OCEANIA/AUSTRALIA - Catholics must be more present in the media: Bishops about to issue statement Church and Media

Monday, 12 December 2005

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Sydney (Fides Service) - The Catholic Church in Australian plans to increase its presence in the media and make better use of these ‘new pulpits’ for evangelisation which are part of the culture and world of the third millennium. The relation between the Media and the Church will be the topic of a Pastoral Letter, “Go, announce to the whole world”, which the Australian Bishops will render public in February 2006”.
“It is a question of awareness”, said Archbishop Barry Hickey of Perth. “We live in the era of the media. At times we fail to realise this and communicate only within the Catholic family. Instead we should listen to the world and give an answer”. Archbishop Hickey, head of the Australian Bishops Conference’s commission for communications and media said Catholics should adopt a more energetic approach to the media and the Church should make greater use of print media, TV and the Internet to spread the Good News.
The Church in Australia strives to follow guidelines from the Holy See in this field, for example the annual Papal Message for World Communications Day.
Recently the Church in Australia opened a new monthly Internet newsletter “Mission & Spirituality News”, dedicated specifically to missionary activity and aimed at encouraging renewed missionary efforts and sharing mission experience. The newsletter intends to help parishes fulfil the missionary duty and become places where people grow in the faith. The newsletter focuses on lay people indispensable for new evangelisation in Australia.
Catholics wish to give all Australians a correct image of the Church. The Church is aware of technological progress in communications and the need to be updated and be more incisive in this field to fulfil the crucial role of orienting social, political and religious decisions and to form public opinion. This is why the Bishop are reflecting on the matter and planning future commitment in this important sector.
(Agenzia Fides 12/12/2005 Righe: 26 Parole: 279)