Elsewhere in this Paper is a report on a workshop on the ‘Fundamentals of Media Relation and News Reporting’, organised recently by The Catholic Standard for its Reporters, Stringers and Diocesan Communication staff in Ghana.
The Workshop was aimed at helping build and enhance the capacities of participants to write good, impactful and development-oriented stories in this technological age where fake news, sensationalism, open bias and other negative and undesirable practices push false narratives and personal agenda likely to trigger conflicts, with their attendant, unpleasant consequences.
The workshop’s goal was to help boost circulation and patronage of The Catholic Standard in Parishes and Institutions of the Catholic Church in Ghana. One striking awareness during the workshop was that the Catholic Church potentially is the biggest media outlet in Africa, given her presence in virtually every part of the continent but unfortunately, the Church does not optimize the vast human and material resources at her disposal and thus, has become “a sleeping giant”.
The fact is communication history cannot be considered without the Catholic Church, the platform of Communication being not only the physical medium but also the Word. Unfortunately, the Catholic Church appears to be lagging if not asleep, in pastoral communication using the mass media. Proclamation of the Word in Churches, is not enough, especially these days when Parish, Societal and sometimes personal needs are prioritised above the Word of God. Before Christ’s Ascension into heaven, He commissioned the Church to preach and baptize (Matt 28:19-20). Thus, we need to remind ourselves of this primary evangelization duty, as against making other businesses our first priority as a Church.
Jesus was the Word made flesh and dwelled among us (Jn. 1:14). The Word was proclaimed on various platforms beginning with the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:7). Currently the Church, mostly proclaim the Word from the lectern or pulpit in contrast to the commonest communication platform used by Jesus, namely the boat, which depicted a pilgrim Church, with Jesus as the Captain.
In absence of traditional media, some Priests and lay theologians have relied on social media to preach or project the Word of God, which hardly evokes the desired impact. In appreciating the currency of the social media, we must hasten to add that social media are controlled businesses that do not represent the paramount nature and prominence of the Gospel business. On the contrary, social media project the light of its owners more than the co-users or consumers.
Traditional media such as the Print, Church-owned websites and broadcast media (both radio and TV) provide massive capacity and platform to project the Word, Christian spirituality as well as the Social Teachings of the Church.
“You are the light of the world a city set on the hill cannot be hidden” (Matt. 5:14). Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has set mother Church on a hill and we cannot hide her. We have to go on top of the hill through the traditional media in contemporary times to make tremendous impact on the world. Many Catholics have hidden the light of Christ under their beds and pillows. It is rather unfortunate that we have the richest human resources in the world and only make little use of them to project the spiritual and Social Teaching of Christ. It is unacceptable that some of our priests avoid or show ill attitude by not using the traditional media to propagate the Gospel, more disheartening, to say the least, is that some parish priests relegate pastoral communication to the background in the name of parish projects.
Which is more important, a church project or proclamation of the Word of God? How come that The Catholic Standard is not promoted in Churches, but secular events and advertisements are announced in Churches? A case in point is the hibernation of the project of Lumen Christi TV, struggling to survive. Why do we cherish favour and fame to the neglect of faith, fairness and fellowship?
The dwindling numbers of Catholics in Ghana is not because of the absence of physical structures, but the lack of fellowship through the Word of God and spirit of Christ. When the Word is projected in the media, we project the light of Christ that come with its Fruits.
We have to get more involved in our traditional media than we are doing presently. Engaging the media should become a major priority for the church at the Parish, Diocesan and national levels or else we risk being crowded out by other religious bodies that have invested heavily in the media industry.
May Christ rekindle the spirit of communication as our pastoral priority for us to project the light of God for others to believe and practice.
