a kind of antagonism towards the minority religious groups such as Christians and Muslims, the majority take up the other religion based issues. For example, the death and burial of Pope John Paul II was very high - lighted in all the channels and newspapers. The beatification of Mother Teresa was a live telecast in many of Indian channels. In the South of India where there the Christians are only 19 percentage of the population, when any Christian channel or newspaper makes main story on a Christian event, naturally the other channels are pressurized to highlight it, in order to survive in a much competitive media world. So, the presence of powerful newspapers, weeklies and T.V channels in non-Christian context is very important. The whole Church has to see to make earnest efforts towards that goal in order to give the presence of Church in such countries.
In non-Christian cultures, the Church media has to bring up with real persons who are living the Christian message in their very life and activities. For example, the Kerala-based Indian English weekly “The Week” selected Father Christudas of Bettiah diocese for its 2009 recognition as the Man of the year. In this Year for priests, this was a better way of Church communication than the words written or images in the TV shows. The 71-year-old priest of Little Flower Centre in Sunderpur village in Raxaul town on the India-Nepal border, committed his life for an area known for large number of colonies for the socially segregated leprosy people. He restored the life of about 50,000 leprosy patients through his relentless efforts. Another priest from Trichur Archdiocese, Kerala Fr. Davis Chiramel became a media star in almost all the newspapers and visual media through his act of donating a kidney to a Hindu patient. His Charitable Foundation for kidney donation became a secular language to speak about the mercy of God.
The more the world is globalized, the greater is the tension in every part of the globe. Any message that is to be carried out in the present context we need a holistic approach towards the art of communication. The Church has to make use of different methods of communication such as cinema, television and other modern electronic media. A Hindi film on AIDS “Aisa Kyon Hota Hai” directed by Fr. Dominic Emmanuel was well appreciated by the secular media world. Such efforts also enable the Christians to have proper link with the secular fabric of pluralistic culture. The words of Frances Trumpiets are very relevant in this context. He says, ‘the imaginative, affective dimension of religious belief, once nurtured and sustained by arts, was for the most part, neglected. The church needs to address the question of how it might rectify this imbalance and use a more holistic approach to communicating religious belief in modern times. It needs to once again support the arts and to challenge artists to give expression to religious belief through new artistic forms that both reflect and inspire contemporary culture.’ The Church has to make use of all the means of communication effectively for her mission of transmitting the values of Christ to the living culture of our time.

“The Indian press is not equal to India’s social needs as it is in the hands of people who have no social commitment and whose major interests are profit making and business ventures. The Indian press is more attuned to making superficial report of governmental and political news based mostly on official actions of ministers and others than to any kind of investigative reporting of development projects, problems and perspectives which touch upon the lives of ordinary people.” The best way of communicating the Christian culture of ‘Caritas in Veritate’ is possible only by concentrating the peace and development reporting in the Church media. In Indian context the secular media is always hijacked by the business tycoons, politicians and multinational corporates. Many times, the real problems and issues of the majority of the common people are not heard in the main stream media. One of the best ways of evangelizing the culture is bringing out the pain and sufferings of the ordinary and marginalized people of the Country. This is the very positive approach of the Church towards the human culture of peace and development. Underlining the words of St Irenaeus ‘The man fully alive is the glory of God’, the Church communicators through developmental media efforts really preach the good news to the poor and through such effort we also challenge other media persons to involve peace building mission which is truly Christian in its very core. The real involvement of the Church media in the social and political problems of the society is also welcomed. In the Kerala context many a time the political editorials of Sathyadeepam were very much highlighted by the secular media. Whenever the Church stands for truth and for the people oriented issues, secular media also act out as a response. An impacting communication depends upon the principle of relevance. The Church communicators have to be very keen in searching the real issues where the people are confused and struggling. Many a time the communicators scratch people where they do not itch. In social problems like abortion, drugs and alcohol addiction, road accidents, sexual perversions, illiteracy, gender discrimination etc. the people look for a way out. It is not relevant which religious allegiance but every body look for a solution. The Church communicators are obliged to involve actively in such social issues.
Communication in non-Christian context is really constructing symbols and icons of Christian values such as love, truth, unity etc. In the above few examples we see that those who have led a life witness to the Christian message are real icon makers. They themselves become the message. The value based transmission of news, reports and articles by the Church media in non-Christian culture is the best way of communication. In articulating the message the Church communicators must be authentic and significant for the readers or viewers. The message has to be conveyed in languages, images and symbols that are appealing and illuminating to the secular spectrum. Let me conclude with the words of Pope Benedict XVI "I would say that usually it is creative minorities who determine the future, and in this regard the Catholic Church must understand that she is a creative minority who has a heritage of values that are not things of the past, but a very lively and relevant reality. The Church must modernize; she must be present in the public debate, in our struggle for a true concept of freedom and peace." It is true that we are considered in the non-Christian culture as minority but our responsibility to communicate Christian values to the very cultural milieu of the Land we live is exactly what Jesus calls us to become “the salt of the earth and Light of the world.”
Rev. Dr. Kuriakose Mundadan
Chief Editor, Sathyadeepam