Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “While the development of new technologies is extraordinary, no less importance should be given - in our perspective - to what we could call the development of knowledge and reflection.” With these words, Archbishop Celli, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, opened the Congress for Catholic University Communications Departments, with the theme “The Identity and Mission of a Communications Department in a Catholic University,” that took place at the Pontifical Urban University.
According to Archbishop Celli, if the recognition of the truth and its communication to all people is the main purpose of Catholic media, then confrontation and dialogue with those who work in this field takes on great relevance in reaching an ever greater awareness and care in serving the Church and the Papacy. The dialogue and exchange of experiences and reflections are, therefore, the leitmotiv of the entire dicastery of Social Communications, of which Archbishop Celli has been President for less than one year.
The three-day Congress has addressed numerous themes, from the challenges of communications in the digital era, to communications ethics; from the diversity of identity and mission according to the various geographic and religious situations, to the greater commitment of Catholic universities in transmitting solid values to their students. The anthropology and social doctrine of the Church are issues that cannot be excluded from the education of any student - Catholic or non-Catholic - without becoming an obstacle in their great intellectual fecundity. This enables the student to illumine and strengthen his own knowledge and not simply uncritically absorb acquired information. These were some of the reflections given by Professor Norberto Gonzalez Gaitano from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. In an era of neo-liberalism in the communications market, in which the Church is often perceived by the public eye as a source of conflict, it is necessary that those working in the media return to a Christian ethic in the portrayal of the Church and the Holy Father (just recall Benedict XVI’s address scheduled for Rome’s “La Sapienza” University).
Not only is it important what is taught, but how it is taught, said Professor Gildasio Mendes Santos, of the Catholic University Don Bosco, in Campo Grande (Brazil), who has nearly one thousand students in class every day, most of whom are Catholics. Jesus was a great communicator who used listening, dialogue, and celebration to communicate with the men of His time. Personal involvement, communication of the person himself, dialogue and conveying the message to students that they are capable of building anything, are all fundamental characteristics of the Catholic communicator and the communications professor. And we must not forget that, as Monsignor Giuseppe Scotti pointed out, Christian communication of the truth passes through the recognition and transmission of beauty. (PC) (Agenzia Fides 26/5/2008; righe 38, parole 458)
