CHRISTIANS STRESS NEED TO UNDERSTAND MEDIA BETTER, TO AVOID GHETTOISATION RAIA, Goa: Do Christians follow the debate taking place in the vernacular press, and its implications on the communal situation in the country? Are institutions run by the Church giving enough attention to train media professionals for the print and electronic media? What does the Internet hold out for those seeking to bring in positive values to the media?
These were some of the issues that came up for reflection at a launch of a three-day annual meeting of the Catholic Bishop's Conference of India western region's Commission for Social Communications, held in this rustic village off the South Goa headquarters town of Margao. It was organised from July 25-27 at Raia's Pedro Arrupe Institute, a Jesuit-run centre for theological training. CBCI secretary Fr Henry D'Souza argued that the issue of leadership and communication is "so much interlinked". Principal Newman Fernandes of St Xavier's College in Goa said: "There is no need to overemphasise (the role of) communications. But all of us do disregard it." He narrated his experience with college students, who, when asked, outlined the lack of communication in their homes as a major problem faced by many of them. "If we learn to communicate effectively, half of the problem is solved. Conflict between laymen and the clergy, between people of different faith, or between different sections is often brought about by a lack of communication," said Fernandes. During the three day meet, inaugurated by the Goa Archbishop Raul Gonsalves, participants from the western region also tuned in to CBCI secretary Fr Henry D'Souza on the need for 'fostering a culture of communications in the church' and heard reports from the various diocese of the region. Former director of Caritas India Averthanus D'Souza's theme was 'Today's Reality and the Media', while another session led to a brain-storming on the "new media culture". There was also a session to understand and discuss the World Communications Day 2003 message of the Church titled 'Media at the service of Authentic Peace'. One session went in to look at strategies to improve Church communication. In terms of looking-ahead, the meet discussed how to mainstream the social communications in the apostolic priorities of the Church. CBCI's western region covers fourteen dioceses from three different states. Archbishop of Goa and Daman Raul Gonsalves, who is also patriarch of the East Indies, pointed out that this was one region which had a lot of diversity in terms of reflecting "different languages, cultures and customs". He argued that among the 12 ecclisastical regions in India, this might be one which was perhaps the only which was non-homogenous. Speaking at the inaugural, Archbishop Gonsalves pointed out that Goa had held its last diocesan synod in February 2002. Since then five documents had brought out. Two had been promulgated and published last year, including a statement of the Synod and a Diocesan pastoral plan 2002. Of the other three, one dealt with the constitution of the Archdiocese -- meant to be the local rules that govern the Church in the state. One was meant to deal with the 'confartanities' -- a typically-Goan institution which were meant to mainly promote divine public worship and brotherhood, but which, over time, the archbishop said, had degenerated into bodies for the the "administration of temporal goods and also infighting". The last document was one to deal with the Fabricas and Confres, two institutions typical to Goa and which, according to Canon Law, are bodies created for the administration of temporal goods. Incidentally, in Goa, the Canon law still applies to the Church unlike in other parts of India. ENDS ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
