Speaking at a one-day conference at McGovern Hall, St. Agnes Catholic Church, Maryland, Lagos on Saturday on “Communication Apostolate in the Mission of the Church: Mobilizing Catholic Media Practitioners in Lagos Archdiocese.”
According to him, the starting point is for each Catholic Media Practitioner to possess that single-minded commitment to proclaim the Good News that is born out of a personal encounter with the Risen Lord.
“We see that in the example of Paul of Tarsus and, of course, in the supreme example of Jesus Christ Himself who on several occasions would go off on his own to commune with the Father.
Also, he said, nowadays, “without a strong interior life of faith and prayer, and a message coming out of this experience, Christian communicators cannot really transmit the experience of the Good News of redemption into the lives of the people who today sorely need that Good News.”
ITREALMS reports that in addition, Msgr Faniran pointed out that the act of communication is an innate capacity given by God to enable persons to express themselves and create relational culture.
“There is, therefore, the need for the Catholic Media Practitioners to assist in training individual members of the Church to commit the media of interpersonal communication at their disposal in carrying out the mission of the Church on their level of interaction.
At the parish levels, he pointed out that, there are people with various gifts that are waiting to be harnessed for the mission.
“For example, the poets in those communities can be encouraged to turn their faith experience into poems, stories and songs; the playwrights can write plays with religious meaning; both fine and performing artists can be assisted to celebrate their faith in Jesus through their talents,” he said.
With some of the aforementioned, Msgr Faniran said that members of such parishes or communities will then be transformed from passive churchgoers into men and women of vision, ideas, faith, love and hope who are ready to commit themselves and their talents to the service of Jesus and His Kingdom.
“The various social media platforms are waiting to be used for the same purpose especially among the youth who increasingly turn to the world of cyberspace as a window on the world,” he said.
Equally, he charged Catholic Media Practitioners on professional competency, stressing that they themselves need doctrinal and spiritual formation to assist others on the interpersonal and group levels of social interaction mentioned above.
“This can be done by the Archdiocesan Directorate of Social Communication by organizing workshops and seminars to assist them in this important aspect of the mission of the Church in Lagos Archdiocese,” he submitted.
Remmy Nweke/DoP
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