EUROPE/SPAIN - International Conference on Catholic Television 10 to 12 October will discuss what it means to be Catholic in TV and how to form a network of Catholic TV for evangelisation

Madrid (Fides Service) - "Rapid Development” is the slogan of an International Conference on Catholic Television to be held in Madrid. The slogan was the title of an Apostolic Letter addressed to operators of social communications by Pope John Paul II in 2005. The Conference will take place 10 to 12 October 2006 at the Teresiana de Collado Institute - Villalbain Madrid and will bring together TV professionals from all over the world. It is estimated that there are 2,000 Catholic television stations in the world. The Conference is organised by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications in collaboration with the Archbishop of Madrid and will discuss, besides other matters, the situation of Catholic television stations which often have insufficient means and personnel to perform as they would wish.
The main objective of the conference is to discuss what it means to be Catholic in TV, how Catholic TV can be developed and form a network for evangelisation, since this is the mission of the Church, a challenge she must assume without fear and play her media role in history and society. The conference also aims to intensify collaboration among the participants and to build a “programme bank”. Each producer or channel will be asked to put 2 to 4 programmes in the bank free of broadcasting rights. This could be a point of departure for TV stations to form strategic alliances. How the programme bank will function has yet to be established.
The archbishops’ office in Madrid and the García-Morente Foundation have activated a web site on the event in Spanish, English, French and Italian. The programme will include talks on three main themes: “What is Catholic television”; “The impact of television today”; “ TV technology of the future and its consequences”. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 10/3/2006 - righe 28, parole 364)