AMERICA/BRAZIL-"The Church must be a promoter of dialogue and speak an understandable language to today's world": the training seminar for the Bishops of Brazil has concluded

Rio de Janeiro (Agenzia Fides) - The Church must be a promoter of dialogue and democracy, in a clear and decisive way, both in society and within the Church: it is the exhortation addressed to the Bishops of Brazil by the expert in communication Javier Dario Restrepo. "Without free and respectful dialogue there can be no public opinion in the Church and silence can be accomplice in cover-ups, injustice and abuse", he added in his speech at the first Colombian Seminar on Communication for the Bishops of Brazil, event organized by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications (PCSC), the Commission for the Communications of the Episcopal Brazilian Conference and the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro.
This training meeting, held from July 12 to 17,was attended by 70 Bishops representing 55 dioceses in Brazil. The youngest Bishop was a 44- year old and the oldest 91, all united by a passion to learn, reflect and discuss the transformation of culture and the world of communications.
In the note sent to Fides it is read that the seminar was opened by Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, President of the PCSC, Cardinal Raymundo Damasceno Assis, President of the CNBB, and the Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, Mgr. Orani Tempesta . Mgr. Celli explained some of the most fundamental points on which the seminar was built: the instrumental view of the media needs to be abandoned as if it were a loudspeaker, and to constantly seek training in order to have the ability to speak an understandable language to today's world. That means finding and creating spaces for dialogue, communication and communion, he also quoted Pope Benedict XVI, who on May 12, 2010, in Lisbon said: "The Church must enter into dialogue with the world in which we live. The Church becomes word, the Church becomes the message, the Church becomes dialogue "(Ecclesiam suam, 67). In fact, the clear and respectful dialogue among all those involved is a priority in today's world, of which the Church is not absent ". (EC) (Agenzia Fides 18/07/2011)