Church and media

The head of Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communication recently proposed that Church officials and workers make a thorough examination of conscience as to how they have been using the media.

Archbishop John Foley was quite direct and blunt in his assessment. "We have all sinned in the field of communications, especially through sins of omission and also through sins of commission," he said.

In his view, not only have Church officials failed to communicate in the best possible way God's love and goodness to the world, but also are guilty of "resorting more often to condemnation than to commendation in the use of the media."

"Pope Benedict," he said, "has just counseled us not to be seen as always saying 'no', but to reflect, and to be seen to reflect, in our use of the media, the love, mercy and compassion of Jesus Christ."

I cannot agree more with this standpoint. It pains me to consider that given the stature of the Church as an institution in our society, it is still largely regarded as being naïve, bumbling, simplistic, amateurish and self-righteous in handling the media.

The "mirifica"-the marvelous things-of the Gospel are not given proper airing in the media. What often come out are pitiable caricatures of Gospel truths and hollow imitations of what are popularly considered as "sound bites."

The distinctive spiritual and supernatural quality of the Gospel message is often lost in the translation. And there appears to be no earnest effort to correct this situation. Everyone seems happy with just dropping his two cents worth.

While it is most welcome to note an increase of religious writing in the media recently, there is still a lot more to be done. There has to be more depth and insight, more spiritual spunk.

At the moment, there is a clutter of bland spiritual messages and pietistic clichés that really turn off people. Many think that some churchmen seem not attuned with the times. They are still stuck with an outdated mentality, more accusing than compassionate in tone.

We appeal to those involved to be more creative and forceful. The possibilities to be such are actually endless. We just have to study more, and of course, to pray more, so things come out more credible.

There's also that hideous theory that to succeed in attracting the audience, one just has to put in a lot of jokes and stories, never mind if they do not have much relevance to Gospel truths, if they don't make much religious sense. Really, a cheap shot!

Further dimming the picture is when some public issues need intervention of Church officials. Very often, one observes lack of competence and preparation on the part of Church spokespersons. What is obvious is a lot of improvisation. The pronouncements often give the impression of being incomplete and one-sided, of failing to appreciate concrete realities, of being rigid. Worse, they sometimes sound like playing into the hands of some interest groups. Many people have complained that some spokespersons are arrogant in their statements, dripping with a repulsive superiority complex, condescension and a know-it-all attitude. They seem closed to suggestions and corrections.

Their actuations often lead people to question whether they have prudence, good sense of timing, command of appropriate language, basic good manners.

There is also that ticklish matter of when, in what and how Church officials can make their proper interventions with respect to public social and political issues. In this area, I'm afraid we are still much at sea.

Often, one gets the impression Church people are simply meddling without giving appropriate solutions or guidelines, or are second-guessing and engaged in idle attacks, when they comment on these issues.

Many people are not convinced of the arguments and are becoming suspicious of the motives of these ecclesiastics. They think abuse of authority is involved.

Yes, definitely we all need to have a deep examination of conscience, and come up with effective resolutions. Certainly, competence in this area is very much desired. Let's ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten all of us!

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