Church communication

I WAS happy to learn that there are annual conferences for Church communication personnel organized by a pontifical university in Rome . My immediate wish is for this kind of conferences to be replicated in our dioceses.

Aside from the massive regular information that has to be given, the increasing number of hot issues the Church has to grapple with now make the task of Church communication personnel very challenging.

This year’s theme, for example, already evokes an intriguing character: “Church communication and the culture of controversy.” Yes, the Church officials simply have to know how to navigate in our complicated environment today.

With her stature and historical standing, it’s pitiable to see the Church in the different levels of her structure fumbling miserably in this aspect of communication. She’s like an aging mother needing precious help from her children.

Already the technical requirements are daunting. Besides matters of language and style, officials, to be effective, have to do continuing research and updating, enrich their sense of perspective and timing, master the fast-developing technologies.

They have to be quick in identifying and resolving issues. Thus, they should always be in the lookout, energetic in gathering relevant data, open to everyone and all parties involved in a given question.

I’m impressed, for example, at how some American newspapers do their stuff. There’s thoroughness in their data, balance and good manners in the treatment of issues. Straight news is clearly distinguished from editorial and opinion items.

Professionalism is all over. A wide network of competent writers gives their readers great depth and scope of the issues. Though they have a specific perspective, there’s also openness and serious but polite discussion of conflicting views.

These qualities and ideals are difficult to build. They don’t come overnight and they require tremendous resources. But they just have to be pursued day in and day out, using whatever means we have.

To top it all, it has to be clear that Church communication assumes the spiritual and supernatural character proper to the Church. It just cannot be a bureaucratic process of making and transmitting statements.

It cannot be treated as business-and-politics reporting. It is an integral part of the Church’s ministry of evangelization. It has to be nothing less than the living water spoken of in the Gospel that nourishes souls and peoples, with traces of divine inspiration marking it.

The skill to combine the divine and the human elements, the sacred and the mundane, the absolute and the relative, the eternal and the temporal, should be developed. It may not be a sacrament, but it has to reflect the Church’s true nature and serve her authentic goal.

Therefore, it has to be a product of prayer, a manifestation of one’s sincere effort at sanctifying his work, himself and others. This obviously is no guarantee that there’d be no imperfections and errors, but it will leave one’s work exuding a certain aura perceptible to the soul’s finer faculties.

Besides, those involved in Church communication should have a good feel of what the Church is, what she needs at the moment, what she desires to achieve, etc. They should strive to be able to read the signs of the times.

It is this “sentire cum Ecclesia” (to feel with the Church) that can spawn a continuous flow of ideas and initiatives. It can also determine the timing and the manner in which issues are presented and discussed.

For this, it is necessary that those involved, while individually responsible and competent, should be adept in the ways of collegiality and teamwork, dialogue and consultation, to somehow guarantee a balanced writing worthy of being a Church communication.

There has to be a vital link with the bishop and ultimately with the Pope, so that the character of communion proper to the Church can be lived. With our advances in information technology, this vital linking could be better facilitated.

With these dispositions, it is hoped that what come out truly irrigate people’s minds and hearts, clarifying, encouraging, removing us from spiritual dead ends, and stimulating us to pursue the genuine purpose of our life.




Self-promotion or service?

By Fr. Roy Cimagala
Chaplain
Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)
Talamban, Cebu City
Email: roycimagala@hotmail.com

EVERY year, the Pope gives a message to the world of media. Even as a routine, this annual address can only show the continuing interest and effort on the part of Holy Father to evangelize this very crucial field of our life.

Other areas are also given similar messages. Thus, there are specific papal messages for the yearly world day of peace, of the sick, the youth, the family, vocations, etc. That they come from the Pope is reason enough to receive them in faith and obedience.

But further scrutiny reveals a greater reason for their importance. They are attempts, precious, well-studied and orchestrated, to monitor and read the signs of the times as we go along. As such they are worthy of being taken seriously.

For this year, for example, Pope Benedict’s message for the World Communications Day, set for May 4, has the theme: “The media: at the crossroads between self-promotion and service. Searching for the truth in order to share it with others.”

That, to me, captures the crux of the problem now besetting the media industry in its relation to society. It’s not for us to point fingers on personalities and outfits. But the signs of this problem are all over.

More than the message, the agents are highlighted. More than a dispassionate search for truth and justice, self-interest is pursued. The cover to hide the driving force of greed and lust for power is thinning out.

As a kid, I was told that we are like envelopes that contain letters. Once these letters are sent, received and read, the envelopes often are just thrown away, but the letters kept.

Nowadays, it would seem the envelopes are more important than the letters. The worse part of it is that no one seems to notice, since hardly any complaint is heard.

To achieve this funny state of affairs, all sorts of media tricks, gimmicks and games are used. Engaging war among media outfits is no problem if that is what it takes to establish one’s domination over others.

Thus, gossips are played out, personalities not issues are spotlit, looks not substance are brought into focus. Political opinions are rendered in dogmatic tones while basic truths are ignored, sex and violence are used to rivet audience’s attention.

Talents are inhumanly used at the dictate of the market, hiring and discarding them depending on the ratings. The successful ones are packaged like objects. Creativity and imagination are hijacked to cater to lower human tastes and desires.

In the heat of the excitement and the passions involved, the voice of conscience gets muted, the objective ethical assessment of the moves is sidelined and shelved. We are being hollowed of our true dignity as children of God. We are scaled down to mere consumers.

Everyone speaking this language is slowly made smaller and is lulled to degenerate. We are left with a society reduced in dignity yet overflowing with self-confidence and arrogance. A most painful predicament indeed!

The papal message is meant to invite everyone in media to do some soul-searching to see the real score of how he is performing in his task. This is in fact a continuing need for all of us. It suggests developing a kind of “info-ethics.”

Fine distinctions have to be made, since the ideal and practical demands, the spiritual and material requirements of the profession have to be met in their proper order.

Obviously, the material and temporal aspects of this field have to be respected. But they should be thoroughly infused and directed by higher spiritual values proper to us as persons and as children of God.

The problem we often have is that we easily miss these distinctions. We get distracted, living out that Gospel reproach of straining out the gnat while swallowing the camel. We prefer to be pragmatic only.

There’s a crying need to correct this handicap. It’s good that we first recognize that we have such handicap, and from there proceed to taking the appropriate measures.

We have to at least refashion our template so we can have the relevant education and proper supervision of everyone concerned.
Mental health and spirituality

By Fr. Roy Cimagala


THIS is a delicate topic. Each term is loaded with a lot of mysteries. Putting them together plunges us to even deeper mysteries.

And yet, any effort to seriously study the relation between the mind and the soul is most welcome, as it can give precious insights into these intangible realities that have great relevance on our lives today.

One such initiative is in the University of California Irvine (UCI) where a young psychiatrist, Dr. Aaron Kheriaty (akheriat@uci.edu), put up the Psychiatry and Spirituality Forum just over a year ago.

It is interesting to note that the forum has grown from 20 to 130 members, among them Buddhist monks, Catholic priests, rabbis, psychiatrists, scientists, physicians and social workers, indicating its rising following.

It is boldly entering into a largely unmapped territory that needs to be explored and understood better. It’s an initiative that has to be widely supported. The fine workings in the world of the mind and soul cannot be ignored anymore.

It cannot be denied that the issue of mental health is lately grabbing attention these past years. The WHO has attributed a third of all disability worldwide to psychiatric conditions and there are 800,000 reported cases of suicide yearly in the world.

This is not to mention that in many countries, no adequate medical programs are available for patients of this kind of illness. Thus, in China , for example, there are reports of the mentally ill chained and caged by their own parents at home.

It’s time that we tackle this issue as thoroughly as possible, burying myths that have stigmatized this human condition, and coming up with more pro-active attitudes and practices to help our brothers and sisters concerned.

My personal observation is that even locally, I see a dramatic rise of psychological cases who need not only medical attention but also spiritual guidance and nourishment.

We have to learn ways to cope with this situation. I just hope and pray that more people get into this field as experts and professional counselors, since a lot of things need to be done.

In an interview with MercatorNet, Dr. Kheriaty talks about many interesting details about the connection between mental health and spiritual convictions. To cite a few:

- There seems to be a relationship between the rise of mental illness and the decline of religious observances.

- Despite material and technological advances, cases of suicide, depression, substance abuse and other behavioral disorders are increasing. Social stigma keep these cases mostly hidden and unattended.

- The attention given is mainly medical, leaving behind the psychological, social and spiritual factors. This situation has to be corrected.

- Many psychiatrists now believe that religious belief and practice often reduce the incidence of suicide, substance abuse, impulsivity and violence. Religion often protects against despair and demoralization amid suffering, because it fosters hope and sense of one’s personal vocation.

- Some mental illnesses are diseases in the strict sense, since they result from disordered biological or genetic factors that lie outside one’s control. These can be schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, which cannot be prevented or cured through belief or will power alone.

- Other illnesses may be due to such traits as low intelligence and other low personality traits that can be a product of genetic and environmental influences, trauma, terrifying life experiences, injuries to the brain.

Just the same it should be noted that in spite of biological, genetic and social causes, some amount of counseling on the psychological and spiritual levels is most welcome and helpful. This wholistic approach should be developed.

Strengthening the spiritual life of people in general contributes well to mental health. It gives a sense of stability, since it gives meaning, purpose and perspective to all elements in life, especially the problems and difficulties. It enhances serenity and joy, crucial for our mind to work well.

A culture of caring for one another has to be developed to include a certain sensitivity to building up mental health of everyone. We need to clarify the doctrine, values and practices we have, and rectify those that tend to weaken it.